Playing Blanche Barrow in Bonnie & Clyde is a dream come true for actress Catherine Tyldesley, who makes her professional musical theatre debut on its UK tour.
The show, named 'Best New Musical' at the WhatsOnStage Awards 2023, will be at Norwich Theatre Royal from March 12 to 16 2024.
It is an electrifying, energised retelling of the story of outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, who became folk heroes during the Great Depression, with Tyldesley playing Clyde's sister-in-law Blanche.
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The Coronation Street star has been approached about doing musicals before, "but I had to be really in love with something for me to leave the children for that amount of time", the mother-of-two admits.
Then she heard Blanche's big number 'That's What You Call A Dream' and was hooked.
She said: "Me and my husband [Tom Pitfield] got one verse in and he looked at me and went 'oh my god, you have to do this show."
It features music by Frank Wildhorn, lyrics by Don Black and a book by Ivan Menchell.
Tyldesley said: "Blanche is a powerhouse and she wears the trousers in the relationship between herself and Buck.
"They are deeply in love and she would do anything for him, but she is very devout in her faith and wants him to be on the right path in life."
Tyldesley made her screen debut in 2006 in Holby City and was in Coronation Street (as a midwife), Doctors, Emmerdale and Shameless, before returning to Corrie in 2011 as plucky Eva Price.
"It was amazing", she beams about landing the role for a seven-year stint.
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"I had watched Corrie since I was a little girl and my family were obsessed with it.
"It really was a dream job but I felt I left at the right time because I wanted to explore other things and to develop as an actor and as a person."
Speaking about the Bonnie & Clyde tour, she added: "It is super exciting and we are going to all these iconic theatres in all these beautiful towns and cities."
Book tickets at norwichtheatre.org or call 01603 630000.
Pick up Thursday's EDP or Norwich Evening News (March 7) for the chance to win tickets to the show.
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