Rent In Concert, Grand Opera House, York, February 12

“He’s had a burning ambition to be on the stage for years,” said his mum, Pauline. “It’s all he’s ever wanted to do – dance and sing. He’s got the bug from seeing West End shows and he wants to be a part of it.”

He was 16 then and has been “part of it” ever since, carving out a career in musical theatre across the world, appearing Chicago and Fame in the West End and the UK tour of Cats, as well as choreographing and directing such shows as a stage adaptation of the Francis Ford Coppola movie Dracula.

On Wednesday, he returns to his home city, playing the cross-dressing Angel in the 20th anniversary tour of Rent In Concert at the Grand Opera House, York.

“It’s a rock opera, so it’s a sing-through show with very little dialogue, so that’s made it ideal to do it as a fully staged version,” he says.

Ian saw the original Broadway production of Jonathan Larson’s New York musical shortly before it closed. “I remember thinking I’d never get the chance to be in it, though I had a wish list of four shows: Cats, Fame, Chicago… and Rent,” he says.

“Thankfully, with this concert version of Rent, I’ve done them all now through a lot of blood, sweat and tears.

“I did Chicago at the Cambridge Theatre, in London, playing another cross-dressing character, Mary Sunshine, and I ended up playing opposite Jerry Springer, doing a week with him. He was a lawyer by profession, but always a performer too, so he was perfect casting for lawyer Billy Flynn.”

Now Ian’s focus falls on drag queen Angel, one of a group of young musicians and artists struggling to make ends meet in New York City’s Lower East Side under the shadow of HIV and Aids.

“Angel is a street performer and a drummer and percussionist, with no money, living in the Village at a time when there were loads of squatters. He’s very flamboyant, very lovable and he’s HIV positive.

“When you first meet him he’s dressed as a guy in a woolly hat and then he turns up on Christmas Day in a Mrs Santa Claus costume. What’s wonderful about him is that he’s a very gorgeous character.”

First staged off-Broadway in 1996, Rent continues to pack a punch in 2014.

“The reason it’s so great is that it’s really true and honest and doesn’t overcook the egg,” says Ian. “It’s very real; Jonathan Larson cleverly wrote songs that tell the moment as it is.

“Everyone can relate to these characters, no matter who you are, from the upright characters to a character like Angel, who has that drive and ambition to get somewhere.”

Ian had that drive and ambition too, boosted by his “amazing” drama teacher, Bev Veasey, at Oakland Comprehensive (now York High).

“For me, at school, as someone growing up maybe a little different, when I was 15/16 and she was in her early 20s, she took me through my GCSEs when I was really wanting to get into the arts but I didn’t know how, and she said ‘you can do anything’,” he says.

“I remember how she ran into my maths class to tell me I’d been accepted into Theatreworks, and this uptight teacher looked at her and said, ‘What are you doing?’. ‘Ian’s just got into drama college’, she told him!”

Ian’s natural exuberance continues to serve him well, not least in his cross-dressing cabaret turn as Velma Celli.

“I now have a residency at the Hippodrome in London, when I can fit it in around anything else I’m doing, but it’s usually on the last Friday of the month.

“I’m part of a revue show with a live band, aerial acts, gymnasts and burlesque stars, and my character Velma Celli is a little bit Mary Sunshine and a little bit my favourite character from Chiacgo, Velma Kelly.”

How did Ian choose the name Velma Celli? “A group of us had gone out in cross-dressing gear and I was eating vermicelli noodles in Chinatown dressed as Velma Kelly, so the name was obvious. There was only one way to go.”

• Rent In Concert, Grand Opera House, York, Wednesday, 7.30pm. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or atgtickets.com/york