It was the late 1970s and at a secondary modern school in South London the teenage Terry Ronald was asked to play the part of Nancy in a production of Oliver!
As a gay student who had suffered at the hands of school bullies, Terry faced an agonising choice – did he take the role and the inevitable abuse or turn it down?
Thirty years later that dilemma inspired Terry to write the book Becoming Nancy which was a best-seller and has been adapted into a hit musical. Premiered in Atlanta in 2019, Becoming Nancy – The Musical now comes to the UK for the first time – premiering at Birmingham Rep on 2 October to 2 November.
And the adult Terry says his teenage decision was about so much more than whether or not to take a part in a musical.
“In real life I didn’t do it, I wasn’t brave enough. I didn’t want to stand out – the verbal abuse and the taunting I got as a young gay kid was in some ways worse than physical bullying because you felt constantly ashamed and embarrassed.
“I don’t look back and think I wish I’d done it because then maybe I wouldn’t have written the book, who knows? And writing the book was cathartic, I suppose because of those events that happened I have always taken the other path of being myself ever since.
“I always thought that what happened to me at school would make a good story – I just didn’t realise it would make a book. Writing it was really more of a hobby but it went on to become my first book.”
Best-Selling Author and Musical Creator, Terry Ronald (Image Credit: Alexander McBride Wilson)
Terry may have turned down that first attempt at showbusiness but he has made a career of writing and music, working with a host of top singers including Kylie Minogue, Girls Aloud, Westlife, All Saints, Geri Halliwell and Sophie Ellis-Bextor. He’s also worked on television programmes including The Voice and X Factor, collaborated on 14 best-selling celebrity memoirs, and his first play Some Girl I Used to Know which starred Denise van Outen ran in the West End and toured the UK.
Becoming Nancy was published in 2012 and fate stepped in when West End and Broadway director Jerry Mitchell picked up a copy before a London to New York flight. By the time his aeroplane had landed Stateside, Jerry knew he had a successful musical in his hands.
“I fell in love with the lead character David Starr immediately and I felt myself in the book in the character of both David and his friend Maxie Boswell,” Jerry says. “There were so many similarities to my own life growing up, even though I grew up in Michigan in the United States, but as a 17-year-old trying to find out who I was, I was one half Maxie and one half David.
“And the other element is looking at what kids go through in school about being the ‘other’ person and how these young people can find out who they are and also respect someone who isn’t like them. I thought it was such a beautiful story about that.”
Cast Members of ‘Becoming Nancy’ Prepare for Their UK Premiere at Birmingham Rep
Olivier and Tony Award winning Jerry, who has previously directed a host of theatre sensations including Kinky Boots, Hairspray, Pretty Woman and the Gloria Estefan musical On Your Feet!, says the story may be set in the 1970s in London but its themes which include bullying and racism are very current.
“School is brutal for these kids, what they have to deal with, and now it’s not only in school it’s on all the social media and devices they either get onto or they don’t get onto because they’re not allowed to.
“And It was so interesting for me to research Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League and what was happening in East Dulwich in the 1970s because it’s basically what happened in Minnesota with George Floyd, it’s the same thing.”
The show features a string of songs by hit-writing duo George Stiles and Anthony Drewe and the UK premiere has the addition of a handful of new tracks created by Terry, George and Elliot Davis.
“It’s an all-original score,” says Jerry. “We have songs that sound like Blondie or Sting or Kate Bush and then we have songs that sound like Oliver! or sound like what I would say is your traditional musical theatre songs. Those are songs that fit for different characters, the kids sing in a more pop world and the adults sing in a more adult 1979 world, and it kind of adds in a little bit of all of it.
“Every time you do a show you see numbers that really are successful and other numbers where you think that’s maybe a ‘b’ or a ‘c’ and I want an ‘a’ so maybe re-write another version of that. Often the first time you write something the idea is there but the best way of telling that isn’t necessarily there, so we wanted some new songs for the UK.
“Terry is an amazing musical theatre writer in his own right and he’s musically directed some great people in concert, also in the pop world. So Terry brought his pop sensibility to the piece and most importantly his pop sensibility for the late seventies which was really important.”
The show was particularly successful with young audiences in America with some fans returning to see the production multiple times.
“It was amazing in Atlanta,” says Terry. “The reaction was insane particularly when they did it for students – they had student shows at 10.30 in the morning and it was like a rock concert and they were screaming. I met so many of them after the shows and what struck me was that even though this is set 40 years ago, many of them could see themselves in it.
“Some of these queer kids were having the same experiences and feeling the same feelings and having the same struggles so it was that thing of yes things have changed but some things have stayed the same. I loved meeting the young people who came to see it and it really resonated with them. There were people who came back three or four times and really loved it.”
And now the team are keen to see Becoming Nancy hit the stage at Birmingham Rep.
“It makes sense for it to be here in the UK,” says Terry. “It’s such a British story and the drama side of it is such a kitchen sink. It’s very British humour and I think this is its natural home. Everyone I’ve met at The Rep has been brilliant so I feel really excited about it opening in Birmingham.
“It’s a really good musical and I just want people to love it and enjoy it and come back again and again. At the base of it, is just a very funny, heartwarming story with great music. I would love it to go on to the West End and more and with Jerry at the helm there is no reason that won’t happen.”
