‘When you’re evil’

The best panto villain song written!

To say that playing the Wicked Witch of the West has been on my to do list for quite some time would be an understatement. In January of 2025, I got my wish to play arguably one of the greatest female villains ever written. Like all classic villains they need a song to go alongside the role and I had only one song in mind.

Aurelio Voltaire is a New York based musician who has a very unique dark cabaret style. His music has been in my playlists for years now and there is always one song of his that stands out to me above the rest. ‘When you're Evil’ is a song about how fun it is to be the villain and how the character singing the song is there in your everyday life. Every inconvenience, every little niggle you have, every thorn in your side reminds you that they are there and always will be. This, of course is perfect not just for the Wicked Witch but also for pretty much every villain you can think of and THAT is why I needed to have this song in Oldbury Rep's pantomime production of The Wizard of Oz.

To obtain this song we need to go back to 2023, when we were rehearsing for our production of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I was playing Silly Billy and Mike Hadley was playing the despicable Heinkel. I knew then that I wanted him to sing ‘When you're Evil’ but I wasn't sure how to go about getting in touch with Voltaire to obtain his permission. I emailed him a few times to see if he would respond but sadly, with his busy schedule and him receiving hundreds of emails a day, it fell by the wayside.

A year later, it is 2024, and I am scrolling through Instagram to see Voltaire is not only going on tour but he is going to be playing local to me! I immediately told my partner and we booked tickets to the gig in November. I was grinning from ear to ear as I finally got to see Voltaire live! My partner turns to me and says “You can finally ask him in person if you can use ‘When you're Evil’ in the pantomime! I know he will say yes, he's awesome like that.” As I turned to look at him in utter disbelief, I began screaming as this thought had never even crossed my mind. Would he say yes? Could I pull off this epic song? There was only one way to find out.

November came around and I got to see the man, the goth, the legend that is Aurelio Voltaire not only perform but I also got to meet him in the flesh. I was nervous to meet him and his lovely fiancé Mayumi but I was also feeling sick from what I was about to ask him. The time came my stomach was doing cartwheels I said “May I ask you something?” A big booming smile always across his face, “Yes of course! What is it?” I explained the situation and that I would be portraying the Wicked Witch in Oldbury Rep's The Wizard of Oz and I would absolutely love to sing his song in it. A moment passed as he had taken in what I had just said. My heart pounded in my chest as the nerves turned to fear. He paused; the smile disappeared from his face as he turned to me as said.... “I would be delighted and honoured if you did.”

The relief washed over me. He said yes! I hugged him and couldn’t stop thanking him. I had the permission to sing the best villain song ever! He followed up with “on one condition!”

“What's that?” I said trying to hold tears back.

“You have to film it and send it to me when you do, do it. I want to see!”

“Of course!” I said excitedly. I walk back over to my partner feeling more nervous than ever. Now I had to actually SING the song. Would I be able to pull it off?

The gig began and we had a wonderful night singing along and we also got to sing it on stage with the man himself.

January came and the houses each night for the show were either sold out or as close to. My song was not until the second act and I was as nervous as the witch around water. The time came and the words just began to flow. The song was a hit and people for a brief moment forgot that I was in fact the baddie of the piece.

I still to this day get asked about the song and who wrote it. If you wish to listen to this song yourself then please find ‘When you're Evil’ by Aurelio Voltaire, on Youtube or Spotify. A massive thank you again to Voltaire for letting me sing it, and really hammer home that its always so easy ‘When you're Evil’.

Toni Bird - Oldbury Rep