SHERIDAN Smith has pleaded with fans to book up for her under-fire musical as she admitted there’s “so much pressure”.
The actress’ new play Opening Night has already seen ticket prices slashed – as well as audience members walking out of the West End’s Gielgud Theatre.
The musical of the 1977 movie has now been left in chaos with Gavin and Stacey star Sheridan, 42, now admitting she is feeling the heat.
She told Radio 2’s Scott Mills show on Tuesday: “I get terrified, it’s worse as I get older.
“I was fearless when I moved to London.
“Now, there’s so much pressure.”
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She then insisted to listeners: “It’s [Opening Night] absolutely fascinating and fun… Please come!”
Curtain’s up
In the show, Sheridan plays functioning alcoholic actress Myrtle Gordon.
Her character suffers a mental breakdown and leans on booze to help her through after she is left devastated by the death of a teenage fan.
One theatre buff has already compared the performance to a “multi-lane pile-up,” while another dubbed it “tragic”.
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Stefan Kyriazis, the Arts Editor for Express said: “As the curtain fell, the poor ladies in front of me muttering, ‘I don’t understand – what just happened?’ echoed the bewildered slump of an audience who sat (some smartly snoozed) through Rufus Wainwright’s tuneless tunes, endless pointless and intrusive camerawork (enough, already), some atrocious acting and frustratingly bad staging.”
According to another critic: “Half the audience loved it, the other half hated it.”
Mental health battle
Sheridan has previously addressed her battles with anxiety, depression and addiction.
The Fat Friends actress told how these increased the more successful she became, winning rave reviews for her performances on stage and in TV dramas including Cilla and The C Word.
During her career, she’s received BAFTA and Olivier awards, but despite the glory, she hid her mental health issues.
The new play sees her staggering around the streets of London’s Soho as she portrays her alcoholic character in stark detail.
She previously told The Sun on Sunday that even amid her own booze sessions, “I have never turned up crawling into the theatre.”
The star has described the role as a “sign” after she also hit rock bottom in 2016 while starring in London’s West End as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, cancelling one show 15 minutes into the performance.
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Speaking backstage following her first show, she said: “It is kind of like therapy.”
She added: “I love leaving it all on the stage. I have to say, it is quite fun doing that scene outside.”
