/THEATRE HOPE MILL AIMS HIGH AGAIN...

THE sagas of mid-life dating will be brought to the stage in the world premiere of new musical The ToyBoy Diaries at Manchester’s acclaimed Hope Mill Theatre. The new musical will chart the hilarious and often heart-breaking sagas of trying to find love later in life, and follows twice-divorced Lily who inadvertently finds herself with a much younger man.

It will start the new season of ambitious productions at the awardwinning Hope Mill Theatre in collaboration with Aria Entertainment, which will also include a revival of acclaimed Broadway hit Spring Awakening and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic Aspects of Love.

The theatre, based in a converted mill in Ancoats, has enjoyed a landmark 2017 with criticallyacclaimed productions of Pippin and Yank! the musical - which transferred to London’s Charing Cross Theatre - and they will close the year with their festive production of Little Women.

The ToyBoy Diaries, based on the best-selling memoirs of Wendy Salisbury with music and lyrics by Andy Collyer, runs from January 18 to February 10 and is on sale now.

Spring Awakening, based on Frank Wedekind’s controversial play about a group of teenagers in late 19th-century Germany navigating the struggles of blossoming youth, runs from March 19 to May 3.

This landmark musical is presented in an intimate and bold new production helmed by director Luke Sheppard, with book and lyrics by Steven Sater, and music by Duncan Sheik.

Aspects of Love runs from July 5 to August 4 and tells the story of passion, love and loss across three generations of a family and their artistic companions, against a background of 1940s France and Italy.

Two more yet-to-be announced productions will follow in Autumn/ Winter.

William Whelton and Joseph Houston, co-founders of Hope Mill Theatre, said: “Hope Mill Theatre recently celebrated its second anniversary and we could never have imagined that alongside Katy we would already be announcing our third season of musicals after having five in-house productions and three London transfers under our belt.

“We wanted to make sure our third season was even more ambitious and we feel we have managed to achieve that. Once again we have proved the power of regional theatre.”

For tickets and information see hopemilltheatre.co.uk