Natalie Pilkington is an English actress, singer, and dancer. She is currently a universal swing in the 2023-25 West End Production and the 2023-24 UK Tour of Six the Musical, beginning on 17 October 2023.
Natalie was previously an alternate and the dance captain in the 2022-23 UK Tour of from 10 March 2022 to 23 April 2023, as well as the English leg of the South Korean Production from 10 to 26 March 2023; a temporary swing in the 2023-24 UK Tour from 25 April to 18 May 2023; and a swing in the 2021-22 UK Tour from 8 June 2021 to 9 March 2022. Natalie was originally a swing and the show captain in the first Bliss Cruise Production[1] from 18 September 2019 to 4 March 2020. She temporarily took over the role of Jane Seymour from 21 January to 16 February 2020.
Natalie was additionally a standby in the 2019-21 West End Production on 14 March 2020, and emergency covered Catherine of Aragon, Catherine Parr, and Jane Seymour in the 2021-22 West End Production in March and June 2022.
Roles[]
Timeline[]
Production | Timespan | Temporary Principal | First Covers | Second Covers | Third Covers |
First Bliss Cruise Production | 6 September 2019 – 21 January 2020 | Catherine of Aragon | |||
Anna of Cleves | |||||
Catherine Parr | |||||
21 January – 16 February 2020 | Jane Seymour | ||||
16 February – 4 March 2020 | Catherine of Aragon | ||||
Jane Seymour | |||||
Anna of Cleves | |||||
Catherine Parr | |||||
2021-22 UK Tour | 8 June 2021 - 6 March 2022 | All Queens | |||
2022-23 UK Tour | 10 March 2022 – 23 April 2023 | Jane Seymour | Catherine of Aragon | Anne Boleyn | |
Catherine Parr | Anna of Cleves | Katherine Howard | |||
2023-25 West End Production & 2023-24 UK Tour |
As of 17 October 2023 | All Queens |
Short-Term Roles[]
Production | Timespan | First Covers | Second Covers | Emergency Cover |
2019-21 West End Production | 14 March 2020 | Catherine of Aragon | ||
Jane Seymour | ||||
Anna of Cleves | ||||
Catherine Parr | ||||
2021-22 West End Production | • 5 - 6 March 2022 • 5 & 7 June 2022 |
Catherine of Aragon | ||
3 – 4 June 2022 | Catherine Parr | |||
5 June 2022 | Jane Seymour | |||
2023-24 UK Tour | 25 April – 18 May 2023 | Jane Seymour | Catherine of Aragon | |
Anne Boleyn | ||||
Catherine Parr | Anna of Cleves | |||
Katherine Howard |
Performance Dates[]
Role | Debut Performance | Final Performance | Emergency Performances |
Bliss 1.0: 31 October 2019 UK Tour 3.0: 19 June 2021[2] UK Tour 4.0: 19 May 2022[3] UK Tour 5.0: 8 March 2024 West End 5.0: 28 October 2023 |
Bliss 1.0: 2019-20 UK Tour 3.0: 11 January 2022[4] UK Tour 4.0: 6 October 2022 |
West End 3.0: 5 March 2022[5] 6 March 2022 5 June 2022 7 June 2022 | |
UK Tour 3.0: 10 June 2021[6] UK Tour 4.0: 22 April 2022[7] UK Tour 5.0: 6 March 2024 |
UK Tour 3.0: 23 October 2021[8] UK Tour 4.0: 28 December 2022 |
||
Bliss 1.0: 21 January 2020 UK Tour 3.0: 1 August 2021[9] UK Tour 4.0: 16 March 2022[10] West End 5.0: 24 October 2023 |
Bliss 1.0: 2020 UK Tour 3.0: 13 November 2021[11] UK Tour 4.0: 20 April 2023[12] |
West End 3.0: 5 June 2022 UK Tour 5.0: 13 May 2023 | |
Bliss 1.0: 31 December 2019 UK Tour 3.0: 31 August 2021[13] UK Tour 4.0: 17 March 2022[14] West End 5.0: 28 January 2024 UK Tour 5.0: 9 March 2024 |
Bliss 1.0: 2019-20 UK Tour 3.0: 20 October 2021[15] UK Tour 4.0 8 May 2022 |
UK Tour 5.0: 27 April 2023 | |
