Dreams do come true...

TALKING to Craig Chalmers, Scots star of Joseph at the SECC, is a bit like watching the end of a Frank Capra film.

TALKING to Craig Chalmers, Scots star of Joseph at the SECC, is a bit like watching the end of a Frank Capra film.

Imagine a poor wee boy on Christmas morning who wakes to discover Santa has defied all expectations and brought him a fabulous shiny bike.

The boy just can't believe his good fortune.

For the boy, substitute a 27-year-old who not so long ago was playing the grottiest of pubs, struggling to get two nights a week work if he was lucky - and having to change in smelly toilets.

What a difference a few years make. Craig Chalmers is now living the dream.

But he views his fortune in the same way as the boy with the bike.

"I worked for years in the pubs, trying to make it as a pop singer," he says.

"And then came Pop Idol and thinking something was going to happen. But it didn't. Then all of a sudden I went from singing on national TV to being back in the pubs.

"It was hell. I was close to chucking the dream in and working in an office or becoming a sports coach - or whatever."

He didn't. Just when he thought it was all over a friend told him about the Glasgow auditions for BBC1's Any Dream Will Do, the reality show that sought out a Joseph.

However, Craig was reluctant - and scared. "I didn't want to put myself through that experience again, of being judged," he says.

"But eventually I figured Let's go for it.' And I'm so glad. I've learned more in the last year and a half than all the other seven years I've tried to make it in the business."

Craig didn't win Any Dream - he was kicked off in the seventh show so didn't land the west end theatre slot. But he did enough to convince the judges that he could be a Joseph and was hired for a national tour.

"It's a lot to do with luck," he says.

"The part of Joseph just sort of suited me. And I can't believe I'm actually doing this job for a living."

As he speaks he becomes more animated, revealing the highlights that come along with being a theatre star.

He gushes about having done a magazine shoot with OK Magazine, the film premieres he's been invited to.

And he almost can't contain himself when talking about being asked to turn on the Christmas lights at George Square.

"It's mind blowing," he says of the change in his life.

What's great about Chalmers is his apparent sense of perspective.

"I was lucky I'd experienced the bottom end of the industry for many years," he says.

"I've played all the grotty pubs. I'm so glad I learned the hard way. So many people get a reality show and get propelled straight into something like this, but I don't think it's the best way.

"Now, when I walk out into a packed theatre, where people have paid good money to see me perform, I appreciate every second of it."

And you believe him.

He's self-effacing enough to admit that he thought he wouldn't be up to the task of being a Joseph, performing ten shows a week for what will be a two year run.

"I wondered if I could handle all the pressure of a national tour," he says. "Then I thought if I can go through Any Dream Will Do, with all that pressure, I can handle anything.

"Yet, it was hard at the start. I had to get my voice and body ready. But this is my third contract extension so I must be doing ok."

He's matured into the role. He's become a classic Joseph and the crits have been great.

But there's another feature of his life, he reveals, which also leaves him in awe. It's his girlfriend, Jennifer, a marketing executive from Birmingham.

"I met her in a hotel in London when I was there to meet producer Bill Kenwright. And, well, Bob's your uncle."

He couldn't be more happy.

"Every Friday she finishes work and then drives or flies to meet up with me. It's fantastic."

And right on cue, his phone rings. And it's Jennifer.

"She has a sixth sense," he says laughing. "She knows when I'm talking about her."

Are wedding bells in the offing?

"Probably," he says. "She's certainly not one hundred per cent against the idea."

And neither is Craig.

"To be honest, I was always a bit of a ladies man in my younger days. Not now. I'm a one woman man."

He says he's bought a house in Scotland recently and would like to come back and bring up a family. And perhaps try his hand at TV presentation or acting.

Are there any low moments now?

"Well, I do feel a bit disappointed I can't play football now. The football dream I once had ended when I tore a cruciate ligament at the age of 18.

"And now I can't play. You can't get injured when leading a national theatre show. "

He adds, grinning; "But beyond that, and apart from the fact I've got to stand on stage every night in a loin cloth, I just think life's fantastic."