Mica Paris: I’m a muppet waiting 20 years for a musical

Mica Paris is returning to musicals after 20 years, and she wishes she had not left it so long
“Having a blast”: Mica Paris in new show Love Me Tender (Picture: Johan Persson)
Johan Persson

Soul singer Mica Paris has been lured back to musicals after 20 years — and wishes she had not left it so long.

Paris, 46, plays bar owner Sylvia in Love Me Tender, a new show which uses the music of Elvis Presley to tell the story of what happens when a hip-swivelling stranger who looks like “the King” rides his motorbike into a small town in Fifties America.

The singer, who had a string of top 10 hits including My One Temptation, said: “I really wanted to do it because the character Sylvia is just me with an American accent. She’s feisty. And everyone goes to her for advice.”

Her last musical, the gospel show Mama, I Want to Sing, was 20 years ago so she was initially nervous in rehearsals.

“But I’m having a blast now,” she said. “I’m thinking to myself, ‘You muppet head for leaving it so long’. But things happen when they’re supposed to.”

She said the show is “hilarious” and getting to sing Elvis has made her mum proud. “I’ve been in this business 28 years, I’ve done 60 million things and when I telephoned her to say I was doing this show with Elvis songs I’d made good finally.”

Paris, who also hosts BBC’s What Not to Wear, is joined by former EastEnders actor Shaun Williamson and Sian Reeves from Cutting It in the show by Joe DiPietro, writer of the musical Memphis. Love Me Tender starts a UK tour with a one-week run at the New Wimbledon Theatre from Monday.

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