It has been three decades since The Commitments first burst from the pages of Roddy Doyle’s best-selling novel, and on Tuesday (Nov 1) the world's hardest working soul band rolls into Milton Keynes.
The Commitments, based on the BAFTA award-winning classic, is a fantastically feel good celebration of soul and arrives here direct from a phenomenally successful, record breaking run in London’s West End.
The Commitments is the story of Jimmy Rabbitte, a young working class music fan, who shapes an unlikely bunch of amateur musicians and friends into an amazing live act, the finest soul band Dublin has ever produced.
Placing a classified advert in a music paper, Jimmy auditions a number of wannabes before finalising the new line up who he names The Commitments.
Coronation Street legend Kevin Kennedy leads the casting as Jimmy’s Dad.
Since leaving the Corrie cobbles, where he famously starred as Curly Watts, he has carved out a fantastic career on the stage, with roles in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, We Will Rock You, Chicago and The Rocky Horror Show.
Brian Gilligan will reprise his starring role of Deco and Andrew Linnie stars as Jimmy Rabbitte.
And if it's smashing soul classics you want, you've got 'em, with more than 20 performed live on stage including Try A Little Tenderness, River Deep, Mountain High, In The Midnight Hour, Papa Was A Rolling Stone, Save Me, Mustang Sally and I Heard It Through The Grapevine.
“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,” says Roddy Doyle.
The Commitments will be at MK Theatre through to Saturday, November 5.
To book tickets visit here
