It was not just the perils of getting mascara stuck in the eye or managing quickfire costume changes – it was following in the footsteps of a well-established Dame with a loyal backing.
“I now understand how David Moyes must have felt taking over from Alex Ferguson at Manchester United,” says the Liverpudlian actor who’s transitting from baddy to Dame Minnie van Clamper in the Georgian Theatre Royal’s Beauty and the Beast at Richmond, after former Dame Gary Bridgens bowed out in 2019, after 10 years.
Nick, who previously played the “deliciously evil” Abanazar in Aladdin (2019), Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty (2018), and the lion in The Wizard of Oz (2017) said: “It can be a bit like a poisoned chalice, especially taking over from a previous Dame who was so well established.
“A lot of people who came to see the panto…
