It’s December; Pantomimes have started, advent calendars opened, town is hectic and the Party Season has officially begun.
Not to be left out of the celebrations The Grand Theatre is getting ready to welcome a bit of Dublin Soul to its stage next week as The Commitments hits Leeds opening on Monday 5th December for one week only.
Coronation Street legend, Kevin Kennedy, stars in the critically acclaimed musical alongside many of the cast from the record-breaking show’s two-year run at London’s Palace Theatre, including Brian Gilligan who will reprise his starring role of Deco and Andrew Linnie as Jimmy Rabbitte.
Kevin takes the role of Jimmy Rabbitte’s Da in the show that is written by Roddy Doyle, the author of the best-selling novel of the same name.
Roddy Doyle said: “The Commitments were born in Dublin, moved to London, and will soon be hopping all over the shop. I wrote the novel – invented the characters – in 1986, and it thrills me to think that they will be entertaining audiences throughout the UK and Ireland 30 years later, in 2016.”
Kevin Kennedy won the hearts of the nation when he starred as Curly Watts in Coronation Street. Since leaving Coronation Street, Kevin has regularly appeared in theatre productions including Chicago, The Rocky Horror Show, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and We Will Rock You.
Kevin said: “After working abroad, I am delighted to be returning to such an iconic musical as The Commitments. It is a pleasure to travel around the country playing to enthusiastic audiences who love this show.”
The Commitments tells the story of Jimmy Rabbitte, a young working class music fan, who shapes an unlikely bunch of amateur musicians into an amazing live act, the finest soul band Dublin has ever produced. The show follows the journey of two members of a frustrated synthesiser band who turn to Jimmy, the local music expert, for help.
Placing a classified advert in a music paper Jimmy auditions a number of wannabes before finalising the new line up; The Commitments. The humour kicks in as the band get to know each other and their instruments and proceed through early rehearsals for their first gig.
Just as they improve and begin to get a name for themselves they combust; the backing singers are all getting off with the middle aged horn playing legend, the singer has entered Eurovision, the drummer has walked out mid-gig and the saxophone player has dangerous leanings towards a jazz career.
The Commitments promises to warm the soul all ready for Christmas.
Book: call Box Office on 0844 848 2700
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