X Factor champion to star in Scottish premiere of NOW That's What I Call a Musical in Glasgow Feb 2025
- Lisa in the theatre
- Oct 7, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 19
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NOW That's What I Call A Musical Glasgow cast news
The King’s Theatre in Glasgow will host the Scottish premiere of NOW That’s What I Call A Musical in 2025 and are delighted to announce that Sam Bailey will star as April.
NOW That’s What I Call A Musical is a brand-new British musical touring the UK and Ireland written by award-winning comedian Pippa Evans and directed and choreographed by Craig Revel Horwood.
Melissa Jacques will star as April from 6 September 2024 (Aylesbury) up to and including 7 December 2024 (Brighton). Sam Bailey will then take over the role from 14 January 2025 (Southampton) to 12 April 2025 (Wimbledon) including the dates in Edinburgh and Glasgow!
Sam joins the previously announced award-winning comedy actress and EastEnders star Nina Wadia, who will star as Gemma as well as array of special guest stars playing themselves at certain performances and singing the songs that made them NOW icons.
Sinitta will perform in Aylesbury, Sheffield, Canterbury, Nottingham and Norwich with Sonia in Newcastle, Cardiff, Milton Keynes and Brighton, Carol Decker in Truro, Belfast and Woking, and Jay Osmond in Bradford and Dartford. Guest casting for Glasgow and Edinburgh is yet to be announced.
Update!! Guest stars for Edinburgh and Glasgow have now been announced. Click below to find out more:
NOW That’s What I Call A Musical will play at Glasgow's King's Theatre from 18 - 22 February 2025 and at Edinburgh Playhouse from 25 Feb - 1 March 2025 Tickets
NOW That’s What I Call A Musical UK Tour full cast list
Joining the company are Kieran Cooper (Strictly Ballroom – UK tour) as Younger Tim, Christopher Glover (The Kite Runner - 2024 Ireland UK Tour) as Dad, Chris Grahamson (Phil Spector in TINA – The Tina Turner Musical) as Tim, Maia Hawkins (Cassie in A Chorus Line at Doreen Bird College) as Younger April, Lauren Hendricks (Much Ado About Nothing at the East London Shakespeare Festival) as Ms Dorian, Shakil Hussain (Frankie Goes to Bollywood – UK tour) as Frank, Nikita Johal (Wendla in Spring Awakening at Hope Mill Theatre) as Younger Gemma, Luke Latchman (Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy Theatre) as Younger Frank, Matthew Mori (professional debut) as Younger Steve, Phil Sealey (TONY! [The Tony Blair Rock Opera] - UK Tour) as Steve, Callum Tempest (Miss Saigon at Sheffield Crucible) as Barney and Poppy Tierney (Cabaret at Lido 2, Paris) as Mum. The cast is completed by Emily Barnett-Salter (Annie - UK Tour), Molly Cheesley (Jane Austen’s Emma - UK Tour), Lizzy Ives (professional debut), Stefanos Petri (professional debut), Martha Pothen (Oliver! at Leeds Playhouse) and Blake Tuke (West Side Story, Opera Australia).
Who is Sam Bailey?
Sam Bailey received her first big break as a singer-songwriter when she won The X Factor in 2013. Her debut single, Skyscraper, instantly became a commercial success making the coveted Christmas number one spot in 2013. Consequently, the single was released in a physical format alongside some of her most memorable X Factor performances. Her debut album The Power of Love was also number one in the British charts in March 2014 and, in support of the album, Bailey went on her first headline tour in January and February 2015. Her second album Sing My Heart Out was released in 2016. Her theatre work includes Mamma Morton in Chicago (UK tour), Betty Simpson in Fat Friends the Musical (UK tour), Vampires Rock (UK tour), Mrs. Potts in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (UK tour and London Palladium) and most recently Miss Hedge in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (UK tour).
What is "NOW That’s What I Call A Musical" about?
Get ready to relive the playlist of your life by celebrating 40 years of the iconic and chart-topping compilations brand NOW That’s What I Call Music, which has sold an estimated 200 million copies worldwide. This fun-filled evening is bursting with hits from Whitney Houston, Wham! Blondie, Tears For Fears, Spandau Ballet and so many more.
Craig Revel Horwood said “This is a beautiful and funny story about two schoolgirls navigating life through their shared love of music. Pippa has written a script that takes you right back to sharing your Walkman headphones with your best friend, escaping the boring day to day and dancing like nobody is watching. Everybody remembers getting the latest NOW That’s What I Call Music Album! Our show is packed full of the biggest hits of the era and I cannot wait to get started and you will love it.”
It’s Birmingham, 1989. Two school friends, Gemma and April, are busy with very important business - planning their lives based on Number One Magazine quizzes and dreaming of snogging Rick Astley. Cut to Birmingham 2009 and it’s the most dreaded event of their lives– the school reunion. Drama, old flames and receding hairlines come together as friends reunite and everything from the past starts to slot into place. The biggest question is: what was with all that hairspray?
What's on Glasgow Theatre
➡️ Coming soon to Glasgow King's Theatre: 101 Dalmatians, Bat Out of Hell, Dear Evan Hansen and Tina!
➡️ Coming soon to The Theatre Royal, Glasgow: Only fools and Horses the musical, Disney's Aladdin, SIX, War Horse and Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake!
Newly announced and on sale now at Edinburgh Playhouse
Find Lisa in the Theatre on Instagram @lisa_inthetheatre and Twitter / X @Lisa_Theatre
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