Gary Lloyd’s Showbiz Stories

From Television and the West End to Working With Bronia Buchanan’s BBA Management

Theatre fans all over the UK will have seen at least one production that Gary Lloyd has directed or choreographed. Beyond his impressive theatre credentials, the award-winning West End director has also worked with some of the biggest names in music. Think Robbie Williams, Kelly Clarkson, Paul McCartney, and Girls Aloud, to name a few.

Here, Gary shares his journey into the world of theatre and television, takes us behind the scenes of hit shows like Heathers and Thriller Live, and describes his working relationship with Bronia Buchanan’s talent agency BBA Management.

Early Days: Training in Ballroom and Latin

Gary has been performing since he was six years old, starting in ballroom and Latin American dance. “It’s all I did,” he says. “If I wasn’t at a dance class or in a theatre group, I was pulling reluctant neighbours’ sons and daughters into choreographing and directing shows.”

As he progressed as a dancer, Gary completed all of his dance exams. “I got to the point where I couldn’t do any more exams other than teach, which I wasn’t allowed to do because I was too young,” he says.

When he later became a choreographer, Gary found that his ballroom and Latin training was “the thing that has been most useful.” He often creates ballroom- and Latin-inspired routines for the dancers in his shows. “It’s tango and jive that come up the most,” he says. “Having that knowledge — especially from a young age — never leaves you.”

Signing With Bronia Buchanan’s BBA Management

Gary met his talent agent, Bronia Buchanan, when performing in Cats at age 18. He was performing alongside the now Broadway director and choreographer Warren Carlyle, a friend of Bronia Buchanan’s.

“I met Bronia Buchanan through Warren,” Gary says. “When she set up BBA Management, it was a no-brainer for me to join the agency and I’ve been there ever since.”

“Bronia Buchanan’s done a lot of amazing things for people over the years and she’s doing wonders for diversity and inclusion. She’s very, very ahead of the game. She’s a woman in essentially what has always been a man’s game and she’s paved the way for all the other brilliant women who have followed suit.”

How Bronia Buchanan Helps Gary Manage His Production Commitments

Bronia Buchanan is “really, really good at giving advice” on managing projects and “will jump in to protect” her clients. “It’s like having a lioness for a mother,” Gary says. “She’s fiercely protective about balance and making sure that people understand that we’re super busy because we’re good at what we do.”

“She’s incredibly organised and so that rubs off,” Gary adds. “It’s a partnership and the busier you are, the more strength that partnership develops. We’ve had that for years now.”

A Performer, Choreographer, and Director in Theatre and Television

Now an eminent choreographer and director in both theatre and television, Gary started his career as a performer.

“I spent two years in Cats, which is a big triple-threat show,” he says. “Then I did everything from Starlight Express to Jesus Christ Superstar to Into the Woods.” He followed this string of “very colourful and very physical musicals” by performing in Oh What a Night, another “big disco musical.”

Kim Gavin, who created and directed this musical, hired Gary as his assistant and, then, his associate. Gary worked with Kim for seven years, teaching Oh What a Night around the world and then progressing into commercial work. “I found myself diverting into telly and working with artists,” he says. “That’s how my career catapulted.”

From here, Gary became S Club Juniors’ creative director and choreographer for their whole career. Then, he got involved in Pop Idol and American Idol. “I cut my teeth as a director in terms of learning about video technology, which was a very new thing around that time, and lighting and putting on a show in front of lots and lots of people by doing it on the largest scale possible,” Gary says.

Today, Gary mostly works in theatre, bringing his commercial experience to the productions he choreographs and directs.

Blending Commercial and Theatre Choreography

Earlier in his career, Gary found that “choreographing for music videos and TV was very much about the steps. It was about the concept of the number, about serving the artist, the song, and the music.”

However, commercial choreography has evolved. “There’s a lot more storytelling in commercial choreography than there was 10-15 years ago,” Gary explains. “Now, with bigger budgets and more creative thinking, [the commercial and theatre] worlds are blending. There are many more commercial styles going into musical theatre.”

“Similarly, with the growth of contemporary dance — and expressive American-style contemporary dance crossing over into hip hop — commercial choreographers are taking that musical theatre influence. It’s a very, very exciting time for creative thinkers.”

Working As the Associate Director and Choreographer on Heathers

Gary has worked as both the associate director and choreographer on the wildly popular show Heathers: The Musical.

This musical saw huge success in the U.S. long before the show came to the UK. “People were chomping at the bit to come and see it,” Gary says. “To be part of something that had a following before we’d even started was really exciting.”

Heathers started running both on tour and in the West End when Covid-19 restrictions eased. Gary was keen to recreate the musical with influential people like director Andy Fickman, producer Bill Kenwright, and musical theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who owned The Other Palace (Heathers’ home) at the time.

Working on Heathers was “very collaborative,” Gary says. “Everybody has a voice in each department. It is really unlike anything else I’ve worked on.”

Directing Sweet Charity for ArtsEd

Gary has just finished directing Sweet Charity for ArtsEd, London, one of the UK’s top drama schools. “The idea was to showcase the students, to get them agent interest, and give them experience working on a musical,” he says. “It’s up there as one of the best experiences I’ve ever had and that’s down to the amazing cast that I was given.”

