Box office takes £2 million in first 2 hours of going on sale.
A new musical featuring the songs of Take That which will visit Newcastle Theatre Royal next spring took £2 million at Box Offices nationally within the first two hours of going on sale today, making it the fastest selling theatre tour ever, and one of the fastest selling ever at the Theatre Royal.
The Band, written by Olivier Award-winning writer Tim Firth and starring Five to Five, the winning group from BBC One’s Let it Shine, will appear at the Theatre Royal between 3-14 April 2018 as part of a major UK tour.
The musical was launched yesterday, Sunday 2 April, on stage at the Manchester Apollo (where Take That first performed in 1992), at a rehearsed reading in front of an audience of invited guests, from fans to friends. Tickets went on sale at noon today.
Theatre Royal Chief Executive Philip Bernays said: “Since booking opened the website has been extremely busy and the phones haven’t stopped ringing. So far we’ve sold an incredible 2,000 tickets, which makes The Band one of our fastest selling musicals of all time. We are delighted to be receiving this show and looking forward to Spring 2018 with great anticipation!”
The Band is a new musical comedy about what it’s like to grow 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 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. Further casting is to be announced.
The show will be produced by David Pugh & Dafydd Rogers and Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams.
The Band is at Newcastle Theatre Royal from Tues 3 April until Sat 14 April 2018, playing evenings: Mon – Thu (not Mon 9 Apr) 7.30pm, Fri 8.30pm and Matinees: Wed 4 Apr 2pm, Fri 5pm and Sat 2.30pm. Tickets from £19.50. Tickets can be purchased from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 (Calls cost 7ppm plus your phone company’s access charge) or book online at www.theatreroyal.co.uk