A Black History Month Special
TO.P (0.58) At The Theatre Royal Dury Lane, August 2022, Cedric Neal @Iamcedricneal Sang ‘Hold Me In Your Heart’ (From Kinky Boots). His Performance Was So Heartfelt, Powerful And Moving.
He Received An Extraordinary Ovation! Even He Was Not Expecting It. But His Sincerity Touched Them. The Magic Ingredient Is Revealed In Our Interview.
At The Black British Theatre Awards Sunday October 26th 2025 Piccadilly Theatre, Soho, London, Award-Winning American Actor Turned British Resident ‘Cedric Neal’ Won This Year’s Award For ‘Best Supporting Male Actor In A Musical’ @thebbtas. It Was For His Role As Hermes In The Musical ‘Hadestown’ @hadestownuk (Being Heir To His Hero Andre Deshields @andre_deshields). It Was Our Great Honour At TheOrator.Press Online Education Magazine To Speak With Him Afterwards About That Win And More. He’s Charming, Inspiring And Thoroughly Proud of The Fact That He’s A Kindred Spirit With A Fellow Trailblazing Thespian For Whom He’s Often Mistaken… @iamcedricneal
Cedric Is A Man of Faith And Believes His Faith Gives Him Strength. He Refers To His God As “The Gift Giver” A Fabulous Expression Whatever One’s Persuasion. He Believes He Has A Calling And He Quotes A Biblical Scripture Which States That God May Exceed Even Our Own Expectations For Ourselves (Which He Gives Witness Happened In His Own Case).
This Not The First Time Neal Has Won A BBTA. He First Came To Our Attention Here At TO.P In 2023 When He Won The BBTAs Lord Hastings of Scarisbrick Award (For Outstanding Work Within The Industry) That Year.
At That Awards Ceremony He Gave A Musical Theatre Performance That Brought The House Down When He Sang “Hold Me In Your Heart” From Kinky Boots.
It Was Indeed Omar F. Ofai (The Founder of The Black British Theatre Awards) Who Directed Him In That Groundbreaking Musical. The Two of Them Are Also Good Friends, As He Reveals During Our Interview.
In Another of Our ‘Pods On A Page’ Interview Series We Learn More About This Supremely Talented, Devouted, And Exceptional America Star From Dallas, Texas, Oak Cliff.
One Thing We’ve Learnt From Our Research Is That He Likes “To Minister Through Entertainment”. So These Lyrics From Hadestown Seem Especially Poignant Right Now, In Light of The Current Climate:
Why Do We Build The Wall?
We Build The Wall To Keep Us Seperate From The Enemy And The Enemy Is Poverty.
Because We Have And They Have Not.
‘The Wall’ Hadestown The Musical
“To Stand On That Stage Every Night And Say We Have To Keep Telling This Story, We Have To Keep Standing Up To The Authorities Because They Are Few But We Are Many And Our Voices Count. To Stand On That Stage 8 Times A Week And Say That; – I’m Honoured, Humble, I Feel Called To Do So.”
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