Best selling novel The Commitments comes to Milton Keynes

Thirty years since The Commitments first burst from the pages of Roddy Doyle's best selling novel, the story of the world's hardest working soul band is on tour with a stage show to get the audience rocking and up on their feet.
The Commitments stage showThe Commitments stage show
The Commitments stage show

Some people think the band is real, but in fact The Commitments sprang from the imagination of author Doyle.

He said: “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.”

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.

When the novel was turned into a film in the early 90s, most of the actors who played the parts of the band members were also musicians playing their own instruments and singing the songs.

And with over 20 soul classic performed live during the stage show, the theatre actors need to be just as multi talented.

Andrew Linnie stars as Jimmy Rabbitte, with Brian Gilligan as Deco.

Coronation Street’s Curly Watts, Kevin Kennedy, performs as Jimmy’s father.

Since leaving the Street Watts has regularly appeared on stage in productions including Chicago, The Rocky Horror Show, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and We Will Rock You.

The Commitments comes to Milton Keynes Theatre for a week from Tuesday November 1 - Saturday 5 with evening and matinee performances.

This will be a chance to enjoy a fabulously fun night out with music including Night Train, Try A Little Tenderness, River Deep Mountain High, In The Midnight Hour, Papa Was A Rolling Stone, Save Me, Mustang Sally, I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Thin Line Between Love and Hate, Reach Out, Uptight, Knock On Wood and plenty more.

Tickets cost from £18 and are available online at www.atgtickets.com/miltonkeynes or call the box office on 0844 871 7652 or visit the theatre on Marlborough Gate in the city centre.

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