When X-Factor’s Amelia Lily was offered a lead role in brand new musical American Idiot, she jumped at the chance. Because having already been a massive hit on Broadway, the Green Day musical was opening in the West End and unlike anything else out there.

She also knew that instead of taking on a well trodden part, she could really make the role of Whatsername her own.

“There was nothing else out there like this which appealed so much to our generation. People seem to really relate to the show,” she tells me.

Proving an instant hit, the show is now on tour and coming to Oxford’s New Theatre from Tuesday, before resuming its West End slot later in the year.

Featuring three young men trying to make sense of a post 9/11 world, American Idiot incorporates the rock band’s music into the story. One goes into the army, another becomes a dad while the third goes to the city and gets into drugs.

"It’s a big story-line so the audience goes on a journey with them," Amelia explains. And what of her character? “Whatsername’s a country girl, very independent, a bit rebellious. She meets Johnny and moves to the theatre and they go through some really intense situations together. She’s a great character to play and really challenging.”

But then Amelia loves a challenge having worked hard to make a success of herself ever since stepping onto the X-Factor stage and making it through to the final. Chart success followed, with dance anthems such as her No2 debut single You Bring Me Joy, and now musical theatre.

So was that always the plan? “Ever since I was a little girl,” she acknowledges “I started off recently with a part in Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as the narrator and followed it up with American Idiot and I absolutely love musical theatre.

Happy to leave her solo career on the backburner for the time-being, Amelia says it will still be there when she gets back to it, but in the meantime is having the time of her life, singing her heart out every night on stage with big numbers like 21 Guns and Letterbomb. “Letterbomb is a great song because it really shows off my voice and this is the moment when Whatsername comes out of her shell, battling with her anger so it’s a great song to perform."

As for touring, Amelia says: “I can’t wait to come to Oxford. It’s going to be really exciting. We have been in London for five months with the show and are now on the road until July. And I’ve been living out of a suitcase for years so I’m used to being on the road and love the travelling and seeing different places every day. There aren't many places in the UK I haven’t been to now."

Is the tour visiting her home town of Middlesborough then? “No, but we will be stopping in Sunderland which is close enough,” she laughs.

"I just feel very lucky to have done so much already. I’m only 21 so I look forward to whatever comes next. But you have to fight for it. Nothing gets handed to you on a plate. There are so many other people out there wanting what you have that you have to work hard. But so far it’s been unbelievable.”