We all know the feeling: a tune we remember from our teenage years comes on, and we’re instantly transported back in time, as memories of old haunts and old friends come flooding to our minds. Tapping into the nostalgia that songs seem almost uniquely apt to spark, Tim Firth’s hotly anticipated Take That musical, The Band, breaks with a tradition of jukebox-style biopics, instead putting music lovers and listeners centre-stage. Ahead of its arrival in Stoke-on-Trent, we asked him more about the story he describes as a perfect way for Take That to show fans how much their devotion means to them. 

“It must have been over 15 years ago that Gary Barlow and I first discussed the idea of a musical, but at that point, I didn’t know where to start with it,” says Firth. “I’d done one musical with existing music by Madness, but that was because I’d felt there was a story hiding in their lyrics. There’s got to be a reason for doing a musical that isn’t just cashing in.

“It wasn’t until years later, when Gary said he’d been approached by the BBC to do a talent show, that I hit on the idea of casting the band in a fundamentally different role, and it changed everything. Now, instead of pretending the songs were written for the show, we have them performing the same function in the lives of the characters that they would in real life - so they’re on the radio, in the characters’ heads, at concerts or being sung along to by the girls.”

The story revolves around the lives of five teenagers, all big fans of the same pop group. When they discover that the band will be performing in their hometown, they’re eager to attend together. But on the night of the gig, disaster strikes, ultimately causing the friends to split apart. More than 20 years later, however, the band reforms, leading the characters to a reunion of their own. 

“It’s partly based on two different true stories. One involved a group of friends I know, who went through a tragedy together. In their case, it actually brought them all much closer together, but it made me think about what might have happened if things had gone the other way. 

“But ultimately they’re just five ordinary girls at school, so whether you see yourself in one of them or they remind you of someone you know, everybody should recognise them. And anyone can identify with the journey they go on, whether or not they’ve been through something similar. I think what a lot of people find moving about the show is not so much the loss they deal with as the journey back to positivity and optimism, and being reminded of the value of friendship to help us through tough times.”

Featuring the characters at two different stages in their lives has required some special considerations for the casting and rehearsal process.

“Even though some of the women have completely changed from how they were at the age of 16, we have to believe that these are the same characters. Partly that’s to do with casting, but it isn’t just a case of finding lookalikes. In rehearsals, we’ve had the girls watching the women and vice versa, so that they pick up little traits and ways of speaking from each other - even certain catchphrases.”

The TV talent show that prompted Firth to reconsider what might be done with a Take That musical was of course Let It Shine, with winners Five To Five now appearing in the show as the band. But as he explains, it’s not quite as straightforward as them simply playing Take That. 

“While the series was still running, the press kept saying that they’d heard the boys wouldn’t be the leads and were just going to be backing singers, and all the time I was smiling to myself thinking, ‘Just wait, hold your nerve!’

“I think until they actually come to see it, it’s quite hard for people to imagine what this story is. Even though the boys don’t have a single word of dialogue, every time they sing, it feels like they’re commenting on the story or nudging the girls into action, almost like an old-fashioned Greek chorus. They’re a constant presence that keeps changing -  moving in and out of different roles. So at one point they might be workers in an airport, and at another time they might step out of a music video on TV. They must have 20 or 30 costume changes between them, and they also move the set around and facilitate the changing of one scene to another, so they’ve got loads to do.”

Interestingly, neither Take That nor its members are ever actually called by name, usually simply dubbed “the band” or “the boys” by the characters. Even the title of the show can also refer to the wristbands the girls wear to the concert, rather than directly to the group itself. 

“Whenever I put the words Take That or Gary or Robbie into the script, which I did a little bit at the start, the story absolutely threw them back at me. It didn’t work. And that I took to be it saying, ‘Look, this is a much more universal story. This isn’t just about people who like Take That. It’s about music and the power of song in its broadest sense.’

“Songs are unique in their ability to retain parts of our lives, like little treasure chests. And regardless of what sort of thing you listen to, if you have music in your life, you’ll understand that and be able to enjoy this story.”

The Band shows at the Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, from Tuesday 28 November to Saturday 9 December, and at Birmingham Hippodrome from Tuesday 1 to Saturday 12 May. 

Interview by Heather Kincaid