As movies go you don’t come anymore iconic than the 1992 classic, and third highest grossing film of that year I might add, than THE BODYGUARD. The OSCAR nominated Warner Bros. movie starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, is still a Saturday night favourite in households all across South Wales.
The story has also long been a stage favourite since the show had its world premiere at the Adelphi Theatre in London’s West End and was nominated for four Olivier Awards. A sell out 18 month UK and Ireland tour followed, before it returned to the West End at the Dominion Theatre ahead of a second sell out tour of the UK and Ireland in 2018/19.
Now, THE BODYGUARD is back on the road and set to delight a huge army of fans at the Wales Millennium Centre next week.
You only need to look at the catalogue of incredible hits on the poster above to know what a fantastic night you’ll be having. Please though, Save All Your Love for the show and the singing for the car on the journey home.
We are in for a treat on the Donald Gordon stage with a top-flight cast.
Selling over 70 million albums as a member of one of the most celebrated girl groups of all time, The Pussycat Dolls, MELODY THORNTON is a multi-platinum Grammy-nominated artist herself. In 2020 she released her much-lauded debut solo EP, Lioness Eyes. Melody is also had some incredible rave reviews and audience acclaim for her performance as Rachel Marron when The Bodyguard toured China for six months. In 2018 she reached the final five in ITV’s Dancing On Ice.
Playing alongside Melody as former Secret Service agent turned bodyguard, Frank Farmer is AYDEN CALLAGHAN, who you may remember as Miles De Souza in Emmerdale. He then went on to play, fan favourite, Joe Roscoe on the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks. The Roscoe family were one of the most popular families to join the soap and the year after they joined Hollyoaks won ‘Best Soap’ at the Soap Awards for the first time in its nineteen year history.
On stage, Ayden made his West End theatre debut as Dr Treves in The Elephant Man at The Trafalgar Studios directed by Bruce Guthrie and then went on to play Malcolm on the National tour of Bedroom Farce directed by Sir Peter Hall.
In case your streaming service has been on pause, and you’ve never seen the movie, we follow former Secret Service agent turned bodyguard, Frank Farmer who is hired to protect superstar Rachel Marron from an unknown stalker. Each expects to be in charge; what they don’t expect is to fall in love.
This is very much a romantic thriller, where the thrills are many, the romance intense and the soundtrack is off the chart incredible with classics such as: Queen of the Night, So Emotional, One Moment in Time, Saving All My Love, Run to You, I Have Nothing, I Wanna Dance with Somebody and one of the biggest hit songs of all time – I Will Always Love You.
I’m sure you you know that Dolly Parton wrote that song, but do you realise it was all about Burt Reynolds when they starred in the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas?
Before we chat to Melody here’s our TOP FIVE THE BODYGUARD FACTS (all true of course)……
- IT’S FROM THE WRITER OF THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK AND RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK – Lawrence Kasdan wrote The Bodyguard in the mid-1970s, before he came to prominence as the screenwriter of The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Return of the Jedi. The Bodyguard would have been his first produced screenplay if it had been produced.
- THE SOUNDTRACK IS STILL A BESTSELLER – Thirty years on The Bodyguard is still the bestselling soundtrack album of all time, with more than 18 million copies worldwide. Only Michael Jackson’s Thriller, AC/DC’s Back in Black, and Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon have sold more.
- KEVIN COSTNER SUGGESTED USING I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU” – Whitney was originally going to record a cover of Jimmy Ruffin’s “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” as the soundtrack’s lead single, but that was scrapped when the filmmakers learned that the same song was being featured in Fried Green Tomatoes. According to Dolly Parton, it was Costner (who was also acting as producer) who loved her 1973 song “I Will Always Love You” and asked if Houston could record it for the film.
- THERE WAS ALMOST A SEQUEL – WITH PRINCESS DIANA – In late 1997, Kevin Costner said that at the time of Princess Diana’s death just a few months earlier, he’d been negotiating with her to star opposite him in a Bodyguard sequel and that the role would have been “loosely based on her life.”
- IT WAS ORIGINALLY INTENDED TO STAR STEVE MCQUEEN AND DIANA ROSS – Warner Bros. bought Lawrence Kasdan’s script (after many other studios rejected it) back in the ‘70s, intending it as a vehicle for Diana Ross and Steve McQueen – the Whitney and Kevin Costner of their day!
