The Band
featuring the music of Take That

THE BAND – REGISTER YOUR INTEREST IN AUDITIONING!

We’re beginning preparations for our forthcoming production of THE BAND, Tim Firth’s uplifting, funny and moving musical featuring the music of Take That, and we’d love to hear from anyone interested in being part of the cast.

Set across two time periods, The Band follows five teenage girls for whom their favourite boy band means absolutely everything. Twenty-five years later, life has taken them in very different directions, but an unexpected opportunity brings the friends back together and sends them on a journey to Prague to see the band whose music provided the soundtrack to their youth.

Packed with Take That hits including Never Forget, Back for Good, Greatest Day, Shine, A Million Love Songs, The Flood, Relight My Fire and Rule the World, this is a show full of huge musical moments, comedy, nostalgia, friendship and heart.

ROLES

Please note that the ages below are playing ages rather than necessarily the actual ages of performers.

THE BAND – 5 male performers

• Playing age approximately late teens to early 30s.
• Five very strong singers with confident movement/dance ability, charisma and excellent stage presence.
• Vocally, these roles require a convincing contemporary pop sound, secure harmony singing, strong tuning and rhythm, and the ability to blend closely as a five-part group. The music needs to have the energy, style and polish of a professional boy band, so these are among the most vocally demanding roles in the production.
• Performers are not expected to impersonate or physically resemble the members of Take That. The Band represents the idealised boy band that exists within the girls’ imaginations.

YOUNG RACHEL

• Female, playing age late teens.
• Warm, optimistic and loyal, Rachel is at the centre of the friendship group and an important emotional focus of the story.
• A strong singer and actor is required. Vocally, performers should be comfortable with contemporary musical-theatre and pop-style singing, ensemble work and harmony. Natural storytelling and emotional connection are more important than an overly theatrical or classical vocal sound.

YOUNG DEBBIE

• Female, playing age late teens.
• Rachel’s best friend: adventurous, energetic, spontaneous and full of life.
• A strong, confident singer and actor with plenty of personality. Comfortable singing contemporary pop/musical-theatre material and contributing securely to harmony and ensemble numbers.

YOUNG HEATHER

• Female, playing age late teens.
• Bold, funny, confident and individual, with bags of personality.
• A strong singer and character actor who can handle contemporary musical-theatre/pop material confidently and sing securely within harmony work. Strong comic instincts are also important.

YOUNG CLAIRE

• Female, playing age late teens.
• Sporty, intelligent and somewhat more reserved, with a wonderfully dry sense of humour.
• A confident singer and strong actor. The role requires secure ensemble and harmony singing in a contemporary style, alongside good comic timing and believable character work.

YOUNG ZOE

• Female, playing age late teens.
• Bright, ambitious and thoughtful, with intelligence, wit and quiet confidence.
• A strong singer/actor who is comfortable with contemporary pop and musical-theatre singing, harmony work and ensemble material.

RACHEL

• Female, playing age approximately late 30s to 40s.
• The central adult character. Warm, reflective and resilient, Rachel is reunited with the friends she has not seen for many years and begins to reconnect with a part of herself she had left behind.
• This requires a very strong actor who is also a confident and secure singer. The vocal style is predominantly contemporary musical theatre/pop rather than traditional or classical musical theatre. Emotional storytelling, warmth and authenticity are especially important.

HEATHER

• Female, playing age approximately late 30s to 40s.
• Confident, outgoing, funny and unapologetically herself.
• A strong singer and actor with excellent comic timing. Vocally, the performer must be comfortable with contemporary pop/musical-theatre repertoire, harmony singing and large ensemble numbers.

CLAIRE

• Female, playing age approximately late 30s to 40s.
• Formerly the athletic member of the group, Claire brings some wonderful comedy to the story as well as considerable warmth and heart.
• A confident singer and strong character actor. Secure harmony and ensemble singing are required, but acting, warmth and comic ability are equally important.

ZOE

• Female, playing age approximately late 30s to 40s.
• Intelligent and grounded, now a mum whose life has taken her somewhere rather different from the future she imagined as a teenager.
• A strong singer/actor who can sing confidently in a contemporary style, contribute securely to harmony work and bring honesty and warmth to the role.

JEFF

• Male, playing age approximately 40s/50s.
• Rachel’s long-term partner. Kind, supportive and understated, and an important part of Rachel’s present-day story.
• Primarily a strong acting role, although the performer must be musically confident and comfortable taking part in sung material where required. A powerhouse musical-theatre voice is not essential.

DAVE

• Male, flexible playing age.
• A fantastic comic character role. The same performer appears as a succession of different men called Dave throughout the story, requiring versatility, excellent comic timing and the ability to create a number of distinct characters.
• This is primarily a character-acting role, although good musical ability and confidence within the musical numbers are required.

ENSEMBLE x 10 (approx.)

• Male and female performers across a range of ages.
• The ensemble creates the many different worlds of the show and has opportunities to play numerous characters, including family members, school staff and students, concertgoers, airport staff, travellers, tourists and other featured roles.
• We are looking for confident singers, actors and movers.
• Vocally, the ensemble is an important part of the sound of the production. Performers should be comfortable singing in a contemporary pop/musical-theatre style, holding harmony parts, singing rhythmically demanding material and contributing to large-scale company numbers.
• Not every ensemble member needs to be a solo vocalist, and we will be looking for a range of performance strengths, but we do need a strong overall company sound. Secure tuning, rhythm, energy and the ability to blend within an ensemble will therefore be important.

Please remember that these are playing ages rather than necessarily the actual ages of performers.

INTERESTED?

At this stage, we are simply asking potential cast members to register their interest. There is nothing to prepare yet and registering interest does not commit you to auditioning. Once the audition material and full information pack are available, these will be sent directly to everyone who has registered. We currently expect auditions to take place towards the end of November / beginning of December, with the rehearsal period beginning in January.

If you would like to receive the audition information when it is released, please contact:

[email protected]