Interview with Josh St. Clair, Glory Ride

Glory Ride is a newly written musical that follows the true story of Gino Bartali. An Italian man who, following his win of the Tour de France in 1938 and his subsequent rise to stardom, used his fame and cycling skills to help smuggle Jewish children out of Mussolini’s Florence.

Bringing Gino Bartali’s character to life is Josh St. Clair. Enjoy an interview with the leading man himself about this new musical performing at At Charing Cross Theatre until 29 July.

So to begin with Josh, can you tell us a little bit about Glory Ride?

Glory Ride is a brand-new musical, telling the story of Italian cyclist Gino Bartali and his role as part of the Italian Resistance during World War II. He was a Tour de France champion, and essentially used his platform as the country’s sporting hero to cover up the truth that he was in fact, hiding fake identity papers in his bike frame for persecuted, innocent people in Italy, and riding these documents across the country to enable them to escape safely. It’s a pretty crazy tale, set in a really harrowing time, but with some really beautiful themes as part of it such asfighting for what’s right, resistance, love and friendship.

You play the lead role of Gino Bartali, what has it been like developing a non-fictional character? What has been your favourite part about bringing Gino and unearthing more about him?

Honestly, the whole experience has been really beautiful for me. I never took playing Gino lightly, especially as I’m not an Italian myself and I knew that there would probably be many Italian eyes on the project and Italian audience members coming to see the show. Mostly I just wanted to tell his story well. Developing that in a rehearsal room has been fun.

My favourite part about bringing Gino to life has definitely been finding the parts of myself within him. For example, obviously I will never know, and books can only tell you so much about these things, Gino’s sense of humour. So having to find that out for myself, mainly being helped through the writing and what the script tells me about him, but finding out these answers through playing in the rehearsal space, seeing what lines I feel suit him, and developing it from there. Plus letting go and not being overly obsessive about it being 100% factually accurate because at the end of the day that is impossible to do. This is not a documentary, this is an artistic interpretation. So all we need is enough truth in there about who he was as an athlete and as a person, to make him recognisable to the audience as Gino.

READ: Our Glory Ride Review ★ ★ ★

When developing your portrayal of Gino, what tools have you used to help you shape that?

I’ve done my research. I’ve read a lot of things and watched various things online I’ve been able to find. A particular book called 'Road to Valour' really gave me an insight in to who Gino was, plus cool facts such as his specific riding style, plus his personal experiences of winning the Tour de France and what he had to go through and sacrifice in order to achieve that, particularly the second time when everyone had written him off. Even though we never get to that part of his life in the show, it’s still really useful information to have in knowing who Gino fundamentally was as a person.

I’m also a massive geek when it comes to sport psychology, as I think a lot of that crosses over to what we experience as actors, so I’ve absolutely used my knowledge on that as a tool, especially during the early stages of the show where Bartali is fighting to make his cycling dreams happen.

Crazily enough, my favourite athlete in the world is the tennis player Novak Djokovic, and during my readings about Bartali, I began noticing so many scary similarities in their lives. Not only the obvious that they both made it to the top of their respective sports, but more intimate things such as their underprivileged childhoods, both living through experiences of war in their country, their fiery tempers, their dedication to their faith. So whilst some of the video references of Bartali were lacking, if I ever needed a reference to how he might carry himself or how he would potentially react to some of the situations he faces in the show, I’ve absolutely used Djokovic as a template for that.

It is a new musical, does that bring any pressure to present something different for audiences who will know very little about the show itself?

Firstly, I think new musicals are very difficult. People seem to be more and more put off by idea of creating something completely new and so to be doing this at all in a way is kind of a risk and creates its own pressures. But equally the source material is genuinely interesting, and I think appeals to many different types of audiences, not just your regular theatregoers, but it could also definitely attract people such as history fanatics or cycling fans.

In a strange way, there isn’t really any pressure because there isn’t anything to compare it to. It’s brand new and telling an amazing story. The only pressure I put upon myself is doing Gino’s story justice, but actually being able to play him I just see as a privilege, and to be able to educate our audiences about this man and the people that he lived through these experiences with is a joy. People will always have opinions on theatre. You may like it, you may not like it, but that is also the beauty of art itself because we are not designed to like the same things. People have different tastes and therefore when you’re making something new you have to accept that you can’t control whether people are going like it or not. All you can do is try your hardest to come together and between the cast and creatives in the room co-create a piece of entertainment that we can be proud of.

What has been your favourite part about working on Glory Ride?

I’ve touched on this before when I’ve talked about the process with friends and colleagues and it’s simply just having had the chance to be creative in a rehearsal space. Coming from a career that has so far mainly involved fabulous large-scale musicals such as Wicked and Frozen, this has been totally different. They are undoubtedly amazing shows and I’m grateful for my experiences in them but naturally because they have their winning formula to success, there isn’t always massive amounts of room for artistic growth and development. Please know I am not taking anything away from those aforementioned shows. They are the absolute powerhouse forces that they are for a reason. But in this particular case, on a much smaller scale in terms of both theatre and budget, it’s been very refreshing and fulfilling to be in a space where I have had a creative voice that is listened to and respected. I feel very lucky.

What song in the production should people watch out for?

People should look out for any time Amy Di Bartolomeo opens her mouth. Serious pipes people. Fun story, I went to go support my friend who is a super swing in 'Six'. Amy was Catherine of Aragon, and from the second she opened her mouth during 'No Way', I was just like “who is that!?” I tweeted about her after the show saying if you can’t afford to see Beyoncé‘s next tour, just go down to the Vaudeville and watch Amy, because it’s pretty much the same thing. Now fast forward and here we are working together and we genuinely get on so well. I know I’ve made a really special friend and it’s actually beautiful to share this experience with her. And also just to be clear, she is so much more than an amazing voice. She is an actress. An intelligent and honest actress, which I feel theatre fans should respect alongside her unbelievable instrument.

Sorry I digressed, back to the show! I think there’s some gorgeous numbers to take note of such as '800 Souls' and 'Nothing Feels Beautiful Anymore', alongside some real bops such as 'Promises', 'Green Eye Shades' and 'Take the Wheel'.

Why should people book their tickets to see Glory Ride?

Very simply, people should book to see 'Glory Ride' because it’s a remarkable true story, and is opening many eyes up to the legacy of a man who should be celebrated for so much more than just how fast he went on a bike.

Book your tickets for Glory Ride at Charing Cross Theatre until 29 July.