From his first appearance in Wicked, Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero makes an impression, wooing folks of every gender and kicking up his heels in the feel-good production number “Dancing Through Life.” A child actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Bailey, who made a splash in the United States with Bridgerton and Fellow Travelers, has a long musical theater history. He was a child when he played the role of the street urchin Gavroche in the West End’s Les Miserable in 1998-99. And he delivered a wonderfully manic and memorable gender-flipped turn as Jamie in the 2018 West End production of Company.
On his acrobatic “Dancing Through Life,” Bailey told Out (in the interview above), “I just think it's about abandon, isn't it? And I think that's so important in the film to see someone come in with the complete brainless and mindless sort of sense of joy and to then play opposite [Cynthia Erivo’s] Elphaba to then give them the best sort of arc.”
“I loved movie musicals growing up and there’s iconic dance numbers that honestly ignited all my passion. So to be a part of one of those, and also something like ‘Dancing Through Life’ is just amazing,” he says.
Watch and listen to a few of Bailey’s musical numbers below.
"Getting Married Today" from Company
The gender-flipped version of Company that began in London's West End before moving to Broadway includes a gay couple on the verge of being married. Here Bailey's Jamie crushes "Not Getting Married," Stephen Sondheim's famous patter song about cold feed on one's wedding day.
"Dancing Through Life" from Wicked
There are no full clips of Jonathan Bailey's sexy and jubilant rendition of "Dancing Through Life" in Wicked, but this preview of the massive production number includes Bailey hamming it up to the song.
"Killing Time" from American Psycho with Matt Smith
Bailey played the slick Wall Street broker Tim Price in the musical based on Brett Easton Ellis's zeitgeist 1991 novel, American Psycho. Here, he and Matt Smith's Patrick Bateman sing "Killing Time" with music and lyrics by Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening).
"If I Didn't Believe in You" from The Last Five Years
Composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown directed Jonathan Bailey and Samantha Barks (Les Miserables) in the 2016 off-West End production of his beloved musical The Last Five Years. Luckily, someone recorded Bailey's audition for that production.
"Can't Help Falling in Love" with the Bridgerton Brothers
It's just a 30-second clip, but what a treat to hear these harmonies from the Bridgerton brothers Anthony (Bailey), Benedict (Luke Thompson), and Colin (Luke Newton).
