TWELVE-year-old Tom Chambers was enjoying a game of football in the school playground when his English teacher approached the boys kicking a ball around in the school yard - and his life would never be the same again.

“No-one had auditioned for the school play so the teacher just said ‘right, everyone will stay behind after school and we’ll sort this out’.” said the former Casualty star and Strictly Come Dancing winner

“I found myself saying ‘rhubarb’ into a microphone and before I knew it I was playing Dracula in Dracula Spectacular. It was there that I experienced that strange relationship with the audience, it was so natural.

“I had this line ‘you either ‘ave it or do not have it and I happen….to ‘ave it. And every time the audience would fill in the blank before I got there.

“I just remember lying in bed after doing the show thinking that maybe I’d found the thing that I should be doing,

“The only downside was that I was 28 before I got my big break,” he laughed.

Tom will be bringing the golden age of the Hollywood musical to the stage of Manchester Opera House when he stars in Crazy For You which features classic George Gershwin numbers such as I’ve Got Rhythm and They Can’t Take That Away From Me.

For him it’s the perfect role.

“It was the first musical that I ever saw performed live,” he said. “I was 15 at the time and it inspired me. It remains my favourite musical.”

Tom plays not one but two roles in the show. As Bobby he’s a banker out to shut down a failing theatre. But when he falls for the theatre’s owner he pretends to be an Hungarian impresario in order to save the theatre.

“It is hugely demanding,” he said, “it’s a bit like doing a marathon every day.”

Tom has become one of the go-to leading men when it comes to spectacular musicals. He first appeared in White Christmas and then took the lead in the world premiere of Top Hat, based on the movie starring Fred Astaire.

But as he alluded to earlier, it hasn’t always been that way.

“The life of an actor is a hard one to crack,” he said. “You have to be prepared for a lot of rejection.”

After studying at the National Youth Music Theatre and then the Guildford School of Acting, Tom, like many young actors suffered plenty of rejections.

He thought his chance of stardom had come when the organisers of the Royal Variety Performance said they were interested in him taking part in the show with dance routine based on a Fred Astaire number in which he danced with a drum kit.

“I spent over nine months perfecting it and then the said they had changed their minds,” he said.

As a last resort he filmed the routine and sent it to agents and producers which bizarrely led to an audition for the TV drama Holby City. He got the part of surgeon Sam Strachan on the show and its spin Casualty for three years and also went into Waterloo Road.

In 2008 Tom and professional partner Camilla Dallerup won the sixth series of Strictly Come Dancing.

“Fair enough, a show like Strictly can open doors for you,” said Tom. “But you’ve then got to stay there. That door could very quickly shut on you if you can’t deliver the goods.”

Tom, a youthful looking 40, has been delivering the goods ever since.

“To be working on a show like Crazy For You it a fascinating opportunity,” he said. “You get to be on this train that goes all round the country; you get to visit all these fascinating places and meet so many people, It’s quite a romantic lifestyle in a way if you manage it well.”

Tom has been involved in the current production from the start. For the UK tour Tom was due to partner fellow Strictly winner Caroline Flack, but she has been forced to pull out of the tour after sustaining a back injury and won’t be in the show in Manchester..

Tom has been amazed at the audience reaction to Crazy For You from the outset.

“With a new show you never know how it’s going to go down, it’s a bit like being a stand-up comedian trying out new material. So to get the reaction we did from the audience from day one was amazing,” he said.

“It is so immensely humbling and rewarding when you get such a positive feeling back from the audience. But then this show is a ray of sunshine. It has something in it for everyone. There are these brilliant characters, such humour and of course those wonderful song and dance numbers.”

Crazy For You, Manchester Opera House, Tuesday, November 28 to Saturday, December 2. Details from 0844 871 3018 or www.atgtickets.com