Hello, Darren, it’s so nice to have you back

Jun 20 2008 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

Vicky Anderson discovers the star of Hello Dolly, Darren Day, is a reformed family man – almost

"THERE aren’t many secrets in my life really, most of it’s out there in black and white,” says Darren Day.

The actor and singer does not speak a minute too soon, as just days after talking to Box Office he found himself back in his dreaded tabloids after being arrested on drink -driving charges.

For Day, it’s precisely the sort of thing he’s been desperate to avoid ever since settling down as a family man after the highly documented playboy years of his 20s and 30s.

More unfortunately still, it makes excepts from the interview such as this – “People will come up to me and say they don’t read about me any more – well, that’s because I’m behaving myself. I’m a faithful husband and father, and they don’t want those stories, they want drugs and women” – somewhat ironic.

Talkative and enjoyable company, it is interesting to hear Day’s side of his story first hand. He has been so beleaguered in the press over the years – and although he had the fame and money to take it all to the ridiculous five ex-fiancees and £1m of cocaine extremes, in one way it’s easy to see that the lifestyle was all there for the taking.

“A lot of mates say to me say you didn’t do anything different to what other guys are doing out there . . . unfortunately, you end up on the front page. And that’s how it was,” he says.

“At the time I was wrapped up in it and it was all a big deal, but I can look back now and see that everything happens for a reason and I’ve come out a better person.”

Now the roles he takes are less about the money and fame, and more about providing for his family.

He comes to the Empire, one of his favourite theatres in the country, he says, in Hello Dolly! at the end of the month.

The seven-month tour is the longest that Day, 39, has undertaken for years.

Running in Liverpool from June 30 to July 5, he will have to return to Cardiff halfway through to appear in court in connection with the arrest, which happened in the early hours of Thursday morning.

“It’s different for me now than touring in the old days. I’m mar- ried now and have three children and it’s a lot harder to go away, leaving the kids behind,” he says.

“My baby girl has just started to talk, and I go away on a Monday and come back on a Saturday and she’s learned a new word, and I just don’t want to miss those moments.

“Becoming a father puts a lot of things into perspective and the most important thing now is family.” In the musical, he plays Cornelius Hackl, a shop clerk who woos the woman of his dreams with the help of Dolly, played by Anita Dobson.

“It’s a lovely part, it’s a beautiful show. Very Broadway, and I haven’t really done that before. It’s great fun to do and the part is very endearing,” he says.

“Anita Dobson is phenomenal. If you’ve only seen her as Angie Watts in Eastenders, you’re in for such a surprise. She’s an amazing actress, a proper all-rounder.”

Day made his name by winning Opportunity Knocks with his stand- up act in 1988. Good fortune saw him break into musical theatre by winning the lead role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, taking over from Jason Donovan.

“I always wanted to act, and my ability to do impressions was actually how I started. It’s sort of helped me with everything in my career because I became a better singer. When I started having singing lessons, I found I could hit notes singing as Stevie Wonder that I couldn’t hit as me.

“Over the years, I learned to develop my voice,” he says.

“I auditioned for Joseph and never imagined I’d be anywhere near good enough for the part. I just did it for the chance to stand on the stage of the London Palladium for a minute.

“I got the part and it changed my life, completely overnight.

“It was an amazing time and without it I think I’d probably be back on a building site somewhere. I thank God for Andrew Lloyd Webber taking a chance on an unknown.”

And, after a quiet spell publicity- wise, Day again finds the tabloids relishing his own misfortune.

He says: “It’s very hard to be prepared for that kind of stuff. The thing for someone like me was my private life overtook my career. It’s a weird concept, to suddenly find yourself under the microscope of the press.

“I wear my heart on my sleeve. I can sit down and talk to someone and open up quite quickly, and that’s been my problem – I just talk away.

“I try to stay away from the tabloids. Because Suzanne (Shaw, the mother of Day’s first son, Corey) had some big successes they wanted to talk to me – but they don’t want to print me saying nice things, they want me saying nasty things, which is not what I would do.

“The love-rat reputation is infamous, and probably the most I can hope for in the national press is that it will be preceded by the word ‘reformed’.

“I’ve been with my wife for three years, I have great kids and I haven’t been a naughty boy for a long time.

“It’s going to take a long time to cancel out all those years, but I’m all right with that.”

* HELLO Dolly! is at the Liverpool Empire from June 30 to July 5.

vickyanderson@dailypost.co.uk