Fiddler on the Roof actor Chris is coming back to the Empire which inspired his dream career

Liverpool actor Chris Draper made his West End debut in the latest production of Fiddler on the Roof.

And while it was a ‘dream come true’ to appear in the iconic musical at the Barbican, he can’t wait to bring it to his home city – and the theatre which first inspired his career.

After a sell-out season in London this summer Chris, 34, is now touring with Fiddler on the Roof which arrives at the Empire from Tuesday, and he says:

“I can remember getting last minute tickets to 42^nd Street at the Empire as a 15-16 year old, and sitting there thinking I would love to do this one day.

“There was something about the whole ensemble numbers. It was so rousing and it looked so much fun, and I just thought imagine if I could do that.

“It spurred me on to study performing arts at university and then do a Master’s in musical theatre.

“So it’s amazing that that dream became a reality and now I get to come back … and I’ve done it.”

Although he moved around a lot because his father was in the military, Chris spent his first year of life in the city and, later, four years in Formby where he went to Woodlands Primary School.

He still has family in Liverpool where his grandfather, who lived near Liverpool Cathedral, worked on the docks.

And, while his goal of becoming a musical theatre actor may have been further fuelled by that visit as a teenager, the fire was possibly lit many years earlier by his dad, a former chorister at the Anglican Cathedral.

Chris says:

“My dad played the piano and I learned the clarinet from when I was younger because he thought it was always good to have an instrument. And even though my brother and sister have nothing to do with the industry, I was the one who stuck to it.

“I think having that influence, and my mum said she used to tap dance, there’s something of both sides of them merging into me.

“Plus I feel I have been theatrical from a young age. I would always put on shows in the stairwell of my house and force my family to watch; puppet shows and different things like that, I was always in that world.

“It was a weird transition from doing that and loving it so much and doing it as an actual job week in and week out around the UK, because not many people can turn a hobby into a career.

“But I’ve been working my way up ever since.”

Chris started in family theatre shows with a production company of four who ‘had to break the set down at the end of the night and drive in a van to another town’ from which he says he’s learned a lot of stage craft and how the theatre world works.

He’s gone on from then to bigger roles like Beetlejuice in Beetlejuice, and he was ensemble and cover for Dewey Finn in School of Rock.

Chris is swing in Fiddler on the Roof, the 1964 musical that led to the legendary 1971 film starring Topol, and which has familiar songs like If I Were a Rich Man, Tradition, and Matchmaker.

It’s set in 1905 in the tiny village of Anatevka where Tevye, a Jewish milkman, lives his life by their proud traditions. For his five daughters, that means a visit from the matchmaker, yet as each daughter challenges his beliefs in a changing world, Tevye must try to hold on to his roots or learn to embrace the unfamiliar.

It’s a classic and joyous tale of revolution and community – a community like the one Chris says has been created with the cast: “The whole company here really gets on; it’s a huge team effort.”

He goes on:

“It’s the full West End production that’s touring, it’s the same set, they haven’t reduced the size of the band or the cast which is unusual, and it’s amazing to be in something this big that’s so appealing and enduring.

“On a base level the music is longstanding, there’ll be songs that people won’t realise they know, and on a deeper level the themes of the show are so apparent and can apply to anyone today. It’s about community and family relationships. We see the father teaching the girls and the girls in turn teaching him how to move on in the world, all relatable today.

“It’s a non-traditional staging of Fiddler on the Roof with a lot of the community on stage for a lot of the show creating different scenes, and with the flow of that it doesn’t seem like an old musical. It feels current while still honouring the original which is why it’s been so successful.”

Chris has seen so many shows at the Empire and is thrilled to finally be performing there himself for the first time.

“It is a bit of a homecoming and there’s something about picturing the boy who used to sit in those seats now on the other side. The fact that my family are going to be there is going to be amazing and such a buzz.

“I just know the audiences in Liverpool are going to love it and I’m so excited to get out there and share it with everyone.”

Find out more about Fiddler on the Roof at the Liverpool Empire here.

Find more theatre events across Liverpool here.

Find out what’s good up North on our new platform, The Northern Guide. 

From the best hotels, beauty spots, days out, food and more up North – visit thenorthernguide.com and follow The Northern Guide on Instagram HERE.