There’s many a magical moment in the Mercury Theatre’s pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, this year.

But one of the most magical of them all is when leads Madeleine Leslay and Craig Mather perform their duet bringing a little bit of West End stardust to the Colchester theatre’s stage.

There’s a very good reason for this and that’s because both Madeleine and Craig have featured in some of the biggest musical productions in the world.

While Craig played the part of Marius in Les Miserables for a year and a half, Madeleine got the chance to perform as Sophie in the smash hit show, Mamma Mia.

Although her big break to play the part came through someone else’s break.

“I was employed as first cover for Sophie,” Madeleine tells me, “which if you don’t know the show is the young woman looking for her father, the Amanda Siegfried part in the film.

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“Being first cover still means you get to perform in the ensemble, but occasionally it can also mean you don’t get to perform the main role at all.

“I was very lucky because the actor playing Sophie injured her ankle quite badly and so I got to do the lead quite a lot, which was obviously great for me, but not so great for her.

“The atmosphere in the theatre was always electric and to sing those fantastic songs every night was a real pleasure.”

Just to get in the West End show was an achievement for Madeleine because, by her own admission, she’s not really a musical theatre actor.

“My sister Emilie is also in the industry, having appeared in Les Mis and Wind in the Willows,” she continues, “so there’s a bit of healthy competition between us, but when I first started out, I was only ever going to do the acting.

“When we were young, and because my mum loved the theatre so much, she would often take my sister and I to see lots of different shows. I suppose that’s what got us hooked in the first place,

“I remember my first ever venture on the stage myself was when I was a pigeon. I think I was meant to be a dove, but definitely looked more like a pigeon. That was in the school Nativity when I was four. I took it very seriously.

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“Then when I was a bit older I joined the Bristol School of Performing Arts and at the age of 18 I was lucky to be offered a place at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. I remember hearing that if you were 18 and lived in Bristol you would never get in to the Old Vic, but that was obviously a myth because I trained there for three years in acting.”

After graduating Madeleine first started performing in plays, mainly Shakespeare, before deciding to improve her musical side, and applied to do a Masters in Musical Theatre at the Royal Academy of Music.

“I found myself going up for quite a lot of musical roles,” she explains, “and just felt I wasn’t nearly enough equipped for it, so I went and did the masters so I could really work on and improve my singing. I loved it and obviously it’s helped in broadening my opportunities in an industry we all know is so hard to get jobs in.”

The course was so good, it helped pretty much immediately.

She laughs: “Yeah, I had to leave mid way through the third term because of the Mamma Mia auditions. I had my audition on the Thursday, call backs were on the Friday, and then rehearsals started on the Monday, so it was all very quick.”

But despite her success in the West End, Madeleine is still keen to flex her dramatic muscles.

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“One of the highlights of my career so far,” she adds, “was playing Desdemona in Othello as it’s a role I had always wanted to play, it was very challenging but I loved every second.

“It has always been an ambition of mine to play as many of Shakespeare’s female roles as I can and suit. I would also love to play Hamlet.

“I would also absolutely love to originate a role, and completely create it from scratch in a new production, drama or film.”

As well as the stage, Madeleine has taken part in several audio book projects, the most recent being Philippa Gregory’s The Other Queen in which she narrated the part of Mary, Queen of Scots alongside Richard Armitage and Alex Kingston.

“I’ve also done a few of the Jacqueline Wilson books for younger readers,” she says, “and there a lot of fun to do as well.”

But for now Madeleine is wowing audiences in Colchester with her Princess Jill in the fun-packed, all singing, all dancing Jack and the Beanstalk.

Featuring colourful costumes and sets, as well as a rip-roaring cast made-up of familiar favourites Dale Superville, Antony Stuart-Hicks, Carli Norris and Ignatius Anthony, Madeleine is having an absolute ball.

“Panto is soooo much fun,” she smiles. “This is is my fifth production to date and after graduating, I did a short film and a play, and then went to Tewkesbury where I appeared in Aladdin that Christmas, so it was one of the very first things I did.

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“You do miss your family and at this time of year you want to see friends and family but you have your pantomime family to celebrate with and this group is absolutely awesome.

“I worked with the director Abigail Anderson when I was in panto at Chipping Norton and had a fantastic time, so I was delighted when I saw she was directing this one.”

Jack and the Beanstalk runs at the Mercury Theatre, Balkerne Gate, Colchester, until January 20 at various times.

Don’t forget the adult shows on January 10 and 11 and the Mercury also live streamed the show to the Children’s Ward up at Colchester Hospital.

For tickets to the show, call the box office on 01206 573948 or go to mercurytheatre.co.uk