Getting the band back together
MANY first crushes are on the boy bands of the day … and when you grow up, you don’t necessarily put the childish things aside when the groups reform for a nostalgia tour.
Tickets for reunions of 90s bands such as Take That often sell-out within minutes of going on sale, and there is still strong demand for tribute acts with imaginative names such as Fake That.
Makers of a new musical, planned for Henley’s Kenton Theatre this October, are looking to bring on the good times while raising a good deal for charity.
Manband is a show that will star X Factor finalist Danyl Johnson along with a talented cast that aims to offer a bit of nostalgia and a great night out.
The show is about a fictional boy band that is now slightly longer in the tooth, wider in the hips and lacking in the hair department.
To wow their fans, they are planning a reunion show that will be the ultimate boy band concert – will it go to plan? Will they get along? And will they all show up?
It features songs from bands such as N-Sync, Backstreet Boys, Take That, Westlife, Boyzone and 5ive, and promises to be a feelgood show to get you dancing in the aisles.
It will raise money for Sue Ryder and Ataxia UK, a charity that helps people who suffer from neurological disorders that affect balance, coordination and speech.
Ben Ashton is one of the team behind the show.
“It’s definitely going to be a fun, entertaining night, going back to the 90s and 00s boyband era.
“It’s a concert, but it’s also about a band that were famous and come back together again for one night only – they’re literally getting the band back together.”
Ben admits that the show has its roots in a little number that BBC Four screened in 2018, called Bros: After The Screaming Stops. It charted Matt and Luke Goss's reunion 28 years since they were top of the pops.
“We were inspired by it,” he admits.
And the show is for everyone. “Our guilty pleasure is for boy bands, when we were 15, we did all the dance routines,” he says.
But a big thing for the cast is the fundraising.
“We want to raise money for charities,” Ben says. “We want to keep the show entertaining, give a professional performance, and it will be an amazing night.
“Many famous boyband songs will be sung, but we’re tight-lipped as to who so it’s a surprise on the night.”
And it should take place when life is getting back to normal. For now though, the coronavirus is causing some headaches for the group.
“Not being able to rehearse together is hard,” Ben admits. “We’ve done some stuff though, we’ve been singing together online.”
And Ben says that the show will be family-friendly, with the cast playing “heightened versions of themselves”.
So, which one is the diva? Manband will be performed, subject to lockdown restrictions ending, at the Kenton Theatre in Henley on Sunday, October 11. Tickets cost £21. For more details, log on to www.kentontheatre.co.uk