Syndicated Interview: Lee Mead on starring as the legendary P.T. Barnum

When Lee Mead was around 13 or 14 he appeared in a school production of Barnum in his home town of Southend-on-Sea as the show-hosting Ringmaster and recalls: “I had such a brilliant time and I thought the story and the characters were wonderful. And it had all these fantastic songs, like Come Follow the Band, The Colours of My Life and There is a Sucker Born Ev’ry Minute.”

            Lee’s friend Chris was cast in the lead role. “And he was a great Barnum,” Mead smiles, “but I remember thinking ‘It would be lovely to play that part one day.” Now at age 44, his wish has finally come true as he headlines a lavish new UK tour of the classic musical.

            With music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Michael Stewart and a book by Mark Bramble, Barnum – The Circus Musical is about legendary American showman P.T. Barnum, who revolutionised entertainment in the 1800s through the Barnum & Bailey Circus and his sensational The Greatest Show on Earth.

            The life of the marketing genius and master of spectacle premiered as a musical on Broadway in 1980 and was a huge hit the following year when Michael Crawford took the lead at the London Palladium ahead of a UK tour.

            It has been revived numerous times since, both here and around the world, and as he steps into the ring for the 2026 tour Lee gushes: “It’s an absolute classic and I can’t quite believe I now get to play Barnum some 30 years after that school production. I think I must have somehow manifested it.”

            Barnum is directed by Jonathan O’Boyle (The Last Five Years), choreographed by Strictly Come Dancing‘s Oti Mabuse and features more than 20 actor-musicians alongside acrobats and international circus acts.

            Getting to star in it isn’t just a dream come true for the Any Dream Will Do talent show winner, he also sees it as a homage to his granddad Bert and his grandma Lil. They didn’t have much money, so a trip to the theatre was very rare for them. “But they saved up for a year and a half to see Barnum at the London Palladium and they loved it. It stayed with them their whole lives. Sadly they’re no longer with us, but I know they would have been so proud to see me in it. Every performance is going to be for them.”

            Since coming to fame in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 2007 after he won the public vote on the BBC talent show, Mead has starred in Wicked, Legally Blonde, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Chicago and Sister Act, to name just a few of his many credits. “But this is definitely my most challenging role,” he admits. “It’s one of those rare roles for a leading man. It’s an enormous part, with huge monologues and so many songs, and I don’t think I leave the stage for two hours, apart from the interval of course.”

            Then there’s the tightrope walking, which Lee has trained intensely for over several months. “It’s the kind of thing you learn at 24, not 44,” he laughs, “so I’ve had to get myself fit and put in the work. The rope is about 7ft off the ground and, although I trained with a harness on, there’s no harness during the show itself. You have to use your whole body, your whole core and every ounce of your focus and energy to get across that wire, but I like a challenge.”

            Does he also get to play an instrument in the show? Lee grins. “I don’t, no. I already have enough to do with the acting, singing, dancing and tightrope walking!”

            P.T. Barnum was played by Hugh Jackman in the big screen blockbuster The Greatest Showman and, as in the film, the musical looks at the real man behind the on-stage persona. He had a wife named Charity but also became infatuated with Swedish singer Jenny Lind. “So he’s a flawed character, as most human beings are,” Mead muses. “As an actor it’s interesting to explore that side of him alongside all the spectacle. It makes for great drama.”

            Of researching the role, Lee notes: “It was interesting to learn about Barnum’s tenacity and his drive, which I think you have to have to be as successful as he was. At times he kind of put his wife to one side, even though she was so supportive and loving, so I guess you could say that he was very selfish. But he wanted the world to see all these amazing acts that he brought together, like the oldest woman in the world Joice Heth and General Tom Thumb. It was his passion.”

            Asked if he has a favourite number in the show, he picks The Colours of My Life “because the melody is beautiful and it’s about him trying to explain to Charity why he is the way he is, with all the different colours to him as a person and why he wants to light people up, entertain them and make them happy”.

            Lee has been entertaining people himself since he did school productions like Barnum and Grease and enjoyed the camaraderie and losing himself in different characters. “Then as time went on I discovered I had a bit of a talent for it and I worked really hard, trying to get better and better.”

            He attended performing arts college, performed on the Portsmouth to Bilbao ferry and at Bridlington’s Spa Theatre, played Levi and the Pharaoh in a touring production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and was in the ensemble in Phantom of the Opera in the West End.

            Any Dream Will Do launched Mead to stardom and he hasn’t stopped working since. “It was a bit of a blur, although I remember certain moments in detail, so it was very surreal,” he says about competing on the show in front of a panel that included Andrew Lloyd Webber and Bill Kenwright, winning the public vote and getting to play the lead at London’s Adelphi Theatre.

            “You never think anything like that would ever happen to you, and the TV show was seen by around 13 million viewers every week. Even now, 18 years later, I get people stopping me in the street or at the supermarket and saying that they voted for me. I feel very blessed, because it opened up all the parts that have come my way since.”

            His subsequent career highlights include performing at the Palladium on his 40th birthday with a full orchestra as he followed in the footsteps of legends like Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland. Singing in front of the Queen and the Royal Family at the Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall in 2019 is way up there too, along with getting to play Caracticus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. “I remember seeing it as a teenager, with Michael Ball in the lead,” he says, “and thinking ‘I’m going to play that role one day’. Again, as with Barnum, I must have manifested it somehow.”

            His TV work includes stints as Nurse Lofty Chiltern on Casualty and Holby City, but it’s his appearance as himself on Motherland that gets the most response from the public. He laughs. “I played Lofty for five years in total but I’ve had more people stop me and ask about Motherland, even though I was only in one episode. That’s the one thing in my career that I haven’t done yet that I would love to do – to have a recurring role in a sitcom.”

            For now, though, he’s busy with Barnum and is looking forward to taking it around the country. As a father to Betsy, 14, and soon-to-be stepfather to his fiancéé Issy’s son Alfie, 12, he admits: “Being away from home can be hard, but Issy and the kids will be coming along to the show a few times. Plus I get to be in one of the greatest, most iconic musicals ever. I’m still in shock that I’ve landed the part, to be honest, and I can’t wait to take it around the country and to see the smiles on the audience’s faces.”

Barnum plays at Lyceum Theatre Tue 28 Apr – Sat 2 May. Tickets are available here.