Faye Tozer made her name singing upbeat anthems such as 5,6,7,8 and Tragedy as part of the pop group Steps.
But musical theatre has always been one of her passions.
Tozer took to the Norwich Theatre Royal stage on Tuesday for her latest role as Cruella de Vil in the family-friendly show 101 Dalmations the Musical.
The show follows couple Tom (Samuel Thomas) and Danielle (Jessie Elland) as they build a life together with their Dalmatians Pongo and Perdi.
When fashion designer Tom meets Cruella de Vil, she learns his dogs are expecting puppies and decides their spots would make a fabulous fur coat.
She plots a dark scheme to swipe all the Dalmatian puppies in town.
But Cruella is a far cry from Tozer's dog-loving reality - she has two rescue Salukis at home and has loved being involved in a play all about the animals.
READ MORE: Faye Tozer poses with dalmatians at Norwich Theatre Royal
"We're touring for the show with a puppy called Chester," she gushed.
"She is just absolutely glorious - I have to go in for kisses every day - it would be rude not to, right?"
Despite being happy and smiley off stage, Tozer said she doesn't find it hard to get in touch with her dark side to play Cruella.
It reminds her of her previous Wicked Queen panto roles.
She credited the "incredible script" for its colour and said it has helped her bring the character to life.
"Cruella is just so outrageously vile that it's funny," she said.
"The way it has been done is so clever.
"There were some comments from the audience after the first night that I was really nasty - but she is!
READ MORE: 101 Dalmatians the Musical, Norwich review: Puppetry is spot on
"She's absolutely horrible. She literally wants to skin dogs to make clothes, we can't beat around the bush."
Tozer was also happy to chat about her time in Steps.
When asked what Steps song Cruella reminds Tozer of most, she said: "On one of our newer albums, there's a song called Happy - but when you listen to the lyrics it's actually really dark."
And, in terms of which roles her fellow Steps bandmates would play: "Claire would have to be Danielle because she's a dog owner as well.
"Lee would be Tom for the same reason and I think H would have to be one of the puppies, wouldn't he?
"In the show, we have an amazing poodle puppet that I think is a little bit Lisa, all neat and tidy and pretty, so that would have to be her."
She also confessed this was her first trip to Norwich and said she "couldn't wait" to explore later this week.
101 Dalmatians the Musical runs until July 13.
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