Take That gave the audience of new musical The Band an extra special treat last night (Monday) as they performed on stage with the cast.
The group, made up of Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald, made a surprise appearance on stage at the Opera House, Manchester and performed during the musical’s curtain call.
As the cast were taking their bows to a standing ovation, actor Andy Williams said: “Shall we do that again? I think we can do even better than that!” Mark then made his appearance on stage, kicking off with a performance of ‘Hold Up A Light’ which delighted the stunned crowd. He was soon joined by Gary and Howard, which sent the crowd into another frenzy. The trio and the cast performed ‘Never Forget’ and ‘Shine’ whilst the audience continued to sing and dance in appreciation.
Check out a video of their performance below.
The Band is a brand new musical written by Tim Firth which features the music of Take That. The trio are producers of the show alongside David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers. The musical, which has been previewing since Friday, tells the story of a group of five 16-year-old friends in 1992 whose love for their favourite boyband is everything. 25 years later, they reunite in a quest to try and meet their pop heroes.
As the show’s producers, Take That have been extremely hands on during the whole process, both on and off screen, even appearing at Manchester Pride to introduce the cast of the show to the world. Gary was also a judge on BBC1 talent show Let It Shine, which discovered the five guys who would later appear as ‘The Band’ in the musical. Five to Five, made up of Curtis T. Johns, Yazdan Qafour, AJ Bentley, Sario Solomon and Nick Carsberg, were the lucky band who won the competition to star in the touring musical.
Earlier this year, it was confirmed that The Band is the fastest selling theatre tour ever. Within just two hours of tickets going on sale, the Box Office took £2 million pounds. The show has already received rave reviews, and whether you’re a Take That fan or not, the musical’s story focuses on fans in general. If you’ve ever loved a boyband, you will definitely resonate with its story.
You can catch The Band at Manchester’s Opera House until September 30, before it heads out on a nationwide tour. Full tour dates can be found here.