He was one of the first teen idols back in the 1950s, but Tommy Steele is still going strong today.

The entertainer, best known for the 1967 film Half a Sixpence, had a string of hit singles, film hits and success on the stage. But now he has turned his attention to the story of his hero, Glenn Miller. The bandleader, responsible for tunes such as In the Mood, Moonlight Serenade, Pennsylvania 6-5000 and Chattanooga Choo Choo, was on a plane that disappeared during the Second World War.

Since then, the mystery of what happened that night has left many wondering.
The Glenn Miller Story, a Bill Kenwright production, tells the tale of the world’s most famous musician with a 16-piece orchestra plus a full supporting company – and Tommy in the starring role.

The tour, which has been running for more than a year, ends next month.

It was a role of a lifetime...

Glenn Miller is my idol. I was taken by my parents to see him when I was a little boy. I was a kid during the Blitz. I was only four and all of a sudden over American Forces Network came this music saying Glenn Miller’s coming to England. My mum and dad were thrilled. My dad took me to the Albert Hall to see him. Today, all I can remember is this wonderful sound and then came the mystery of his death. It’s a great story. Glenn Miller was a man searching for the perfect sound and I loved that whole tale of him being so meticulous about his music. When you add that to the tragedy, you have all the material for a musical theatre show.

It’s a show about a man looking for a sound, then finding it...

And it is a fully blown song and dance musical, with a big orchestra. It’s got a wonderful “taste” to it, that’s all I can say. But this is not a concert, it’s a musical. People ask, “Are you going to be conducting the band?” I start it as me at 78, and get younger. I am Glenn Miller. James Stewart played him when he was 60. Age doesn’t matter as much in theatre as it does in film – people break out into song and dance, and that’s not real, so anything can happen. It’s a great example of music from the swing era, when he started out in the 1930s, and it works beautifully.

Touring is never that strenuous when you’re in a great show and you can’t wait to sing the songs, do the dances...

I can’t really explain it but you walk on stage, do two and a half hours and you’ve got an audience listening, you can’t be luckier than that, can you? I have as much fun going from here to Manchester as I do from going to my house to the Palladium every day, it’s the excitement of going to the theatre. When you go out on tour and start going north, south, east and west of London there are loads of great theatres out there and the people in those towns, they want to see great shows but they don’t get them because it costs a lot of money to travel them. I always say if I’m going to do a show I have to do three months first on the road because I love to get the reaction of those audiences. They can’t get to London every time to see a great musicals so the great musicals come to them. I tour because I want to be on the stage and I love meeting people.

You don’t really retire from showbiz...

I’m doing what I love. You can’t ask for more than that, can you? And people keep paying me to work!

SHOW DETAILS

The Glenn Miller Story is at the Orchard Theatre in Dartford from Tuesday, October 18 to Saturday, October 22.

For tickets from £18 call 01322 220000 or visit orchardtheatre.co.uk