An evening of musical theatre hits comes to the Kingdom

The clue to what this production is about is really in the title, and it offers a great night out for those who enjoy their musicals.

Now in its tenth anniversary year, this production stars Gareth Gates and Michael Courtney.

This week Gareth took time out of his busy schedule to speak to the Press ahead of his Fife date.

“The show is a great show for anyone that enjoys an evening out at the theatre,” he said.

“It’s pretty much the greatest hits of theatre from the West End and Broadway.

“There’s songs from older musicals like Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables, right through to modern day classics, so it’s for all ages.

“I’m thrilled to bring it up to Scotland, we’ve done a few shows in Scotland until now, but I’ve never been to Dunfermline so I’m looking forward to seeing the place.”

Although he’s probably known for winning Pop Idol back in 2001, Gareth has more recently enjoyed a successful career in musical theatre.

He continued: “I love live theatre, I don’t think there’s any greater way of performing than to do it live every night.

“I’ve done a mixture of time as a recording artist and lots of theatre in the past. I know both worlds and in most aspects I think I prefer the live theatre.

“I first did this show last autumn. We had such a great response we decided to do it all again this spring. The audiences absolutely love it. Most people there love musical theatre anyway, so to hear so many hits as it were all in the space of one evening is great.”

And musicals are something Gareth’s been interested in from a young age, before he even thought of Pop Idol.

He said: “At the age of eight I played Joseph at my first school. I had no idea I could sing, but because of that musical I started to sing. Then some 15 years later I had a meeting with Andrew Lloyd Webber and he asked me to play the lead in the West End and so I came full circle.”

With songs from such a wide range of musicals featured within the latest show, are there any favourites in there for Gareth?

“I love to sing ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables’ from Les Miserables”, he said.

“I was in that musical for about a year and a half. I did an anniversary touring production and after that Cameron McIntosh asked me to go to the West End. Singing that song brings back all the happy memories.”