We Love Joseph Peacock For a Reason – He’s Donny in The Osmonds Musical

It’s difficult to explain just how huge THE OSMONDS were back in the day. From the early days when they appeared weekly on The Andy Williams Show between 1962 to 1969, to full-on, fully fledged pop stars. ‘Osmondmania’ was like One Direction, and some. Now, a new musical, put together by Jay is heading to South Wales, getting to the New Theatre in Cardiff next week.

From 1971 to 1975, there’s wasn’t a magazine cover, TV show or radio station which wasn’t featuring the brothers, and all of this was way before social media was even thought of.

The Donny & Marie Show hit our screens, and the family success was complete. Even Little Jimmy Osmond (as he was then) got in on the act and scored an instant number one hit.

The Osmonds did it all and lived the most amazing life in the spotlight. From chart chart-topping albums and singles, selling out huge arena concerts and making record-breaking TV shows. It was everything anyone could have dreamed of, and so much more – until one bad decision cost them everything.

The figures say it all, The Osmonds have sold over 100 million records worldwide and picked 59 Gold & Platinum awards. The family were clean cut, cleaning up, and personified the ‘boy/girl next door’ image.

Now Jay Osmond is set to reveal the real family behind all these hits. The show will tell the true story of the five brothers from Utah who were pushed into the spotlight as children and went on to create smash hits, decade after decade.

The actors playing the five Osmond brothers are Ryan Anderson as Merrill Osmond, Jamie Chatterton as Alan Osmond, Alex Lodge as Jay Osmond, Danny Nattrass as Wayne Osmond and Joseph Peacock as Donny Osmond.

Unless you were around back in the day, it’s difficult to explain just how big a star Donny was, and still is. Let me use the 1D analogy again. As a band, they are huge, Harry Styles however is stratospheric, it was exactly the same with The Osmonds and Donny. Remember this was long before the days of computers, smartphones and social media.

Stepping into the shoes of Donny is JOSEPH PEACOCK, so we put a call into him to see how the show is going and what it’s like playing one of the world’s biggest stars, even though Joseph wasn’t even a twinkly when Donny ruled the charts.

And if you head over to our YouTube channel, we have some footage of the guys being put through their paces during REHEARSALS.

Mum and Dad Osmond, George and Olive, actually had nine children, Virl, Tom, Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Donny, Marie and Jimmy.

The Osmonds: A New Musical is a music-fest packed with some of their biggest hits from the 70s and 80s.

Jay Osmond said……….

“I’ve wanted to tell my story for such a long time and the opportunity to create this beautiful musical, a sort of ‘living autobiography’, seemed the perfect way to do so.  I spent my whole life performing live – on stage, on TV specials, in arenas – so the buzz of live theatre felt like the perfect place for me. 

There were some difficult times in my life, and some big hurdles to overcome, and this musical will tell people things that will surprise them… but despite that trouble, when you look back and think of the fans, the music, the once in a lifetime things we did – it’s joyful. 

I guess I want to do this now to try to spread a little bit of that joy.  I’ll know I’ve done a good job telling this story if I stand at the back of the theatre and see people waving their arms in the air, singing along and dancing in the aisles.  I just want people to be enjoying themselves. 

I guess that is in the Osmonds’ DNA.” 

Here is Jay talking about the musical and some of the brothers biggest hits, on the BBC.

The musical is like stepping back into an Osmonds concert with some of their most iconic 70s anthems, including Crazy Horses, Love Me For A Reason, One Bad Apple, Down by the Lazy River, Let Me In, (We’re) Having a Party, Puppy Love, Long Haired Lover From Liverpool, Paper Roses and so many more.

The Osmonds: A New Musical has a story By Jay Osmond and book by Julian Bigg and Shaun Kerrison, and will be directed by Shaun Kerrison, with choreography and musical staging by Bill Deamer.

THE OSMONDS – A NEW MUSICAL gets to the New Theatre in Cardiff next week, from Tuesday 4th to Saturday 8th October. Performances are at 7:30pm with 2;30pm matinees on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Tickets range from £15 to £196 for a box for 6 with a whole range of prices in between. For more details, go HERE.

The tour then get to Venue Cymru in Llandudno for the last dates on the run between Tuesday 29th November to Saturday 3rd December. Performances at 7:30pm with matinees on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Again, a range of prices from £13 to £45 and all points between. To get yours, go HERE.