Cast: Victoria Wood's "That Day We Sang"

The Royal Exchange Theatre is once again offering audiences an alternative to the usual Christmas fare with That Day We Sang – a play with music by Victoria Wood.

The show has been reinvented and re-orchestrated for the Royal Exchange's unique space by BAFTA award-winning writer Wood.

That Day We Sang is described as a big-hearted and nostalgic Manchester love story for all the family. Set in the summer of ‘69, insurance clerk Tubby and secretary Enid are back on stage at the Free Trade Hall. Granada Television are recording a documentary celebrating the forty years since they first stood there as children, singing their hearts out with fellow school pupils and accompanied by the Halle Orchestra.

The show was originally commissioned for the Manchester International Festival 2011. This new production will feature a 25-strong children's choir, featuring youngsters from schools across Greater Manchester.

Talking about the show, Victoria Wood said: "It is a play with songs, and dancing and insurance men. It's a love story – played against a background of The Wimpy, The Golden Egg, Piccadilly Gardens … it's a very Mancunian story."

The cast includes Dean Andrews, as Tubby, best known for his role as DS Ray Carling in the BBC TV drama Life on Mars and the spin-off series Ashes to Ashes, and Anna Francolini, as Enid, who was last seen at the Royal Exchange in A View From The Bridge. Her other stage credits include Onassis (Novello Theatre) and her film and TV work includes Topsy-Turvy and Rome.

The cast also includes Sally Banks, Andy Brady, Faye Brookes, Joel Danziger, Craige Els, William Haresceugh, Darren Lawrence, Laura Medforth, Aki Omoshaybi, Kelly Price, Alex Starke and James Quinn.

The production is directed by Royal Exchange Artistic Director Sarah Frankcom. The creative team is completed by James Cotterill (designer), Nigel Lilley (musical supervisor), Ian Townsend (musical director), Sammy Murray Brown (choreographer), Jeff Borradaile (choir master), Johanna Town (lighting designer), Peter Rice (sound designer), Sorcha Williams (associate sound designer) and Liz Stevenson (assistant director).

That Day We Sang runs from 5 December – 18 January.