Burnley's Ian McKellen eager to star in on-stage musical

He recently made his long-awaited return as Hamlet, 50 years after first playing the doomed Danish prince.

However, speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, he revealed that he is not ready to retire from acting yet and wants to tick off one career goal.

Ian, 82, wants to star in a musical and put his vocals to the test in a theatre production.

He said: "Areas of theatre I'd love to work in – one would be the musical.

“I don't feel I've got much to prove in my career anymore, so why not just do the things I enjoy doing?

“But I do like getting in front of an audience and entertaining them and this would be a new way of doing it."

The show’s presenter said she was “intrigued” by McKellen’s desire to be in a musical asking if he can sing.

Ian said: "In the bath, in the shower, in private – I have sung occasionally, I did a pantomime at the Old Vic a few years back and sang ‘In A Fashion’.

“I can hold a tune, but I'm not a pop singer...I am available but incompetent!"

While The Lord of the Rings actor may be humble about his singing capabilities he no stranger to on-screen musicals.

He played Cogsworth in Disney’s 2017 film Beauty and the Beast and he played Gus the theatre cat in 2019’s Cats.

Ian McKellen as Hamlet (Photo: Ian West.PA)

McKellen appeared on the show to promote his new London theatre production called Whodunnit (Unrehearsed).

In the show, a new actor plays the detective each night has not read the script in advance.

Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry will be stepping up as an inspector on alternating nights and won’t have received any rehearsal beforehand.

“I am rather excited by it all,” said Ian on the show. “I am finally playing a detective with no lines to read at all. All the lines are fed to you via an earpiece.

“The audience will come along wanting to see an actor fall flat on his face – and they may very well be rewarded by that.”