Couple with musical theatre passion who went viral in lockdown now travel world side by side performing on cruise ships

A couple who met as 18-year-olds before studying musical theatre and going viral for their singing videos in lockdown have ditched their jobs to perform on cruise ships together all across the world.

Daniel and Thomas Schlordt, both 32, from Scotland, are the male leads in 12 of their Marella Cruises ship’s shows, while Daniel is also the show company manager, with Thomas joking he is also his “manager in life too, so it’s no different”.

Before this, the couple achieved their joint dream of moving to London and performing in the West End – they even incorporated elements of musical theatre into their wedding day by including headshots in their order of service.

On the first day of lockdown, in March 2020, however, they decided to reignite their love for musical theatre and began posting videos of themselves singing – they ended up with more than 2.4 million views and were scouted to audition for Britain’s Got Talent.

Two years later, Daniel and Thomas realised they wanted to get back into musical theatre professionally, so applied to work on a cruise ship together – now they share a cabin and perform side by side every day.

Thomas told PA Real Life: “Working together is bliss – we understand each other so intricately that it’s easy.

“When writing our music, Daniel always writes the lyrics first – he’s the poet.

“Then we work together on the melody and music.

“When working on the Marella Cruises ship, it is easy too because we each have our roles in the shows, and when it comes to Daniel being my manager, he’s always my manager, in life too, so it’s no different.”

They then rehearse at 5pm and have dinner anywhere they like on the ship, and perform their show twice – once at 8.30pm and again at 10.30pm.

Over the years, they have been able to visit places such as Colombia and Rome while working, and usually take a month or two off between contracts to visit family, friends and their dog.

When Daniel and Thomas left school, they initially studied at Fife College and became great friends, moving in together after less than a year of knowing each other.

They performed in the West End and got engaged on February 1 2015 while on holiday in Bath celebrating their three year anniversary, and they got married exactly two years later.

Their wedding featured nods to their favourite television show, Friends, as well as their joint passion, musical theatre, such as including headshots in their order of service.

“We also had a few of our closest friends sing some musical theatre songs for us during our ceremony and instead of a first dance, we did a first song and sang our first song as a married couple,” Thomas said.

“It is a beautiful memory.”

By 2020 Daniel was working as a lecturer and Thomas as a photographer, but they felt a piece was missing, as they were not performing as much any more.

So, on the first day of lockdown, they decided to start posting videos of themselves performing on social media.

“We were just having fun, and our dog got involved sometimes too.

“We were encouraged to do another one the next day so we did and we didn’t stop – we did 365 completely unrehearsed videos, one a day for a whole year.

“We did themed weeks, musical weeks, whole weeks dedicated to artists – they were fun and a form of escapism.”

They received incredibly supportive messages about their content, Daniel said: “We wrote our song, Good Friends, about all the lovely comments we would get.

“We were constantly told we made people smile or laugh, or brighten their day, some people got to know us and us them, and it seemed as though our videos were doing good for a lot of people.”

They were even scouted by Britain’s Got Talent to audition for the show, but the show was cancelled because of Covid restrictions.

After going on a cruise throughout Hawaii in early 2022, the couple realised they wanted to work in entertainment while travelling around the world, so they applied for roles at Marella Cruises and were successful.

Thomas said: “We knew we loved cruising, and we knew we wanted to perform again, but we never thought we could do it together.

“We took a chance and submitted a self tape for two roles in the same company, and RWS (Ryan William Stana) who provides the entertainment for Marella Cruises liked us and offered us a job.”

Now they live in the same cabin and work together seven days a week – Daniel is a show cast manager and lead vocalist, and Thomas is a lead vocalist.

They also think sharing close quarters has forced them to be less materialistic.

“We are both very tidy and clean people, and very efficient so it was never an issue,” Daniel explained.

“The only thing we miss about our former life is our dog, Sansa. Although she now lives with granny and grandad Schlordt and gets spoiled rotten.”

Looking to the future, Thomas said: “We love cruising, and love performing and writing and recording our own music so we would like to continue doing this for as long as we can.

“However, a long term goal for us is to be cruise director and assistant cruise director together.

“Then we can always live and work together on cruise ships.”

To find out more about their music, visit: www.theschlordts.com.