EastEnders actor and West End stage star John Partridge was the VIP guest at a special singing and musical theatre workshop in Highbridge on Saturday (May 23rd).
The well-supported event was held at Churchfield School in Highbridge and organised by The Siobhan Johnson Singers in aid of The Alzheimer’s Society.
Aimed at all singers and performers who want to improve their performance skills, the two workshops were attended by over 50 adults and children.
John told Burnham-On-Sea.com he was “honoured” to have been invited to the workshops, adding that there were many stars of the future among the group.
Siobhan Johnson, who runs the local choirs ‘The Burnham Youth Choir’ and ‘Burnham on Song’, said: “All my private singers and choirs have performed exceptionally well this year, especially at the Highbridge Festival with all my 70 plus singers all coming away with a medal, to which I am rewarding them with this elite and one-off treat!”
Siobhan added: “So much more can be learnt from a performer like John in a couple of hours rather than studying from a text book for years!”
“He taught all aspects of performance singing and how to improve overall performance skills such as stage presence, projection and movement. It’s not every day that a massively high-profile celebrity like John comes down to a small town like ours to teach!”
As well as being a West End star of ‘Starlight Express,’ ‘Rent,’ ‘Grease’ and ‘Miss Saigon’, John is best known for playing the part of Christian Clarke (Jane’s brother) in EastEnders, which he joined in 2008.
John has worked extensively as a singer and dancer in musical theatre and is best known as the ‘Rum Tum Tugger’ in Andrew LLoyd Webber’s musical ‘Cats’ to which he toured all over Europe and ended up as playing the role in the official DVD film of ‘Cats.’ In addition to this role he also played the main roles of ‘Mr. Mistoffelees,’ ‘Alonzo,’ ‘Munkustrap’ and ‘The Rumpus Cat.’
He started out at the Royal Ballet School and went onto train at the Bush Davies School of Performing Arts School, followed by the Doreen Bird School of Performing Arts. After EastEnders in 2010 John, together with Sheila Hancock and Charlotte Church, was one of the judges for the new ‘Andrew LLoyd Webbers’ TV show ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’.
In 2014 he appeared as himself on the BBC’s show ‘Tumble,’ and has more recently appeared in 2014 and 2015 episodes of EastEnders for the funeral of ‘Lucy Beale’ as well celebrating their recent live 30th birthday episode. John is an active and strong supporter of the Alzheimer’s Society and in 2013 helped launch the Memory Walks in aid of his mother.
