New musical to feature the music of Take That
David Pugh, Dayfdd Rogers and Take That have announced that the UK Tour of Tim Firth’s new musical The Band, featuring the music of Take That, will have a major UK tour, launching at Manchester Opera House on 8 September 2017.
The Band is a new musical exploring the experience of growing up with a boyband. For five 16 year-old friends in 1992, ‘the band’ is everything. 25 years on, we are reunited with the group of friends, now 40-something women, as they try once more to fulfil their dream of meeting their heroes.
The announcement was made by the producers yesterday on stage at Manchester Apollo, where Take That first performed in 1992. A rehearsed reading of the new musical was greeted with a rapturous reception.
The Band will be played by AJ Bentley, Nick Carsberg, Yazdan Qafouri Isfahani, Curtis T Johns and Sario Watanabe-Soloman, who, as Five to Five, won BBC’s Let It Shine. Playing the parts of Rachel and Young Rachel will be Rachel Lumberg and Faye Christall respectively.
Speaking of their first production as theatre producers, Take That commented, “We are incredibly proud and excited that our first production as theatre producers is THE BAND – a musical that we think will touch the hearts of not just our fans, but everyone.”
The Band will be directed by Kim Gavin and Jack Ryder, designed by Jon Bausor and choreographed by Kim Gavin, with lighting design by Patrick Woodroffe, video design by Luke Halls and sound design by Terry Jardine and Nick Lidster.
The Band, produced by David Pugh & Dafydd Rogers and Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams will be performed at Manchester Opera House from 8 September until 30 September 2017. Expect tickets to go quickly for this.
