Michael Auger: 'My dream role would be Link in Hairspray. It’s such a fun show'

Michael Auger’s love of theatre led him to becoming one quarter of the Britain’s Got Talent-winning musical theatre group Collabro, with which he has performed for three years. As the group releases an album dominated by musical theatre numbers, he tells Georgia Snow why show tunes are more personal than pop covers…

How important is musical theatre to you as a group?

Musical theatre brought us together, so the recent work we have been doing is like coming home to that. When we were on Britain’s Got Talent we sang some musical theatre numbers, and then when we got our record deal they said they wanted to keep us current so we did some pop covers. I really enjoyed doing that but we were very keen to come back to musical theatre.

What have you been working on?

When we came to this album we had a very long list of songs that we eventually cut down to about 18 demos. As soon as you do a demo of something, you know if it’s going to work – so there are some tracks from Wicked, Les Mis, Love Never Dies. Pop covers are always special to the individual artist that wrote them but with musical theatre you can turn it around and make it your own story.

Do you find it challenging performing to an audience that isn’t in front of you?

It can be. When you watch a full show, you understand each song as part of that show. We’ve got to create that emotion. You’ve got to make the audience believe you mean the words that you’re singing.

What is your background?

I actually got a degree in accountancy before I realised I wanted to sing. When I was growing up I did amdram, but my family are very academic and both my parents are accountants, and I ended up doing accountancy. I got a job but I wasn’t really enjoying it, so I went and did a course at the London School of Musical Theatre for a year. Straight after that, I saw the auditions to be in Collabro.

You have also been directing and producing in the past couple of years…

I have, I really felt like I wanted to be doing something alongside Collabro, so I decided to set up a production company. I run a monthly showcase at the Phoenix Artist Club in central London, which has been really great. It’s an opportunity for people at the start of their careers – in training or who have just graduated – to come down and sing. I really believe the best way to get better is just to perform. I have also done a short run of a song cycle at the Theatre Workshop in Fulham.

Would you like to do musical theatre one day?

I would love to be in a show as an individual. I think we all want that. That was what we were all going for before Collabro, so it would be a natural step. My dream role would be Link in Hairspray. It’s such a fun show, and I think it’s a role I could do eight shows a week. Marius in Les Mis, I would love to do, but performing that eight times a week would be so intense.

CV: Michael Auger

Training: London School of Musical Theatre (2013)
First professional job: Collabro
Agent: David Ball at Irving Street

Collabro’s new album, Home, is out on March 3, and they are touring throughout 2017