Nigel Richards is an actor and singer best known in England for his work in musical theatre. Whilst still in training at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama he worked with Leonard Bernstein on the British stage premiere of Bernstein's Mass at the Barbican. He is currently a frequent lecturer on musical theatre in the United States, Malaysia and the United Kingdom.
Career
He spent four years in the Bridewell Theatre Company in the premieres of Floyd Collins, Hello Again, Songs for a New World, La La LaChiusa, the new Sondheim review, 'The Road You Didn't Take' & The Cutting Edge. Other premieres include Napoleon, Spend Spend Spend, Charlotte Salomon:Life Or Theatre, Baby, 10 Plagues by Mark Ravenhill & Conor Mitchell co-starring with Marc Almond, The Night Before My Wedding at the Latitude Festival 2014, written by Neil Gaiman and Lance Horne, and the role of Tom, the eponymous Stationmaster in the musical of the same name by Tim Connor and Sue Pearce. Other forays in the West End include The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera, Father Dominic in Martin Guerre, Grantaire and Enjolras in Les Misérables and Dan in Kurt Weill'sSongs From A Hotel Bedroom. For over two years he toured in Bob Wilson's production of Tom WaitsThe Black Rider, taking over the lead role when Marianne Faithfull became indisposed. Work since then has included playing Sienna Miller's father in As You Like It, and the revival of Kurt Weill's 1933 Der Silbersee at the Wexford Festival Opera. Other theatre work has included: Ghosts, Macbeth, and Chris Monks' revisionist Mikardo, Blood Brothers, The Caucasian Chalk Circle & Cyclops, The Glass Menagerie, Hair, Ayckbourne's Me, Myself & I, MTL's The Marriage of Figaro, and The World Goes Round. Nigel returned to Scarborough to be directed by Ayckbourne himself in the revival of By Jeeves. Subsequent theatre includes Frederick in A Little Night Music, the lead in 'Son of a Preacher Man', and The Ghost of Christmas Present for Antic Disposition's 'A Christmas Carol' at Middle Temple. Richards' occasional TV work includes Holby City, Doctors, Judge John Deed, Moon & Sun, Virgin Birth, Sparkle Baby Sparkle. Richards co-wrote the award-winning short film The Crouch End Negotiator in 2007 and co-starred in Lucky old Bag the following year. His newest short, Crime Central, was released in 2015. Having seen Richards in The Black Rider, Scott Walker invited him to appear in London at the Barbican, performing with Jarvis Cocker and Damon Albarn in Drifting and Tilting: The Songs of Scott Walker in the songs Clara, Jolson and Jones, and Farmer in the City. He recorded his debut album in 2009, called A Shining Truth, a collection of previously unrecorded songs by Adam Guettel, Michael John LaChiusa, Conor Mitchell & Others, which was released on 3 August 2009. Prior to the launch Richards played Stryver in the HBO film of A Tale Of Two Cities. Richards taught 'Acting through song' for 8 years at Arts Educational School in Chiswick, but now teaches around the world under the auspices of Dama Asia, based in Kuala Lumpur, and principally at The University of West London, and at The London School of Musical Theatre as a guest lecturer. He is Honorary Patron of The Northern Musical Theatre Orchestra and BigLittle Theatre School.
