Love, courage and redemption - An Officer And A Gentleman in Eastbourne

Jamal Crawford who plays Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley is loving the whole experience more and more: “The reason I do this is because I love seeing whatever I'm doing on the stage impacting on the people watching, whether they are laughing or whether they are crying. I love that impact and we are getting a standing ovation every night. Most of the cast have become used to that but I think that's mad. We are nearing the end of the tour but at the end everyone is on their feet and it's just fantastic.”

An Officer and a Gentleman The Musical is based on the award-winning 80s movie, a story of love, courage and redemption – the emotional journey of Zack Mayo, a fearless young officer candidate, and the captivating Paula Pokrifki, whose fiery spirit matches his own…

As Jamal says: “We started in February and it hasn't felt long at all. It has gone so quickly. I am enjoying every moment of it still and I think it's the freedom that we have had on the stage that I've enjoyed. 100 per cent, it has evolved. We were given a lot of freedom in the rehearsal period and that's unusual. Usually you get the director just telling you what to do and what to say and how to say it and a lot of the time that can feel very restricted and you just have to adjust to bring your character to life how the director wants it. But our director instilled in us a belief in our characters. Nikolai Foster will tell you if it's not what he wants but he will just suggest something else and nine times out of ten he is absolutely right. We all love that man. It was just fantastic to have the chance to experiment and to make mistakes and to fail and just to work out things as we rehearsed. And everyone seems to love the show. It's about the triumph and about the love but I would say that the show has a grittiness to it as well. We're not just coming out for the songs which are amazing by the way but the story behind it is gritty and dark at times and I know that audience members have really related to the story and have been captivated by it. And we have stayed very faithful to the movie. A lot of the movie musicals have tried to adapt and to add glitz and glamour but this one has stayed very true.

“Emil, my character, is basically someone who stirs all the naval officers into being the best that they can be and he's got his ways and his means and you might disapprove of the way he goes about it but then you realise at the end that his intentions are pure, that he drills them into being the best they can so that he can weed out the ones that won't make it. He seems a mean guy but the great thing is that you get to show the arc of this character so that towards the end of the story you realise that he really does care. I'm so proud and grateful for the role.”