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John joined the orchestra hot off the national tour of Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers where he gained a string of impressive reviews for his role as the Narrator. He later performed the role at the Phoenix Theatre, West End. With only 2 weeks to go before the Orchestra's show in High Wycombe, John joined the vocal group replacing a singer and amazed everyone by learning almost the entire show in less than a week! The same day he auditioned for the orchestra, he was also offered the male lead role of Vernon Gersch (opposite Lucy Hunter-James) in Neil Simon's musical play "They're Playing Our Song" for Merlin International Theatre and flew out to Budapest with her immediately after the show to begin rehearsals. Other credits include: Brutus in the premiere of John Osborne’s 'A Place Calling Itself Rome' and Paul in 'Breathing' for N1 Theatre Company, The Auctioneer in the European tour of 'Lady Di – Diana', Hank in 'Zip Goes A Million' at the Theatre Museum, Covent Garden, Jacques Roux in 'Marat/Sade, Macheath in The Threepenny Opera', John in 'Balm In Gilead' and Paris/Chorus in 'Romeo & Juliet' (all at the Courtyard Theatre, London), Jerry in 'Betrayal' for SFE Theatre Company. In recording John can be heard on the World Premiere recording of 'Zip Goes A Million' (Bayview Recordings) and upcoming recording of the new musical 'The Dream'. His film work includes 'Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday' for Mountain Films and 'The Package' (Lurkin’ productions) Click here for more information about John (http://www.johnpayton.co.uk) |
 Click here for sound clip featuring John singing "I Heard It Through The Grapevine", another part of the show's tribute to the best of Motown. |