A Biddulph man who has spent the last three years touring the UK as Frankie Valli and who landed a place at one of the country’s “most prestigious” acting schools is to stage his own show in Congleton.
Harry Jones, who studied at the Guildford School of Acting, where he said he grew a “thick skin” and learned to “work bloody hard”, will present “One Night Only – An Evening With Mr Jones and Friends” at the Daneside Theatre on Wednesday, 11th September.
Recalling his time spent at the “highly regarded” drama school, where he studied alongside a relative of the courtier of Thailand’s monarch, Mr Jones, (29), who lives in Mossley, said: “There was a lady in my year whose dad was the right-hand man of the king of Thailand – she had to have a fake name for security reasons because she was at risk of being kidnapped – that was a genuine situation. This is the level of people I was studying with. And I was from Biddulph.”
When the “Chronicle” asked how it felt to learn at such a prestigious acting school, being a working-class lad from Staffordshire Moorlands, he said: “You were categorised. You were put in a small pool of people who weren’t as privileged as everybody else.
“I was very much in a rich man’s game. My parents haven’t got loads of money; it was a challenging year for me. I’m not from a wealthy background.”
Explaining how kind friends aided him to take up the coveted place he continued: “At the time I was extremely fortunate to be with someone who did come from a background like that, and they had a place to live in the capital. So, the only way I was able to attend the school was by living with her.”
During the week another friend who he met while studying for a musical theatre degree at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston invited him to crash on their floor.
“I would wake up on a Monday morning at 5am, jump on the train to Guildford with a week’s worth of clothes packed, sleep on my friend’s bedroom floor until Friday. Then I’d get the train home back to London and then go straight to work behind a bar at Clapham Junction all weekend. I’d repeat this Monday morning, and it was the same for an entire year.”
Added Mr Jones: “It was one of the most difficult years of my life but it helped me build the thick skin you need for this industry. It taught me how to work bloody hard.”
When speaking about how his parents supported him through this period, Mr Jones appeared to choke up when he said: “They struggled. They sent me money and did whatever they could to help me. I’ll be forever grateful for what they did for me.”
After graduating from the Guildford school in 2017 he went on to sing on cruise ships and in hotels abroad until the pandemic, when he returned home.
Once the national lockdowns were lifted, he secured the job touring the UK as Frankie Vallie, the American singer known for his unusually powerful lead falsetto voice, and he made the choice last New Year’s Eve to pull the plug on touring to return home.
Now working five days a week as assistant manager at DV8 bar and lounge in Congleton, the 29-year-old said his decision to call it a day on the road sprung from a desire to seek out “other avenues”.
“As enjoyable as touring was, it was always going to come to its natural conclusion. It started to become a lot for me to keep doing the same thing every night,” he said.
Mr Jones, who lives with his fiancé, described his new show as having a “croonery, suited and booted vibe”.
“I’ll be performing classics from Frank Sinatra and Michael Bublè, thrown in with the cheeky charm and banter of Robbie Williams,” he said.
Updating his social media followers accompanied by a monochrome image of himself with a slick back hairstyle, a fitted white shirt and slim tie, hallmarks of the Rat Pack attire and a pair of braces, Mr Jones announced the forthcoming show: “You’re in for an unforgettable evening, make sure you’ve got your dancing shoes on! I won’t be alone either! Four incredibly talented ladies will be showing off their stunning voices! So don’t miss out!”
The entertainer, who has acted in 17 lead roles during his career, and most recently starred as Gomez in the sell-out “The Addams Family” at the Daneside Theatre, said that for his September show he will be playing himself and promised to bring along a “large energy” and “stage presence”.
“As much as I love playing characters – I’ve done stuff at the Daneside this year playing an actual character – being me and entertaining the crowd is one of my strengths.”
Mr Jones first appeared on stage 25 years ago when his parents were searching for activities for him and his brother. They signed their boys up to a theatre group in Stoke-on-Trent where the-then four-year-old was plucked out to perform in an adult play, which required just one child.
“It was about a guy who fell into a time machine; at the end they needed a small kid to come on in an oversized suit, because he’d reverted to being a child again. I just walked on stage in a baggy suit, as if I had shrunk in my own clothes. I looked at the audience and said, ‘Pardon my French, oh for f**** sake’. “That was my first ever line onstage!” he laughed.
And it was in the Potteries where he caught the acting bug as the audience erupted into hysterical laughter. Until he was 21 his dad kept each script, picture and programme in a scrap book, now stored in the loft.
Said Mr Jones: “My dad was always encouraging but he was also my harshest critic. I think the industry now is so cutthroat and savage and I used to wonder why he was being a bit hard with me. You’ve got to have thick skin, which I have and that is solely down to the way that my dad was with me when I was growing up.
“He always made sure I remained humble when I got a lead role, a standing ovation, and even when I won an award. He would tell me to remember who I was, and where I’d come from and whenever I got a ‘no’ he told me to move quickly onto the next audition and not even think about it.”
