Details announced for Let It Shine musical The Band

Gary Barlow has announced details of upcoming jukebox musical The Band.

Speaking after the live final of BBC1’s Let It Shine, which saw boyband Five to Five win a starring role in the musical, the singer revealed that the production will open in Manchester in September.

The show will feature the music of Take That, but will not be about the lives of the band members. Instead it will follow five 16-year-old girls who are fans of the band. The parts have been cast, but names are yet to be announced.

Let It Shine’s winning act, Five to Five, will not have any spoken lines in the production.

Barlow reunites with playwright Tim Firth and producers Dafydd Rogers and David Pugh for the show.

The team are behind Firth’s musical The Girls, an adaptation of Calendar Girls with songs by Barlow, which is running in the West End.

It will be directed by Kim Gavin and Jack Ryder. Ryder is best known for his role as Jamie Mitchell in Eastenders. He has also been assistant director for the West End production of Calendar Girls and a touring production of The Full Monty.

The musical premieres at the Manchester Opera House, and will then tour the country for 12 months, hoping to end up in the West End in 2018.

Other venues on the tour include Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre, the Liverpool Empire, Bristol Hippodrome and Glasgow King’s Theatre.

Tickets go on sale on April 3 at 12pm.