Tell Me On A Sunday, Hull New Theatre, April 19 to 24

Steps began pop life with 5,6,7,8 in 1997. Two years ago, they split, but now Faye Tozer returns in the solo spotlight, starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black's one-woman show Tell Me On A Sunday, on tour at Hull New Theatre next week. Here she tells Charles Hutchinson about life after Steps...

Faye, you are diving in at the deep end in your musical debut at the age of 28, playing a single woman looking for love and herself, in a solo show that combines English wit with New York sass. How did this opportunity come your way?

"Well, Denise Van Outen's lawyer mentioned to my management that she was leaving the West End production and I was invited to audition. That was in November last year, and since then I've done some vocal and acting training in the West End, and now I'm working with director Christopher Luscombe in Bradford."

How does this musical experience contrast to your five years in Steps?

"Cast-wise, it's only me! This is a one-woman show, but it's not lonely, because there's a six-piece band and a technical crew, and my dressing lady, and the understudy, Cherelle, who's gorgeous! They're all my own age, so we all go out drinking and having a good time."

How does it feel to be on stage without Lisa, Claire, H and Lee?

"Yes, I am on my own, and I've never done this kind of show before, but I can see the musical director in a monitor, so I can pull faces at him! Since leaving Steps, I've done a single Someone Like You with the opera singer Russell Watson, and that was a step away from the pop scene, and this show is taking me still further away."

What made you say Yes to performing in Tell Me On A Sunday, a 1979 show that has been expanded and reworked into a West End musical with five new songs?

"I've been asked to do quite a few musicals, but this is the only one that I would do. This is much more credible than doing a cameo in something that's already out there.

There's lot of drama in the role; the character is like me and seems relevant to me and where I am now; and it's got this Sex And The City thing going on!

"It's great playing feisty and angry on stage, and I've really enjoyed the training I've had to do. With this show, I'm not just going on and waving at kids."

Before answering producer Pete Waterman's advert in The Stage to audition for Steps, what had been your theatrical and musical experience?

"I was fully qualified as a dancer, after training at the Anne Gale School of Dance in Luton, when I was living in Dunstable. That was after my A-levels and then I left to do professional dancing for two years, and when I came back I worked as a lounge singer at the Hilton, Park Lane.

"Then Steps came out of that Stage newspaper advert. I'd been working with people who were a lot older than me and I thought 'I can do this later on'. Five albums later, and Steps split, and I was thinking 'What should I do next?'. So I went away and got married to long-time love Jesper Irn."

You're doing eight performances a week for eight weeks on tour; have you missed being on stage?

"Now I'm back in the grind, I'm loving it, because adrenaline is something you never want to lose. This is my buzz. I do get nerves, but if I didn't I wouldn't do it. Once you lose your stage nerves and that sense of excitement goes, what's the point of doing it?

"You have to keep learning and challenging yourself, and for this show, I've been training, learning lines and I have to remember the words to 27 songs, with only me singing!"

Have you turned your back on pop?

"No. I spent a big part of last year in Los Angeles and London working on songs, which will eventually come out although the album isn't finished yet, but I would rather wait until the time is right because these days you don't get a second chance. You have to get it right the first time, especially someone like me, coming Steps.

"Pop is a career...but it's a huge career and I don't think I will ever know how it works; there's too much politics going on. Just when you think it's going well, it goes wrong, like the demise of Steps.

"What happens next? I don't know, but I'm working with a new team around me, and the options are open. I'll probably go out to LA again unless something more exciting comes along."

Is there any chance of a Steps re-union?

"Two years ago I would have said 'No way', but you never say never. I am speaking again to each of them, water under the bridge and all that. We've all grown up."

Tell Me On A Sunday, Hull New Theatre, April 19 to 24, 8pm, plus 2.30pm matinees, Thursday and Saturday. Tickets: £9 to £26.50 on 01482 226655.

Updated: 09:05 Friday, April 16, 2004