Introducing... Cavin Cornwall, who will play Billy Flynn in Chicago in York this autumn.

Why is Chicago such a swell show to perform in, Cavin?

"It's possibly my favourite show I've ever done because it has everything that choreographer Bob Fosse wanted in a show: you need to be able to act, sing and dance.

"When other Billy Flynns do the show, sometimes they can only do one of the three really well; very few get to do all three really well, but I do!"

How come you are such an all-rounder?

"I trained at a theatrical school - the Doreen Bird College in Sidcup, Kent - which was a very good, all round, general college for the performing arts and while I was there I was working like a trouper. That set me up on all fronts for all mediums, and before I left I had my full Equity card, and I was doing films, commercials, video promos. You name it, I was doing it!"

What drew you to dance and musicals?

"I was offered the chance to go straight into film but I chose not to because I really wanted the feel of a dance show, like doing Dave Clarke's Time as a dancer. I wanted to go through the business of learning my craft, and from my perspective you can only do that through theatre, which is the hardest genre."

A role such as Billy Flynn must be the reward for all that hard work.

"Billy is a one-off. Apart from Sky Masterson in Guys And Dolls, you will never get a role like this, where he sings and dances and acts and has total control, and you have to be good at all those disciplines or people will see any flaws. You have to give it 110 per cent.

"In Chicago, Billy Flynn sets the tone and the pace: he is the lights, camera, action. He's like the master puppeteer, he controls everything, and I love the suaveness, the sophistication, of the character, and it fits me like a glove. That's why they always ask me to do it and why I will move things around to do it again."

How long have you been playing Billy?

"By the time this tour finishes in June 2005, I'll have been doing the show for about four and a half years. I missed out on the original American revival - which Madonna was to do at one point - but I did do another Bob Fosse show and the original Chicago revival over here. Then I did the world and the European tour, took a break to do some concerts, then took a short contract to play Billy Flynn in the West End before David Hasselhoff took over from me. Now I'm in the middle of rehearsals for this tour, and the opening night will be here in York."

Your first impressions of the Grand Opera House stage and auditorium?

"We will be doing the full-scale production in York and, for me, this is the perfect theatre to play it in. I've played to 5,000-seaters in Japan and we packed them in in Korea, where the kids were hot for anything American and English, but for me, and for the show, it's meant to be in a small theatre. Working closely with choreographer Ann Reinking, the show has very much a vaudevillian approach; you are up close to the audience.

"There are no huge chandeliers descending into the stalls; the audience is there to see the talent, and we have fabulous talent in this company: as good, if not better, than the West End.

"We're very sassy, very sharp and very pacy."

Fact file

Name: Cavin Cornwall

Occupation: Actor

Former career: England junior karate champion at 17; briefly member of England senior karate squad

Training: Doreen Bird College, Kent

Theatre credits: Billy Flynn in Chicago, national tour, Adelphi Theatre in London, Japan, Korea; Narrator in Nil By Mouth, Duke of York, London; Rum Tum Tugger, Cats; John, Miss Saigon, Theatre Royal, London; Police Sergeant in The Full Monty, Prince of Wales, London; Ragtime, International Festival of Musical Theatre, Cardiff Television: Streets Ahead; The Lenny Henry Show; The Look Of Love

Films: Cole; Fox Trap; Lloyd Webber's remake of Jesus Christ Superstar

Commercially speaking: Voice-overs for television, radio and animation. Provided voice for Biggie Smalls in Channel 4's cult show House Of Rock; sang Hairy Old Cortina in Nescafe commercial

Where, when and why in York this autumn?: Grand Opera House, October 26 to November 6, playing Billy Flynn in Chicago. Performances are at 7.30pm, Monday to Thursday; 5.30pm, 8.30pm, Friday; 5pm, 8pm, Saturday

Box office: 0870 606 3595

Updated: 09:12 Friday, August 13, 2004