Rob Ashford: What made you want to do a musical?
Dan Radcliffe: It was always something I think I wanted to do eventually. I didn’t ever probably think I’d be doing it this early, and I certainly didn’t think I’d be dancing.

Rob: I remember very specifically you told me, “Just to let you know, I’m not a dancer.”
Dan:Yeah, I am certainly an advert for anybody who ever says, “I cannot dance” because that was my thing. If you work hard enough, you get there.

Rob: It’s true, you have worked hard. It’s thrilling to see how excited you are about it, too.
Dan: I’m excited to possibly surprise people. Not so much the general public, more my close personal friends who are going, “You can’t dance. I KNOW you can’t dance.” Haha – wait, I’m going to show you now.

Rob: What ways do you think Dan and Finch are similar?
Dan: I think the ambition is there in both of us. It doesn’t manifest itself in exactly the same deeply Machiavellian way that it does in Finch in me, but I think we both are ambitious characters. Well, Finch certainly is, and I have ambition.

Rob: Guys who look after they leap, then before they leap. So front-footed and forward that you’re on your way and figuring it out as you arrive, as opposed to figuring it out before you arrive.
Dan: Absolutely. Definitely. I think life’s much more exciting that way. If you dive in and then make sense of it afterwards.

Rob: What do you think is going to be most challenging about the part?
Dan: Most of what he does can’t be graded very highly on any moral scale, but the audience are with him the whole way, hopefully. We hope. So I think making him likeable while he does all these quite unpleasant things. He is a frightened, young kid, at certain moments in this. Particularly around “I Believe in You.” There’s no reason to sing “I Believe in You” unless he is losing belief in himself. So I think the moments where you show vulnerability are going to be some of the most important moments because they are what, ultimately, get the audience on his side and make him seem like a human being rather than just a caricature.

“He’s a younger Finch than ever before,” Hemingway says of Radcliffe, “but it makes sense that Finch would be a guy in his early 20s who is really eager and ambitious.” And the love-at-first-sight plotline works fine for her: “We definitely have some strong chemistry,” the actress says. “From the very beginning, we clicked and had a great rapport. Daniel is an easy guy to get along with—he’s so down to earth and fun; he doesn’t have any airs about him. When you’re working with someone who has that kind of high profile, you expect they’ll make life difficult, but he is the opposite in every way. He's just a delight.”

“In all seriousness, I certainly don’t feel like I’m playing opposite a kid,” she says of the actor best known for portraying teen wizard Harry Potter. “Our characters have such a sweet journey together. Daniel is going to blow people away.”