USING eighteen songs from the catalogue recorded by Take That, this musical tracks the story of a group of their fans from their teenage years back in 1992 for whom “The Band” is everything.

Twenty-five years on, the group of fans, now 40-something women, try once more to fulfil their dream of meeting their heroes.

“The seed for this musical was sown seven years ago”, according to Mark Owen. The members of Take That had the idea for a musical featuring their music, but not necessarily about the band itself. The idea was then taken up by Tim Firth who had collaborated with Gary Barlow in the musical version of The Calendar Girls and this new musical is the result.

The storyline follows five 16-year-old girls, Rachel, Debbie Claire, Zoe and Heather whose love for ‘the band’ transcends everything else – after bunking off school to see the boys in concert, tragedy befalls the group and forms the basis of act two, when we fast forward to when the girls are adults in their early forties.

The Band themselves, plucked from BBC talent show Let it Shine – Five to Five’s Sario, Yasdan, Nick, AJ and local Leeds boy Curtis provide the majority of the musical numbers but it is the girls in the first half and the older women in the second who stole the show in my opinion. These included the teenage girls Faye Christall as Rachel, Katy Clayton as Heather who I thought was superb, Rachelle Diedericks as Debbie, Sarah Kate Howarth as Claire and Lauren Jacobs as Zoe. Like the five Spice Girls, there’s someone everyone can identify with - the sporty one, the clever one, the boy-mad one and so on. The older women comprised Rachel Lumberg as Rachel, Emily Joyce as Heather, Alison Fitzjohn as Claire and Jane McKenna as Zoe. Again, all of these turned in some superb performances which at times were tear jerking and heart rendering.

A competition win by Rachel sees the women heading to Prague on a mission to finally meet the men whose music became the soundtrack to their lives - and along the way they end up in a police cell and reflect on where their lives have taken them. On paper it sounds overly sentimental but it’s delivered with so much heart and genuine warmth that it’s impossible not to get swept up in the relationships. Everyone gets their moment to shine.

I must also mention the additional two parts played by Andy Williams as Every Dave who took on a variety of roles including the band’s roadie, bus driver, airport ticket checker and Prague policeman and also Martin Miller as Jeff, the older Rachel’s husband. I particularly liked his use of Take That lyrics to tell girlfriend Rachel how much he cares when she arrives back at Manchester Airport.

In addition to their singing the five boys also were involved in the show by being passengers on the bus, staff at the airport and statues in the fountain in Prague. The production was created by Kim Gavin and Jack Ryder, the team behind Take That’s live concerts - and it shows. I particularly liked the scene in Prague when a huge sculpture in the fountain came to life to sing. Scene changes were very slick and the lighting and sound quality throughout added to the overall enjoyment of the show. Both the costumes and dance moves will be very familiar to anyone who’s ever caught a Take That performance.

Without doubt, Take That produced some absolute blinders as far as their songs were concerned. In the 80s we were regaled with Back for Good, It Only Takes a Minute, Pray, A Million Love Songs, Relight my Fire and Could it be Magic to name but half a dozen of their records featured in the show. However, I still think the ones recorded when they reformed are of a better quality. In the show these included Greatest Day, Rule the World, Patience, Shine, The Flood, The Garden and These Days.

The production runs at The Grand in Leeds until Saturday 31 March. Without doubt, this is one musical I’ll “Never Forget”.