UK Tour 3.0: 10 July 2021[16] UK Tour 4.0: 22 March 2022[17] |
UK Tour 3.0: 15 January 2022[18] UK Tour 4.0: 22 March 2022 |
||
Bliss 1.0: 18 September 2019 UK Tour 3.0: 22 September 2021 UK Tour 4.0: 23 March 2022[19] West End 5.0: 23 February 2024 |
Bliss 1.0: 2019-20 UK Tour 3.0: 5 February 2022[20] UK Tour 4.0: 22 April 2023 |
West End 3.0: 3 June 2022[21] 4 June 2022 UK Tour 5.0: 12 May 2023 |
Stage Credits[]
Stage Credits | |||
Year | Production | Role | Theatre |
2008 | Lysistrata | Lysistrata | Liverpool Theatre School |
2009 | Into the Woods | Baker's Wife | Liverpool Theatre School |
2009-10 | Jack & the Beanstalk | Dancer/Ensemble | Southport Theatre & Convention Centre |
2010 | The Laramie Project | Rebecca Hilliker/Mormon Home Teacher/Rulon Stacey/Governor Jim Geringer | Liverpool Theatre School |
2011 | Sleeping Beauty | Princess Aurora | ??? |
2012-13 | Cinderella | Ugly Sister (Susannah) | ??? |
2013-14 | Jack & the Beanstalk | Princess | Bolton Albert Halls |
2014-15 | Aladdin | Princess | Billingham Forum Theatre |
2016-17 | Jack & the Beanstalk | Fairy Butterbean | Middleton Arena |
2017-18 | Wannabe: The Spice Girls Show | Sporty Spice | UK Tour |
2019-20, 2021-23, 2023 - Present | Six | Onboard Swing/Show Captain, Swing, Alternate Seymour/Parr/Dance Captain, Universal Swing | Norwegian Bliss, UK Tour, Shinhan Card Artium, Vaudeville Theatre |
2020-21 | Jack & the Beanstalk | Fairy Butterbean | M&S Bank Arena Liverpool |
2023 - 24 | Beauty and the Beast | Fairy | Litchfield Garrick Theatre |
Trivia[]
- Natalie had originally auditioned for the West End production.
- Natalie has met eleven current and past cast members of Six in auditions, including most of the 2019-20 UK tour cast, as well as Collette Guitart.
- Natalie was accidentally cast as first cover for Katherine Howard instead of Catherine Parr; she later found out that the costumers of Six had already made her a swing costume for Katherine Howard.
- In addition to this, Natalie's trousers that she wore for both Jane Seymour and Catherine Parr were accidentally made to fit Bryony Duncan, so if it wasn't for the stirrups at the bottom, they would have been too short.
- Natalie made her debut in the show as Catherine Parr.
- The first role Natalie learned was Anna of Cleves.
- Prior to boarding the ship, Natalie had not learned the role of Jane Seymour as she was not meant to cover it; she learned the role five days before she was scheduled to perform it.
- When Alicia Corrales left for the 2019-20 UK Tour, Natalie was asked whether she wanted to learn the roles of Jane Seymour or Katherine Howard; she chose the former because she had sung for Jane Seymour more at her initial audition.
- Natalie has said that her favourite queen to perform as is Catherine Parr
- However, her favourite costume to wear was her Anna of Cleves costume, but she does like wearing her Parr trousers and her shoulder pads for Aragon.[22]
- Natalie's favourite part about being in the Bliss cruise cast is getting to wake up in a different place every day, go exploring and travelling the world.[22]
- According to Natalie, Jane Seymour is the hardest queen to play physically.
- Natalie says that Catherine of Aragon and Anna of Cleves are most similar to her personality.
- Natalie was seen at first for Jane Seymour and Katherine Howard, neither of which were her first covers.
