MELISSA JACQUES &
SAM BAILEY
JOIN THE CAST FOR
WORLD PREMIERE OF
NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL A MUSICAL
ROYO, UNIVERSAL MUSIC UK, SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT & MIGHTY VILLAGE, producers of the world premiere of NOW That’s What I Call A Musical are delighted to announce that 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). 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 and Sam join the previously announced Nina Wadia, who will star as Gemma as well as an array of special guest stars playing themselves at certain performances and singing the songs that made them NOW icons. In 2024 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.
In 2025 Sinitta will be appearing in Dublin, Hull and York with Sonia in Southampton, Southend, Bristol, Liverpool, Wimbledon and Birmingham and Carol Decker in Oxford. For further detail, patrons are advised to check their local websites.
Melissa Jacques most recently appeared as Shelley in I Should Be So Lucky (UK and Ireland tour). Her other theatre work includes Margaret New in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (West End & LA Productions), Pirate Queen in Pirates Of Treasure Island & Queen Of Hearts in Alice In Wonderland (The Stag Theatre, Sevenoaks), Carol’s Mum in 42 Balloons concert version (Vaudeville Theatre,Trish in Kinky Boots (Adelphi Theatre), Midwife and Madame Morrible cover in Wicked (Victoria Palace Theatre), alternate Donna and understudy for all the Dynamos in the original cast of Mamma Mia! (West End), Company & Into the Woods (Derby Playhouse), The Full Monty (UK tour), Spend, Spend, Spend (West Yorkshire Playhouse and UK tour), A Slice of Saturday Night, Oliver! & Beauty and the Beast (Theatre Royal, Lincoln), Little Shop of Horrors (Millfield Theatre) and Me and My Girl & Crazy for You (Aberystwyth).
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).
Get ready to relive the playlist of your life by celebrating 40 years of the iconic and chart-topping compilations brand NOWThat’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.
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?
The creative team will include Set and Costume Design by Tom Rogers & Toots Butcher, Musical Supervision and Arrangements by Mark Crossland, Lighting Design by Ben Cracknell, Sound Design by Adam Fisher, Wigs & Hair Design by Sam Cox, Associate Direction by Guy Woolf, Associate Choreography by Aaron Renfree, Associate Sound Design by Ollie Durrant and Casting by Annelie Powell CDG.
NOW is produced by ROYO, Universal Music UK, SONY Music Entertainment and Mighty Village.
Website: thenowmusical.com
Facebook: theNOWmusical
Twitter: @theNOWmusical
Instagram: @theNOWmusical
2024 / 2025 TOUR SCHEDULE
6 – 7 September Aylesbury Waterside Theatre
10 – 14 September Sheffield Lyceum 0114 249 6000
www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk
17 – 21 September Canterbury Marlowe Theatre 01227 787787
www.marlowetheatre.com
24 – 28 September Nottingham Theatre Royal 0115 989 5555
1 – 5 October Norwich Theatre Royal 01603 630 000
www.norwichtheatre.org
8 – 12 October Newcastle Theatre Royal 0191 232 7010
www.theatreroyal.co.uk
15 – 19 October Bradford Alhambra Theatre 01274 432000
www.bradford-theatres.co.uk
29 October – 2 November Cardiff New Theatre 0343 310 0041
5 – 9 November Truro Hall For Cornwall 01872 262466
www.hallforcornwall.co.uk
12 – 16 November Milton Keynes Theatre
www.atgtickets.com/milton-keynes-theatre
19 – 23 November Belfast Grand Opera House
www.goh.co.uk
26 – 30 November Woking New Victoria Theatre
www.atgtickets.com/new-victoria-theatre
2 – 7 December Theatre Royal Brighton
14 – 18 January 2025 Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre 02380 711811
www.mayflower.org.uk
21 – 25 January Dublin Bord Gais Energy Theatre 0818719 377 (ROI)
bordgaisenergytheatre.ie 08442485101 (UK)
28 January – 1 February Manchester Opera House
www.atgtickets.com/Manchester
4 – 8 February Hull New Theatre 01482 300 306
www.hulltheatres.co.uk
11 – 15 February Southend Cliffs Pavilion
www.thecliffspavilion.co.uk
18 – 22 February Glasgow Kings Theatre
www.atgtickets.com/Glasgow
25 February – 1 March Edinburgh Playhouse
www.atgtickets.com/Edinburgh
4 – 8 March Liverpool Empire Theatre
www.atgtickets.com/Liverpool
11 – 15 March Birmingham Alexandra
www.atgtickets.com/Birmingham
18 – 22 March York Grand Opera House
www.atgtickets.com/York
25 – 29 March Oxford New Theatre
www.atgtickets.com/Oxford
1 – 5 April Bristol Hippodrome
www.atgtickets.com/Bristol
8 – 12 April London New Wimbledon Theatre
www.atgtickets.com/Wimbledon