Chris Barton

Chris Barton (born 21 March 1987 in Liverpool, England) is an English actor and singer who appeared in the BBC talent show Any Dream Will Do and went on to appear in musical theatre productions in the West End and across the UK.

Barton trained at The Hammond School in Chester, a specialist dance school where he was given a scholarship to attend for five years. It was full-time and he also boarded at the school. He trained in ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary dance, singing and drama. Barton furthered his training at the Liverpool Theatre School, from which he graduated in 2007, gaining a National Diploma in musical theatre.

In Barton's third year of college, in 2007, he successfully auditioned for the BBC reality television talent show Any Dream Will Do, where he worked closely with Andrew Lloyd Webber. The show was hosted by Graham Norton and was the second West End talent show to be produced by the BBC and Lloyd Webber. Barton was selected from thousands of auditionees and was invited to attend "Joseph School" where, after surviving further auditions and elimination rounds, he reached the final 12, singing live on television every Saturday night. One of the judges, Denise van Outen, commented at Barton's early audition, that when he performed, the "hairs on her arms stood on end". Another judge, Zoe Tyler's, reaction to his audition was "Wow!".

Barton went on to play the older Benny in Our Benny, a rags to riches musical set in Liverpool. He then took part in his first West End show, Spring Awakening, a musical that won eight Tony Awards on Broadway and won "Best New Musical" in London at the Olivier Awards. Barton, as Swing in Spring Awakening, had the opportunity to play most roles within the show during his time in the production, including the lead role of Melchior Gabor. After seven months in Spring Awakening, he moved on to a role in the hit West End musical, Hairspray, where he played Sketch, leaving in March 2010.

In summer 2010, Barton played Rolf in the UK touring production of The Sound of Music starring alongside Connie Fisher who won the BBC Talent show in the year before Any Dream Will Do – How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria. Barton continued in the 2011 tour of the show alongside Verity Rushworth and Jason Donovan until the summer that year.

Week 1 – "Walking in Memphis" (Marc Cohn) Week 2 – "I'll Be There" (Jackson 5) Week 3 – "Tell Her About It" (Billy Joel) Week 4 – "All Night Long (All Night)" (Lionel Richie)

Barton was in the UK premiere of It's Only Life, a contemporary musical written by John Bucchino, performed at the Brighton Fringe in May 2015.

Barton is currently filming a pilot for a major television broadcaster and was cast in the long running musical Starlight Express (written by Andrew Lloyd Webber) and was due to start rehearsals in February 2016.