Meet the West End girls

A trio of West of Scotland actresses are starring in London’s hottest West End musical after beating 5,000 other girls to land roles.

Suzie McAdam, 22, from Cathkin Braes in Glasgow, Lucy Miller, 27, from Motherwell and Jane McMurtrie, 29, from Bonnybridge, near Falkirk, are performing in smash hit show Legally Blonde.

Actress Sheridan Smith plays the lead role of Elle in the show, which is based on the film starring Reese Witherspoon.

It follows pink-loving, dog-carrying Elle as she heads off to Harvard Law School after being dumped by her boyfriend.

Smith is most famous for her parts in TV shows Gavin and Stacey, Benidorm and Two Pints of Lager and Packet of Crisps.

The Scots actresses are sharing the limelight, with Suzie playing Elle’s lesbian friend Enid, and Jane and Lucy cast as ‘swings’ which mean they must step into as many as eight different roles.

The girls have spent years honing their talents to get to the West End, with both Jane and Suzie studying at Glasgow’s ‘fame’ academy, the Dance School of Scotland in Knightswood.

Suzie went to Stonelaw High in Rutherglen before moving to the specialist school aged 17, while Jane moved into the Bearsden halls of residence when she was 12.

Suzie said: “I owe everything to Knightswood. I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for them.”

Legally Blonde is Suzie’s first West End show, and there is nobody more thrilled than her mum, Kathleen McLean, who works as a clinical services manager for the NHS.

She’s already been to see the show twice – and even joined Suzie at the show’s star-studded gala premiere last month.

It was attended by celebs including David Tennant, Bob Geldof, Kristin Scott Thomas and Denise Van Outen,

Suzie said: “My mum was so embarrassing, she was going up to Peter Davison, who is in the show – he was once Doctor Who – and going ‘Doctor Whooo!’ She was over-whelmed – as was I.”

Meanwhile, Jane and Lucy have come a long way since they last worked together.

They were in a pantomime, Mother Goose, in Motherwell as teenagers ten years ago.

Jane, who says she started dancing “as soon as I could walk”, said: “We’ve gone from Motherwell to the West End – it’s quite a good feeling!”

After finishing at the Dance School of Scotland Jane went to top drama school Laine Theatre Arts and has starred in a long list of London shows, including Carousel, Mary Poppins and Tonight’s the Night.

Her mum Linda, 54, a sheltered housing warden, dad Jim, 58, a sales rep and brother Iain, 28, will travel to London later this month to see her in her latest role.

All the girls say they have their parents to thanks for helping them along the tough and often expensive route to stardom.

It was Lucy’s mum, social care worker Ann Miller, 61, who suggested the former Dalziel High pupil should go on stage.

Lucy said: “I used to perform in the living room, like you do. When I was about 14, mum heard about a girl who’d gone to theatre school in London and had said to me ‘Do you think that’s something you would like to do?’ And from that moment I had that in my head.”

Lucy, who got married last year, moved to London aged 18 and has played lead roles in shows including Chicago and Mamma Mia.

But she admits life as a performer can be tough.

She said: “People think what they see on stage is what your life is like backstage. They don’t see the tears after you get rejected in auditions.

“Just with this show I heard they saw 5000 girls.

“That’s the competition you’re up against. For every job you get you’ve been turned down for about twenty.”