Never forget
Fri 1 Dec 2017Saturday-night BBC talent show Let It Shine was launched earlier this year, to search for not just one star, but five, to play the five members of a band at the centre of a planned new musical built around the songs of Take That.
The winners of the contest were AJ Bentley, Nick Carsberg, Yazdan Qafouri Isfahani, Curtis T Johns and Sario Watanabe-Soloman. So that’s the band – what about the story? It centres around Rachel, who is 16 at the start of the musical, and tells the story of her and four friends, and their devotion to the band of the title, and the huge part the music plays in their lives. We then meet the girls 25 years later, when their favourite band have reformed, and see what their lives have become as they chase one last chance to meet their heroes.
Speaking at the musical’s official launch Take That – who are also co-producing the show said: “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 production certainly got theatre bookers excited: they spent £2 million on tickets for The Band in the first two hours it was on sale! Not only that, but the critics loved it too. The Sun said, “if everyone’s asking ‘could it be magic?’ the answer is a resounding yes.” The Guardian described it as “a warmly articulated, exciting and funny celebration of what it is to be a music fan,” and The Stage said it was “witty and affectionate”. Sounds like its sure to relight your fire!
The Band: Tuesday 20 February to Saturday 3 March.