So long socks, as actress wins spot on musical tour

A GIRL from Checkendon will star in a touring musical theatre show.

Lydia Hunt, 24, will play Sophie in the UK tour of Mamma Mia!, which will visit 28 theatres from October 24 to January 3, 2027.

Miss Hunt will keep her natural red hair for the blonde character role and will be with the cast until August.

The story follows independent hotelier and mother, Donna, her daughter Sophie, and her three potential fathers on a Greek island, as Sophie’s wedding takes place.

The musical, which is celebrating its silver anniversary, features hits from ABBA, including Money, Money, Money, Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) and Dancing Queen.

Miss Hunt grew up surrounded by creative arts, with her family enjoying regular trips to the theatre.

She said: “I surrounded myself with a lot of creative things when I was younger, as did my family, always enjoying the performing arts.

“I was very lucky that my parents took me to the theatre as a kid, like pantomimes at Christmas, with the occasional trip to London.”

Miss Hunt has been a dancer since she was about two, when she did baby-tot ballet, and discovered her singing ability as a teenager after joining her school choir.

She participated in school plays, acting, dancing and on one occasion sang White Flag by Dido.

Miss Hunt said: “I joined the school choir and auditioned for solos and performed with a little band called Soul Train at school, where we sang pop songs around a piano at lunchtime on Wednesdays.”

While considering studying philosophy at university, she realised what she was passionate about.

She said: “Because I did a lot of school plays, when it came to sixth form, taking my A levels and going to university, I thought I would always regret not having tried drama and performing.

“My family was so supportive and I auditioned for some schools and got in, so I went.”

Miss Hunt completed a four-year acting course at Mountview, in Peckham, London, graduating in 2023. She said: “It was a crazy time because of covid, so we didn’t get any shows until we did three in the last year, which was insane.”

After being scouted by an agent to play Tinkerbell in Peter Pan in London after graduating, Miss Hunt secured her first major stage role after a long audition process.

She said: “My agent secured me my first job at a pantomime in London. While it was really good fun, it allowed me to get booked before I graduated, playing a small part in television before my big stage job.”

She received the news during a lunch break at her retail job.

Miss Hunt recalled: “I popped out for a 10-minute break to call my agent. When she told me, I burst into tears, and my best friend, who worked down the road, ran down it and gave me a massive hug.

“We were screaming in the street before I had to casually go back into my eight-hour shift like nothing happened, which was funny as I couldn’t stop smiling.” The audition process was extensive, involving around seven rounds over several months, with her being considered for various roles before being called back to play Sophie in the later stages.

Miss Hunt said: “In the first round, everyone learns a dance routine and round two was simply acting with some potential Sky [Sophie’s love interest] candidates. Then the last rounds were pretty much the same aspects with the same material, where they watched you with different people to work out who worked best.

“I felt nervous at the beginning, especially in rounds one and two but, after you get to know the auditioners, you realise that you just need to enjoy the process and whatever comes of it — I see it as a great free dance lesson.”

Her final audition round involved acting with her mutual friend, Joe, which made the experience more comfortable.

She said: “The last round was my favourite bit. I met and read with everyone but one of the boys, who was up for Sky, had left early because he was in a different show and they brought Joe and me in for a chemistry read. We had such a laugh.”

While she still gets nervous, Miss Hunt describes the feeling more as “excited butterflies”, compared to her childhood stage fright.

She said: “I remember when I sang White Flag in front of my Year 6 class, I was too nervous to do it by myself, so I sang it with my eyes closed. While I still get nervous now, it’s more of an excited butterfly feeling, rather than an ‘I’m too scared, I need to close my eyes’ feeling.”

“I remember when I was playing a character called Barbara Castle in the Made in Dagenham in third year in London. I was carrying a tray of glasses and they fell on the floor and smashed during a performance.

“In character, I said ‘Oops, someone will clean that up’, and I walked off stage as I didn’t want to break character.

“In that moment I realised I had grown as a performer and I was proud of myself for not breaking character, even though they stopped the show to clear it up.” She used to wear lucky watermelon socks for auditions but not any more.

Miss Hunt added: “Now my ritual is just getting an early night and staying hydrated, which is a little less cool than the watermelon socks.”