Jennifer Ellison to join the cast for official Take That musical Greatest Days at Royal & Derngate

Producer Adam Kenwright is delighted to announce that Jennifer Ellison is joining The Official Take That MusicalGreatest Days, with a book by award-winning playwright Tim Firth. Jennifer will join as Rachel from 21 August at the Kings Theatre, Glasgow. The show comes to Northampton’s Royal & Derngate from Monday 2 to Saturday 7 October.

The musical embarked on a major UK tour on 6 May 2023, coinciding with the summer 2023 release of the official movie version of this smash-hit musical.

Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Take That’s first ever UK number 1 single Pray, Greatest Days features more than 15 record-breaking Take That songs alongside a heart-warming and hilarious story of love, loss and laughter from award-winning writer Tim Firth (Calendar Girls, Kinky Boots). The musical follows a group of five best friends in the 1990’s who are obsessed with their favourite boy band. The girls reunite more than 20 years later with a plan to see their heartthrobs one last time in what could be the Greatest Days of their lives.

Joining the cast as Rachel, actress, singer, dancer and businesswoman Jennifer Ellison rose to prominence playing Emily Shadwick in the television soap opera Brookside and secured her place as a household name by playing Meg Giry in her international film debut, the 2004 adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera. Jennifer played Tracey in British horror movie The Cottage alongside other film and TV projects such as Lynda La Plante’s The Commander: Abduction, Liverpool Nativity forBBC Three, Hotel Babylon for BBC1, The Verdict, New Street Law, and The Brief. Jennifer’s other many TV appearances include the most recent series of SAS Who Dares Wins (Channel 4), Dancing On Ice (Semi-Finalist & National Tour), Hell's Kitchen (Winner), Celebrity challenge show - With a Little Help From My Friends (ITV), as judge on Dirty Dancing - Time of your Life (Living TV) and as a frequent guest on the ITV daytime show Loose Women. Jennifer also fronts the UK version of the hit US series Dance Moms for the Lifetime channel, which follows Jennifer at her very own dance school The Jennifer Ellison Fame Academy.

Her other theatre credits include: Lina Lamond in Singin’ In The Rain (Palace Theatre), Paulette in Legally Blonde (UK Tour), Cora and Celia in Calendar Girls (UK Tour), Gloria in Boeing Boeing directed by Matthew Warchus (The Comedy Theatre) and Beth in The War Of The Worlds (UK Arena Tour). Pantomime includes Cinderella with Cilla Black and Les Dennis (Liverpool Empire), Wicked Queen in Snow White (Milton Keynes & Opera House, Blackpool) and Roxie Hart in Chicago (Adelphi Theatre, Cambridge Theatre, UK Tour & 10th Anniversary Gala).

Also joining the company is Olivia Hallett, who will be performing the role of Young Rachel from 24 July.

Olivia Hallett trained at Emil Dale Academy and The Urdang Academy. She originated the role of Marge in ‘KIN’ - A New Musical (The Factory Playhouse Hitchin) and appeared as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes (The Other Palace). Other credits include: What I Go to School For - The Busted Musical (Theatre Royal Brighton), The Goodbye Girl (Upstairs at the Gatehouse) Jill in Jack and the Beanstalk Pantomime (Little Wolf - The Assembly Halls Tunbridge Wells), Quinn in ‘Chosen’ - A New Musical (BEAM 2023) and The Boy Who Sailed the Ocean in an Armchair (BEAM 2023). Olivia provided the singing voice of Joy in The Secret of Joy (IMDB).

They join existing cast members Taylor Alman, Holly Ashton, Hannah Brown, Kalifa Burton, Benjamin Cameron, Jamie Corner, Archie Durrant, Regan Gascoigne, Kitty Harris, Bayley Hart, Keith Henderson, Karen Holmes, Christopher D. Hunt, Evangeline Jarvis Jones, Rachel Marwood, Mari McGinlay, Jamie-Rose Monk, Mary Moore, Alexanda O’Reilly, Charlotte Anne Steen and Alan Stocks.

Greatest Days was originally produced as The Band by David Pugh & Dafydd Rogers + Take That. The UK tour of The Band originally opened at Manchester Opera House in September 2017, breaking box office records along the way.

The book of Greatest Days is written by Tim Firth, with co-direction by Stacey Haynes and Tim Firth, Choreography by Aaron Renfree, Set & Costume Design by Lucy Osborne, Lighting Design by Rob Casey, Sound Design by Tony Gayle, Casting by David Grindrod for Grindrod Burton Casting, Musical Supervision by John Donovan, Costume Supervision by Martin Rodges.

The UK Tour of Greatest Days by Tim Firth – The Official Take That Musical is produced by Adam Kenwright for Kindred Partners.

Greatest Days takes to the Derngate stage from Monday 2 to Saturday 7 October, with performances at 7.30pm nightly and matinees at 2.30pm on Wednesday and Saturday. Tickets priced from £17 can be booked by calling Box Office on 01604 624811 or online at www.royalandderngate.co.uk.