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Boyzone's Gately Debuts as Joseph Pre-West EndDate: 2 September 2002
Boyzone's Stephen Gately will make his theatrical stage debut this December when he takes over the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The musical continues its UK-wide tour this autumn, with Gately officially joining for four weeks at the Liverpool Empire, from 16 December 2002 to 11 January 2003, ahead of an anticipated West End transfer in the new year.
For seven years in the 1990s, Gately (pictured) was a member of Irish group Boyzone, one of the most successful boybands in UK chart history. The band reached the top three in the charts with every one of their first 14 singles. Their many hits included "Love Me for a Reason", "When You Say Nothing at All, "Baby Can I Hold You" and "No Matter What" from another Lloyd Webber musical, Whistle Down the Wind.
Prior to Boyzone, Gately had been modelling and acting since the age of 16. In 1999, he made headlines for announcing to the press that he was gay. He soon after launched a solo career with a single and album titled "Billy Elliott". Amongst his various accolades, he has been named "Irish Personality of the Year" and "Hero of '99".
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was the first-ever collaboration between Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice. It started life in 1968 as a 20-minute entertainment for an end-of-term school concert. The musical went on to huge success in the West End and on Broadway and on tours throughout the world. Its score includes "Any Dream Will Do", "Close Ev'ry Door to Me" and "One More Angel".
The musical was last seen in the West End in the early 1990s, when it ran for more than two years at the London Palladium, taking over £47 million at the box office and bringing huge stage success for its Josephs - Philip Schofield and Jason Donovan.
The current production is presented by Bill Kenwright.
- by Terri Paddock
