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‘Me“I’ve traveled more than Jane McDonald,” says Chris Dennis in a booming voice. a famous ship’s singer is present. You won’t find Dennis’ name on any of the bills, however, and most of the thousands of people who saw him play don’t either. But he’s known for his replacement, La Voix, a “northern power house” of showy music, sharp instruments and bright crimson. You’ve probably seen him knock down a rail Rupa‘s Drag Race, dancing the pasodoble to Beethoven’s Fifth on Strictly, or appearing as a “spokesqueen” at Eurovision recently. And now she’s about to make her musical debut – as Miss Hannigan in Annie.
La Voix is an amalgamation of the women Dennis knew growing up in Stockton-on-Tees: quick wit, warm heart, unmistakable voice, and always with a sharp tip for the night. After 17 years of Drag Race on TV, we’ve seen a lot of what drag can be, from high fashion to politics to the arts. But La Voix is old-school fun. I ask Dennis, who do you love? “Ken Dodd,” he says without missing a beat. “Bad jokes that make you laugh. Bang, bang, bang, joke, joke, joke.” Barry Humphries‘ Dame Edna is Paul O’GradyLily Savage has great influences, too. And when TV’s Loose Women asked La Voix about dancing with her Strictly partner Aljaž Škorjanec, her answer – “Being knocked around the room by a Slovenian bodybuilder, you’re not going to say no, are you?” – he was white Victoria Wood.
“I wanted the community to be fun and family-friendly,” says Dennis. “I wanted people to feel better.” He also tries not to swear. Instead, it was David Emanuel – the designer of Princess Diana’s wedding dress and the designer of a limited number of La Voix frocks – who told her to shut up. Dennis obeyed the instructions.
We’re chatting in the studio at the National Youth Theater in London, where Dennis is kept in the Annie episodes. “I don’t want to be upset by an eight-year-old!” She is in a cream tracksuit, with round cheeks, glowing skin, full of chatter and having a round moment. At the age of 17, Dennis joined the National Youth Theatre: he remembers sitting in the room where we are now, dreaming of a future in music. Almost 30 years later, it’s happening. And Annie is a meaningful gig for him, because Miss Hannigan was one of O’Grady’s first musical roles, back in 1998. That year Dennis came to London: he passed by the theater on the bus to look at the picture O’Grady.
You have come to the right place but you have taken an interesting route. Dennis’ first appearance was in an elementary school talent show as Karen Carpenter, singing Top of the World. “It wasn’t like Karen Carpenter,” she laughs. “I had on denim pants and a gold blouse. Karen Carpenter could have been upset. I put my lips together and found other kids behind me doing everything. Everyone was crying and laughing. I remember the laughter was familiar, and I thought, ‘I want more. I can change the whole energy of the room.’ I’ve been chasing that.” He doesn’t remember any mistakes or derogatory comments. “Everyone thought it was hilarious – ‘Oh, it’s just Chris!’ I was always known as the cheeky kid. ” His parents, who were nurses, were always helping him.
After studying drama and musical theater, Dennis worked as a stage artist, once unwittingly assisting a jewel thief when he was hired to do “aging” makeup on two men. This turned out to be a cover-up for a £40m theft. He also worked at the famous Soho club Madame JoJo’s, singing for Shirley Bassey and Liza Minnelli. This was the beginning of La Voix, although he had no opponent at the time. “I remember watching all the other great cabaret artists over the years. The wit and sense of humor they had – I was in awe.”
He learned the art of connecting with an audience, whether in the bars of Soho or on cruise ships full of retired people, where La Voix was embraced wholeheartedly. “It was like I found my people on cruise ships,” Dennis said. “I’ve done swingers cruises, gay cruises, gay cruises, nature cruises. How did the swimmers travel? “I wasn’t involved in that, but there are black curtains in the windows, you think, ‘Oh my God, everything is going to happen in here!'”
He once took his mother on a gay trip. “6,000 men arguing. They said, ‘I didn’t realize there were so many gay men in the world!'” Dennis laughs – but he’s serious when he talks about liberating the LGBTQ+ space: “To live as the majority, not the minority, for a while.”
It’s no surprise that La Voix is also a long-running panto producer. It’s Tinker Bell at Peter Pan in High Wycombe this year. “I love panto. I’ve done panto with Cilla Black, Mickey Rooney…” What was Cilla like? “She was everything you’d want Cilla Black to be. She was a diva, you know she didn’t hang out with us.” But when we went to the local bar, they would say, ‘There’s £200 left in the bar from Cilla.'”
Black himself had a bottle of champagne in his dressing room for every show, including matinees. “And we lost last weekend’s pantomime because he wanted to go to Barbados with Cliff Richard.” Dennis acknowledges panto’s influence on British drag. He said: “People grow to understand men wearing clothes. “It’s not scary or unusual. I think we have a better understanding of audience engagement and engagement. Go to America and it will be more expensive and cooler.”
La Voix had a very busy life before TV, but her reputation has been rocking – and it’s hard. “People expect your confidence to rise again, but it doesn’t. There’s a part of me that feels like a little boy inside, saying, ‘Huh! I’m so scared – because the hope is that you’re going to be funny, that you have this. But what if I’m not?'”
Maybe La Voix has found you. “You hit the nail on the head!” said Dennis. “I always say, ‘I don’t know if I can do this, but he’s going to get me through it. He’s going to have an answer. And it’s like a complete brain and personality change.’ Dennis also credits his friend Luke, his longtime tour manager, for being a great support behind the scenes.
When asked why he created La Voix, Dennis once said that he just loves beauty. If it had been acceptable to be a handsome man in Stockton in the 1990s, I suggest, he might have done something else. “Of course,” he says thoughtfully, then adds: “But at heart, I’m an actor who likes to play women.” What is fun? “I think it’s because women have had such an impact on my life. I had a close relationship with my mother. I grew up in a foster home (where her parents later worked), where there were a lot of older women.”
“As a gay boy, I didn’t get along with my dad and I found it all scary. When we did the cha-cha-cha boxing ring for Strictly – the most popular of my bad week – we went to a real boxing ring with a boxing instructor and I found it challenging and fun.
However, Dennis wants to act like himself at some point. “I would love to play a big role like Chris and explore this.” But that can wait, now La Voix is having its moment. “I think there’s a huge place in La Voix as the next Dame Edna or Lily Savage,” says Dennis. “Not for fame. It’s just that I’m a big believer in fun fun. I want to see how he can go. It’s like it’s not me. It’s him – and I’m his biggest advocate.”
