Lee Mead to play Barnum: The Circus Musical in York

West End performer and television star Mead, now 44, made his breakthrough when winning the BBC One reality show Any Dream Will Do in 2007, going on to star in the Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat tour that brought him to the Cumberland Street theatre in 2010.

Lee is no stranger to Barnum, first playing the show-hosting Ringmaster in a school production when he was 13 or 14 in his home town of Southend-on-Sea.

“I had such a brilliant time and I thought the story and the characters were wonderful. And it had all these fantastic songs, like Come Follow The Band, The Colours Of My Life and There Is A Sucker Born Every Minute.”

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Lee’s friend Chris was cast in the lead role. “And he was a great Barnum, but I remember thinking, ‘It would be lovely to play that part one day’.”

Now, three decades later, his wish has come true at last as he headlines a lavish new UK tour of the 1980 musical by Cy Coleman (music), Michael Stewart (lyrics) and Mark Bramble (book).

Barnum: The Circus Musical tells the story of legendary American showman, marketing genius and master of spectacle P.T. Barnum, who revolutionised entertainment in the 1800s through the Barnum & Bailey Circus and the Greatest Show on Earth.

As he steps into the ring for the 2026 tour, Lee says: “It’s an absolute classic and I can’t quite believe I now get to play Barnum some 30 years after that school production. I think I must have somehow manifested it.”

Barnum’s tour show is directed by Jonathan O’Boyle, choreographed by Strictly Come Dancing alumna Oti Mabuse and features more than 20 actor-musicians, alongside acrobats and international circus acts.

Starring as Barnum is not only a dream come true for the Any Dream Will Do winner but also an homage to his grandfather Bert and grandmother Lil, who did not have much money, meaning that a trip to the theatre was very rare for them.

“But they saved up for a year and a half to see Barnum at the London Palladium and they loved it,” says Lee. “It stayed with them their whole lives. Sadly they’re no longer with us, but I know they would have been so proud to see me in it. Every performance is going to be for them.”

Since Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Lee has starred in Wicked, Legally Blonde, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Chicago and Sister Act and plenty besides. “But this is definitely my most challenging role,” he says.

“It’s one of those rare roles for a leading man. It’s an enormous part, with huge monologues and so many songs, and I don’t think I leave the stage for two hours, apart from the interval of course.”

Then add the tightrope walking, a discipline that has required several months of intense training for Lee. “It’s the kind of thing you learn at 24, not 44,” he says. “I’ve had to get myself fit and put in the work. The rope is about 7ft off the ground and, although I trained with a harness on, there’s no harness during the show itself.

“You have to use your whole body, your whole core and every ounce of your focus and energy to get across that wire, but I like a challenge.”

Does he play an instrument too in this actor-musician show? “I don’t, no. I already have enough to do with the acting, singing, dancing and tightrope walking!” he says.

As with Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of P.T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman, the musical looks at the real man behind the on-stage showman, not least how he had a wife named Charity but became infatuated with Swedish singer Jenny Lind.

“So he’s a flawed character, as most human beings are,” muses Lee. “As an actor, it’s interesting to explore that side of him alongside all the spectacle. It makes for great drama.”

When researching the role, “it was interesting to learn about Barnum’s tenacity and his drive, which I think you have to have to be as successful as he was,” says Lee. “At times he kind of put his wife to one side, even though she was so supportive and loving, so I guess you could say that he was very selfish.

“But he wanted the world to see all these amazing acts that he brought together, like the oldest woman in the world, Joice Heth and General Tom Thumb. It was his passion.”

Lee picks The Colours Of My Life as his favourite song in the show “because the melody is beautiful and it’s about him trying to explain to Charity why he is the way he is, with all the different colours to him as a person and why he wants to light people up, entertain them and make them happy,” he says.

Those sentiments now apply to Lee’s own performance too.

Lee Mead stars in Barnum: The Circus Musical at Grand Opera House, York, February 24 to 28, 7.30pm plus Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.