Heading off on a UK tour from the 3rd October, direct from the West End, The Commitments has confirmed the cast taking part in the production.
The cast will include Coronation Street favourite Kevin Kennedy (Curly Watts in the soap) as Jimmy’s Da in the critically acclaimed musical, written by Roddy Doyle.
Meanwhile, the UK tour will also feature many of the West End cast from the musical’s two year run at the Palace Theatre. This includes: Brian Gilligan, Andrew Linnie, Peter Mooney, Padraig Dooney, Sam Fordham and John Currivan (Billy). They will be joined by Rhys Whitfield (James), Alex McMorran (Joey), and Christian James (Outspan).
The Commitmentettes will be played by sisters Amy Penston, Leah Penston and Christina Tedders.
Talking about taking the production on tour, author 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.”
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 – the opening scene has them playing, but ignored, in a shop window – who turn to Jimmy, the local music expert, for help.
Directed by C Jay Ranger, the musical features over twenty soul hits including: River Deep, Mountain High, Mustang Sally and I Heard It Through The Grapevine.
The tour will open at the 3rd October 206 at the Bromley Churchill Theatre, before visiting the New Victoria Theatre in Woking on the 17th to the 22nd April 2017. To find out where the tour is heading visit: http://thecommitmentsontour.co.uk/ . To book tickets for some of the venues visit ATG Tickets.