KIWI singer Delia Hannah is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s leading lady, selected to perform in The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber now touring NZ after Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Delia, who recently completed the Australian and Asian tours of Cats, playing Grizabella the “glamorous” cat, has travelled the world performing for 20 years.
Prior to Cats she starred in Les Misérables for two years. She has also played in bands, although she emphasises she is not a “rock chick”. Right now, she is Andrew Lloyd’s Webber’s chick.
“Andrew Lloyd Webber is the focus of this show. We are his oracles,” she says.
“I’ve dedicated a large part of my career to performing songs by Andrew so it’s only fitting that I celebrate his work with a production of this scale.”
The show features songs from The Phantom of the Opera, Evita, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and Love Never Dies. Hannah normally plays “tragic, strong” characters -  the “powerhouse” roles which “drive the story”, she says. In Les Misérables she played Fantine, in Evita it was Eva, and in Chess -  Florence.
“There are too many options sometimes. I can do everything and that’s the best way to be. I loved working with my body in Cats.
“Exercise and sleep are important and I have no dairy produce as it creates too much phlegm. For what I do phlegm is my enemy.”
Originally from Hastings, Auckland-based Delia has met composer Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber a few times.
“Nothing happens without Andrew’s approval. He likes to know who’s singing his stuff,” she says.
Hannah began by teaching arts and professional performance for four years.
“Everyone starts out somewhere. I did enjoy singing and went to Mass every Sunday to bang out a hymn or two. I liked mimicking and would try to imitate Julie Andrews. I had no formal training.”
Learning and remembering lyrics can be a challenge, she says, but the only time she experienced a complete mind blank was on the Good Morning show in 1997.
“You get so caught up in the lyrics I expect them to fall out of me. In With One Look (from Sunset Boulevard) you are thinking about the words and the ideas and become totally absorbed in the journey... You leave your troubles and check them out at the door.”
The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, St James Theatre, from May 10.