A FORMER rugby player who swapped side steps for the stage is singing tonight (November 19) at the Royal Albert Hall in the Royal Variety Show.

Monmouth’s Dominic Callaghan, who played professionally for Swansea RFC and in varsity finals with Cardiff and Swansea, followed his father Patrick onto the stage last year.

And having starred In The Hunchback of Notre Dame musical with the Bristol Amateur Operatic Society, the sports science graduate then won the role of Enjolras, the leader of the barricades, in August’s 40th anniversary first senior amateur production of Les Miserables, playing to sell-out 1,900 audiences at Bristol Hippodrome.

And tonight, the 31-year-old will be part of a 300-strong choir drawn from 11 nationwide Let The People Sing Les Mis productions closing the Royal Variety Show, alongside the likes of show stars Michael Ball and Matt Lucas, with the performance set to be screened on BBC next month.

"It's unbelievable – first starring in Les Mis at the Hippodrome in a West End-backed show, then to sing at the Albert Hall alongside such stars," said father-of-one Dominic, whose wife Emily is expecting their second child.

"I'm so excited – it started sinking in after a zoom call with the director and more than 200 of us on it.

"We'll be singing alongside big Les Mis names, Jason Manford's presenting, and I guess Royals will be watching."

The sports development manager revealed that music has long been part of his life, winning Monmouth's Got Talent at school singing and playing the keyboards, doing gigs at the Queen's Head and recording a demo with T'Pau's Ronnie Rogers.

"Then when I couldn't pick my son Tommy up after matches because my shoulders hurt so much, I thought time to do something else.

"And Dad, who stars in Abergavenny Operatic Society productions and comes from a family steeped in Irish music and dancing, said do some shows, don't leave it too late, so I auditioned for BAOS and managed to get in.

"I then played Chuck in Footloose, where I had a song early on, not a massive role, but a good one to get started, followed by Phoebus in Hunchback, which Dad played Judge Frollo in at Abergavenny last year.”

Then Cameron Mackintosh came calling licensing the first senior community productions of Les Miserables, and Dominic applied with 1,000 others for the Bristol production, finally landing the role after six rounds of auditions.

"Perhaps it was written in the stars with Hunchback also set amid revolution in Paris and both Victor Hugo stories,” he said.

“The final audition was with a panel including international production casting director Chris Key, and it was incredible to be offered the part a week later.”

After six months of rehearsal, their first band call with the full music was “spine-tingling,” added Dominic.

“And then to get up in front of a sell-out audience in such a big theatre was mind blowing, with the orchestra and a West End set.

“I was nervous, as I had a 40-minute wait, but once I got out there, the nerves went.

“That wall of sound, the standing ovation, it's something I'll probably never experience again!”