“Arts Ed is one of the finest musical theatre establishments in our country,” Gary adds. “It’s a wish list thing for performers to want to go there. The training is really, really excellent.” Performers train in acting, singing, and dancing. The focus is on developing performance skills instead of performing in shows.

By the time performers take part in their final graduate shows, “they have their toolbox full of everything they need to go into a rehearsal room,” Gary says.

Gary’s Upcoming Shows

Now that Gary has finished working on Heathers and Sweet Charity, he is involved in three more upcoming shows. These productions include Rehab: The Musical and Cruel Intentions.

Rehab: The Musical

Rehab tells the story of songwriter Grant Black’s real-life experience in rehab. “The special thing about this musical is that it makes you laugh and cry within a second of each other,” Gary says.

“It’s a pop show, but there are some really huge musical theatre moments in it. It’s about real people. It’s a British musical. It’s set in the nineties but with a 21st-century message about taking care of yourself, taking care of each other, looking around and being kind, and taking life one day at a time.”

“Once people know what it is, they’re going to flock to see it,” Gary says. “We’ve got an incredible cast, the music is stunning, the story is full of heart, and it’s a right laugh at the same time.”

Rehab will run at Neon 194 in Piccadilly, London, from 12 January to 17 February 2024.

Cruel Intentions

In 2019, Gary was the choreographer and musical director of Cruel Intentions at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The musical won the Best Musical Production Award. “It captured the heart of everybody at Edinburgh,” Gary says. Now, Cruel Intentions is returning, this time to The Other Palace in London. The production will run from 11 January to 14 April 2024.

Like Rehab, Cruel Intentions is set in the nineties. The musical is “all about manipulation, revenge, and how you use sex to bring people down. It’s teenagers doing all of that, so it’s quite vile,” Gary says.

“Heathers is very similar, but Heathers has this massive layer of dark comedy over the top. Cruel Intentions doesn’t have that until you put a nineties’ jukebox catalogue in as the songs.”

“As a play, it’s incredibly serious, but then you’re singing songs like ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s,’ ‘Kiss Me,’ Lovefool,’ ‘Torn,’ and ‘Iris.’ There are so many incredible, very eclectic nineties songs that bring a layer of comedy and heart. Suddenly, it turns this very serious and divisive thing into something that’s much more human and, again, much more 21st century.”

“We have an incredible set design and a killer cast,” Gary says. “We’re hoping that a lot of our Heathers fans are going to come and see Cruel Intentions.”

Gary’s Favourites From His Numerous Award-Winning Shows

Gary has choreographed and directed numerous award-winning productions. Of these, he holds Carrie: The Musical and Thriller Live “dearest to [his] heart.”

Carrie: The Musical

When directing and choreographing Carrie, Gary prepared the cast to perform in a four-week season at the Southern Playhouse in London. Although there was a promise of picking the show up in future years, this never happened.

“It’s a frozen moment in time for me,” Gary says. “It was a dream job. I was a huge Stephen King fan growing up. I had read all of his books by the time I was 13 or 14.”

“Digging into Brian De Palmer and Stephen King’s work” and “taking on this musical that historically was a flop was a risk before we started.” However, Carrie sold out the Playhouse before even opening.

Thriller Live

Another of Gary’s career highlights was choreographing the huge West End show Thriller Live, which has won several awards. It was “a dream to be able to work on Michael Jackson’s material,” Gary says.

“10 years into our stint in the West End, I thought, ‘I need to write a book about this experience,’ because when Michael died, our show went global. We went from potentially about to close in the West End to doing another 11 years and playing in almost every territory around the world.”

While writing his book, My Life With Michael: 10 Years of Thriller Live, Gary and the other show creators developed a relationship with the Michael Jackson Estate. “The family came to visit us,” Gary says. “We [also] did a TV [project] in Germany where we got to meet La Toya Jackson.”

“Being backstage with these people, you got to really experience them as human beings, not look at them as icons who don’t have feelings who are just there to be written about or talked about or listened to.”

“The heartbreak that you saw was palpable. I felt that with all the good stuff we’d gone through putting the show together, to write about that was really important.”

Having taken Thriller to Brazil, Gary also explores the country’s love for Michael in his book. “To do the show there was such an experience, so there’s a whole section on that,” he says.

Gary’s Advice for Triple-Threat Hopefuls

Gary emphasises that competition for performers is steep, both in the UK and the U.S. Performers train as triple threats, which means it’s essential to develop skills as an actor, singer, and dancer.

“My advice is always to strengthen your weaknesses while working on your strengths,” Gary says. “Many performers put their weaknesses under the carpet, especially if it’s dance.” However, “even as an actor, you’ve got to be able to move because there’s movement in every production.”

Gary adds that there’s always more to learn. “I’m still learning,” he says. “I’m still being pushed by people who are amazing. I’m constantly thinking, ‘Right, I’ve got to shape up and be even better.’”

About Bronia Buchanan’s BBA Management

Gary Lloyd is one of many high-profile creatives and performers on the books at London’s BBA Management. Under the guidance of Bronia Buchanan, this talent agency provides comprehensive support across all areas of each client’s television, theatre, and film career.

Other actors and creatives that BBA Management represent include Katy Richardson (Six), Neelam Bakshi (Ted Lasso), Ryan Moloney (Neighbours), and Everal A Walsh (The Crown).

Learn more about BBA Management.