- Natalie's favourite dance number is Get Down.
- Natalie's favourite musical is Six.
- Natalie's go-to Haus of Holbein dance moves are "the Hike" from Fortnite or "the Crab".
- Natalie's favourite moment in the show is the I Don't Need Your Love remix, but she also enjoys the Megasix.
- Natalie's favourite line is "I mean, we've literally been doing it for the past hour, so...", which is said by Jane Seymour.[22]
- Natalie says it takes her the longest to get ready for a show if she is on for Anna of Cleves.
- Natalie's funniest memory from the show is when Candace Furbert changed her riff in No Way because the whole cast was in awe for the rest of the song.
- If Natalie could play any other queen, she would want to play Anne Boleyn. She claims this is because Viquichele Cross wouldn't be able to handle it if she played Katherine Howard with her accent.
- Natalie's favourite onstage mishap was when there was too much smoke during the starting scene, as well as when the other queens would fall down the stairs; but she also said one night when someone brought a Chucky doll into the audience was extremely hilarious. [22]
- Natalie says that performing on the Bliss was extra exhausting because the stage is much larger than the Arts Theatre's stage.
- Due to Natalie temporarily taking over the role of Jane Seymour from Caitlin Tipping, the role was the one she played the most during the Bliss Cruise production; she played the role for 16 performances.
- Natalie's personal queenspiration is Jennifer Lopez.[22]
- Natalie sang as Catherine Parr in the Worldwide Six video.
- Natalie performed as Catherine of Aragon at West End Live 2021.
- Natalie is the first actress in Six to wear two different alternate costume colours: black and pink.
- She wore the black alternate costume during her time with the first Bliss Cruise Production and 2021-22 UK Tour and has been wearing the pink alternate costume since the 2022-23 UK Tour.[23]
- Natalie is the first Six actress to become engaged whilst on a Six stage.
- Natalie's dream roles include Elphaba Thropp from Wicked and, at an older age, Miss Hannigan from Annie.[22]
- Natalie was featured in the 12th episode of The Queendom Podcast - A SIX: The Musical Podcast.
- She was also featured in the 16th episode of the podcast, which was a reunion episode of the first Bliss Cruise cast.
- Natalie was featured in the 16th and 38th episodes of Robbie's Backstage Bants.[24][25]
- Natalie’s emergency cover performance in the West End as Jane Seymour marked the first time someone portrayed Jane Seymour in the pink alternate costume.
- In 2022, Natalie was nominated for the Best Performance by an Understudy/Alternate in Any Play or Musical award at the BroadwayWorld UK/West End Awards for her role in Six.
Gallery[]
"But I didn't look as good as I did in my pic..." To view the Natalie Pilkington gallery, click here. |
References[]
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/B08Cg6Dn1GB/
- ↑ https://twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1406276614963535880
- ↑ https://twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1527325265499566080
- ↑ https://twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1480914165598498819
- ↑ https://twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1500106292597338114
- ↑ https://twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1402995341691998214
- ↑ https://twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1517544974434377728
- ↑ https://twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1451897386083799051
- ↑ https://twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1421842146232053762
- ↑ https://twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1504070352216985600
- ↑ https://twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1459600636425785347
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CrQeIeqIagZ/
- ↑ https://twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1432762901824217093
- ↑ https://twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1504542634508959747
- ↑ https://twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1450789848583966725
- ↑ https://twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1413822650619678725
- ↑ https://twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1506331487016259598
- ↑ https://twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1482307709710086144
- ↑ https://twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1506637509626933251
- ↑ https://twitter.com/6alternates/status/1489974301851889670
- ↑ https://twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1532684297894871040
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC5pNqj-4RA
- ↑ https://youtu.be/sOIed7OuNKU
- ↑ https://youtube.com/watch?v=ld2Fy47DLjs
- ↑ https://youtu.be/sOIed7OuNKU
[]
NCL Bliss |
West End |
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UK Tour |
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South Korea |
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