John Barrowman talks about tour which is coming to Sheffield City Hall and Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall

John Barrowman is so busy that it has been four years since he last toured here.

He is an actor, singer, novelist, TV presenter and was a star of musical theatre.

Does he ever sleep? “Well,” he says laughing. “I did sleep for most of last night, but I’m not a person whom relaxes a lot.

“I’m actually very meticulous and have everything planned out.”

For the upcoming UK tour, John is covering the whole of his repertoire.

“I’m not going to perform the whole of the new album, I’m only doing selected songs as some wouldn’t work live.”

“I do covers and pop songs, but even though I did musical theatre for the first 13 years of my career, I only do one of those.”

John was born in Glasgow in 1967 and later moved to Illinois. However, he was back in the UK in 1989 studying Shakespeare when he got his first professional role in Cole Porter’s AnythingGoes with Elaine Page, and from there he hasn’t looked back.

He also presents shows on TV, skated in Dancing on Ice and has been a judge on the BBC TV ‘search for a musical star’ shows.

Acting-wise, he garnered a whole new series of fans as Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who and went on to star in its spin-off Torchwood.

Going back to the tour, John, who lives in Palm Springs, explained what he’ll be doing when he performs in Sheffield City Hall on May 20 and Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall on May 22.

“I’ll be mixing the new songs from the album with other great songs that I love to sing and some fun stuff.

“I’ll also be giving an insight into what the last four years have been like,” he said.

And he won’t be alone.

“As well as myself, there’s an eight-piece band, four dancers and a big screen,” he added.

And, perhaps taking the vibe from the title of the album, John really is ‘up’ at the prospect of the shows. “I was starting to map the show out and I got what I call the ‘tingle’ feeling and I had to take a moment to calm down,” he said.

The album itself has been a great success.

“Yeah, it was funded by my fans through the PledgeMusic platform, where the fans can donate to the costs of the album. Many artists are doing it these days.”

There are new arrangements of some of John’s favourite songs such as Mandy, Bridge Over Troubled Waters and of course the title track.

“The album has been a thrilling personal journey for me,” John enthused.

“All the songs relate to a specific event in my life and I can’t wait to perform them live for all the fans who helped fund it.”

“Actually, it’s been such a success that the fans have said that they want me to do another one – a Christmas one. So I hope to do that at some point.”