West End star takes Macbeth’s crown

International singing sensation and West End star Richard Munday has been signed to take the title role of Macbeth when the Shakespeare 4 Kidz musical visits Dubai.

Richard, aged 31, is a member of the acclaimed Twelve Tenors line-up which has fans all over the world. He was born in South Wales, and like many of his countrymen, Richard is blessed with a fine voice.

The Twelve Tenors are a talented group of Europe's finest singers who perform some of the greatest music of the 20th century from opera to pop, swing and numbers from the shows.

Richard will be singing in English for his role as the bloodthirsty Scottish warrior Macbeth. But as a member of the Twelve Tenors he sings in Spanish, Italian, French, German and even Chinese.

Richard’s previous Shakespeare credits include a raunchy leather-clad Tybalt in a tour of Romeo and Juliet, which saw him riding on to the stage on a flash Honda Fireblade motorbike, and the love-struck Prince Ferdinand (also for S4K) in The Tempest.

He takes over Macbeth’s crown from Jason Lee Scott, who toured with the show in the UK. And by a quirk of Fate, both actors have played ragamuffin twin Mickey in London’s long-running musical Blood Brothers.

Macbeth is a play about a man so ambitious that he cannot resist the prophecies of three witches that he will become King of Scotland. Urged on by his evil wife, he murders those who stand between him and the throne.

Over the years Shakespeare’s most bloody tragedy has gained a reputation of being an unlucky play and productions are often jinxed by misfortune. Even S4K’s UK tour had a glitch on Friday 13th (the most unlucky day in the British calendar) when a piece of technical equipment caused a theatre fire alarm to go off and the matinee audience had to be evacuated mid-performance.

Is Richard worried about the curse of the play? “I’m trying not to be superstitious about it. I hope to bring good luck to the Gulf,” he said.