David first shot to fame when he went to an audition for the London production of the musical Godspell and was chosen by enthusiastic US producers for the role of Jesus. He received major awards and some ecstatic reviews which saw him lead a cast at the Roundhouse and then at the West End for two years.
Since then David Essex has enjoyed a remarkable career that has combined concerts, records, theatre, composing, films and television with striking success. He has written, recorded and produced albums that have sold millions of copies worldwide. He’s also had twenty-three Top 30 singles in Britain alone. These include the Grammy© nominated Rock On which not only topped the charts in Britain and the USA but sold over one million copies. Subsequent singles followed such as Lamplight, Hold Me Close and Gonna Make You A Star which made David a household name. Mayhem ensued throughout the UK, with crowds for his concerts resembling Beatlemania and traffic stopping whenever he appeared.
David has continued to this day to produce and write albums including 2013’s Reflections and has contributed to stage and screen with the likes of Silver Dream Machine taken from Silver Dream Racer, in which he starred.
Acting credits also include That'll Be The Day, its sequel Stardust, Traveller, The Guvnors, Black Prince and more recently BBC TV's EastEnders as the head of the Moon family. Theatre credits include outstanding performances in Evita, Boogie Nights 2, ELF!, Footloose, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Aspects Of Love, plus his own musicals Mutiny! and All The Fun Of The Fair.
David has also written a bestselling poetry book Travelling Tinker Man & Other Rhymes plus two successful autobiographies A Charmed Life and Over The Moon, the latter a Number 1 Sunday Times Bestseller.
There has been a theatre on George Street for almost 185 years. The first theatre was built in 1836, and a second in 1886. In 1908, the Dorrill family took over the venue and finally in 1934, the third Theatre opened; the ‘New Theatre’. Stanley Dorrill masterminded the rebuilding of the theatre as we know it today. He commissioned a new building from the well-known theatre architects William and T.R. Milburn of Sunderland. The Milburns developed the decadent art-deco interior with T.P Bennett and Sons, who also designed the Saville Theatre in London.