By james art Maz Murray, who has starred in many cult classic West End shows including We Will Rock You and Mamma Mia!, will be heading to Birmingham Symphony Hall for her latest venture Maz Murray: The Music of Dusty Springfield’.
The unique show will be a celebration of the life and talent of Dusty Springfield, considered by many to be one of the greatest female vocalists of all time.
With hits like “I Only Want to Be With You” and “Son of a Preacher Man,” Dusty’s influence continues to resonate in modern music even today, after her death in 1999.
In a rather full-circle moment, Maz is delighted to be back in the region where he began his professional career aged 21, playing Dusty in Only the Lonely at the Birmingham Hippodrome in 1996.
She said: “I love Birmingham and always have.
“You have a nice city and I’m thrilled to be back, to be able to play in your Symphony Hall.
“I’m so excited about it [the show] will be born here.”
Birmingham will be just one of two cities to host the show, the other being Mazz’s hometown of London.
The show will see favorite songs from Dusty’s songbook brought to life by Mazz’s powerful vocals and a 23-piece orchestra, taking the audience on a journey through the music icon’s life.
Mazz said: “This show isn’t just for Dusty fans, it’s for live music lovers.
“I hope it will take audiences back to times in their lives when they remember how they felt when these songs were at the top of the charts.
“I’ve always wanted to do her songbook with an orchestra, so when you’re given the opportunity to do that in a venue like Birmingham Symphony Hall, you take it.
“It will be a chance to hear these songs processed in their best possible form.”
The musical theater star hopes this show will be “the perfect way to showcase her”.
She said: “Dusty could sing the phone book and not many singers can do that. It is one-time.
“I do my own versions of her great songs, but that comes with responsibility.
“I want to do Dusty justice and do her fans a favor.”
Mazz hinted that she has some surprises up her sleeve for the show, but she exclusively revealed that she’ll be joined on stage by none other than Madeline Bell – lifelong friend and back-up vocalist for Dusty himself.
She said: “You’ve been reading it on the radio all your life and you don’t even know it.
“I feel very privileged that Madeline wanted to be involved and that she was so kind to me and what we were doing.
“She was so grateful that we were showing Dusty the right way.”
Despite his fame and success, Dusty had a tragic personal life that Maz didn’t want to be the focus of the show.
She said: “Dusty’s personal life is not really related to the concert because everyone knows her story and I think it should stay hers.
“Tonight isn’t about talking about her sorrows – it’s about talking about all her triumphs.”
Ahead of her show’s world premiere, Mazz shared how excited she is to come to Birmingham for a reason other than just her performance.
She added: “My lovely driver Jimmy told me I should go to his parents’ house for dinner.
“I believe his mum is making me what he says will be ‘the greatest curry of my life’ so I’m really looking forward to it!”
Mazz will step into the shoes of Dusty at Birmingham Symphony Hall on November 21, supported by the Novello Orchestra.
A very limited number of tickets can be purchased from the Birmingham Symphony Hall website