For those of us who were blessed to see Whitney Houston on stage, at her very best, know just how influential she was and continues to be as an artist.
Melody clearly has a special place for Whitney, and the show itself. She told us how she’s approaching the tour this time around after the huge success in china……
“I loved the show, I was jubilant doing it! I want the challenge. I’m really enjoying revisiting the show.
Whitney Houston is also very dear to me, and what she means to Black America. What she went through as a black girl singing pop music was brave. She battled a lot of preconceived notions in the industry, and what she did for me was help to create a lane for the little black girl in the pop group. She is important to me in that respect, so anytime I have the opportunity to sing Whitney’s hits I’m going to do it.”
We all love the movie of The Bodyguard, I presume you were a fan of the film growing up and did you rewatch it again after being cast?
“You know strangely I never watched the film when I was a kid. Ok, this is the honest truth – I watched the film for the first time when I knew I was doing The Bodyguard musical in China. I’d never seen the film, but the soundtrack was giving me life throughout my entire childhood. I love the movie now; I’ve seen it a million times!
I had a ticket for a special screening of The Bodyguard for the 30th Anniversary. I went to the movie theatre on my own and was so excited. Of course, only this would happen to me and a room full of Whitney Houston enthusiasts – the film starts playing… and it was a cartoon! The venue had messed up and were no longer able to show the film. People wanted to cry, including myself!”
Rachel is a complex character, but then she would be being such a big star in the story. How would you describe her?
“Rachel Marron is a popstar/ actress who is at the height of her career. She is definitely a diva, but kind of aloof and unaware of some of the issues that are going on behind the scenes. When someone starts sending letters and stealing clothes from her home and dressing room, a bodyguard is sent in to protect her.
Rachel is really focused on her son and trying to create the best life for him. She’s a single mother who is extremely high-functioning, so misses all the signs that something is wrong – but her team is also hiding the fact she has a stalker from her!”
I’m guessing there’s a few parallels with Rachel and your life in Pussycat Dolls?
Most people will know you from The Pussycat Dolls, one of the most celebrated girl groups of all time. How does your experience as a world-renowned songstress influence your interpretation of the role of Rachel Marron – are there any parallels?
“It’s just you doing the best job that you can, and the job of a popstar is a full-time, all-energy position. Everything you do is for that job. So, I can relate to the character in that way. There are also certainly things going on behind the scenes that your team aren’t going to bring up to you. But I would hope someone would have let me know if I had a stalker!
I’ve definitely experienced some enthusiastic fans who would forget that we were also people and would show up in Los Angeles and find us on the street. I had to hide in a restaurant one time for a couple of hours until security came to get me.”
You were actually the youngest member of The Pussycat Dolls. What was that like for you?
“In the early 00s it was very much sink or swim. I’m not resentful in any way for that, because I now have a structure that works for me that I created for myself. Of course, there were lovely people to jump in and say, ‘You might want to try it this way or that way’, but in the early 00s it was a lot of people minding their own business. However, there are so many people that I owe for my being here, and I’m grateful to them to this day.”
The Bodyguard features an incredible soundtrack, with all those Whitney hits. We all have our favourite but what’s the song you really love performing?
“My favourite number to perform is ‘Queen of the Night’, but my favourite song is ‘All The Man That I Need’. I watch Whitney’s live performances, because I’m always looking for what I call ‘bail outs’ – moments in the song that we know commercially to be sung a certain way, and then how she does them live. She was such a master, she would find ways to hit a note, working around the difficulty. In her performances of ‘All The Man That I Need’ I think she’s singing to God, as she grew up in the church. If you listen to the song, to me that’s what she’s saying – He’s all the man that she needs.”
Finally Melody, you’re at the Wales Millennium Centre next week what do you hope audience will take away from this production?
“I look forward to hopefully inspiring some kids to want to work on stage. The beautiful thing about theatre is that it’s live. I’m grateful to be the age that I am, and to have begun at the age that I did before people were relying on autotune. This sounds crazy, but what I look forward to are the mistakes, because it’s real. I think it’s beautiful to see a performer pick up the pieces and keep going if something goes wrong. I love that because it gives me room to just perform as an actress and sing as a singer.”
THE BODYGUARD gets to the Wales Millennium Centre From Monday 24th through to Saturday 29th April. Performances are at 7:30pm each evening with a 2:30pm matinee on Saturday. Tickets start at £19:50 and you can get yours HERE.