Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aston Merrygold is strictly not dancing for his Footloose UK debut in Aberdeen

Aston Merrygold cut loose for his UK debut in Footloose at His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen.
Aston Merrygold cut loose for his UK debut in Footloose at His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen.

Music superstar Aston Merrygold makes his UK debut in the hit musical Footloose in Aberdeen next week – and he’s facing a real challenge.

The JLS singer has to pretend he doesn’t know how to dance when he takes on the role of Willard – and as anyone who saw Aston on Strictly Come Dancing knows, he actually has some nifty moves.

“It is a bit of a challenge because to try and dance off beat is difficult if you can,” said the talented West End star who will be in Footloose The Musical at His Majesty’s from Monday July 25 to Saturday July 30.

Footloose The Musical promises to be high-energy fun when it arrives at His Majesty’s Theatre.

“It really is quite hard to not stay in time, but that will be part of the process of finding Willard’s character. I’m having to find a way of making a routine that doesn’t look like I’m dancing in time.”

Aston Merrygold working hard to nail his Footloose character

As well as mastering the non-dancing, Aston – who won a new slew of fans in The Masked Singer and also just released a solo single – says he has his work cut out nailing Willard’s character.

“It’s that really Deep South accent for one, and Willard has a lot of punchlines that need delivered properly – the writing is brilliant. It needs the performance to make the character come alive and understandable.

“He’s not the brightest spark of the bunch, so it’s trying to bring that wit and humour and charisma to the part is a challenge.”

Aston Merrygold is looking forward to nailing his character, Willard, in Footloose The Musical at His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen.

Feelgood musical Footloose crammed with hits from the ’80s

Footloose The Musical is based on the revered ’80s film starring Kevin Bacon, about a city boy Ren who moves to a rural backwater in America, only to find dancing and rock music are banned.

He takes matters into his own hands and has the town on their feet – including his new friend, country boy Willard, who he teaches to dance.

The feelgood musical features a non-stop stream of ’80s hits, including Holding Out For A Hero, Let’s Hear It For The Boy and the unforgettable title track, Footloose.

Aston, who shot to fame with JLS via The X Factor, says Aberdeen audiences are in for a treat in what he describes as one of his favourite stories of all time, following a rebel with a cause.

Aston Merrygold was partnered with Janette Manrara in the 2017 series of the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.

Aston thinks The Masked Singer tour was ‘weirder than the TV show’

“I reckon my favourite part (of the film) is the montage where Ren is teaching Willard to dance and getting him on par to make sure he can dance and doesn’t make a fool of himself.”

As well as preparing for Footloose, Aston has been busy in other parts of his career, too. He was a panellist on the UK live tour of the Masked Singer – “even more weird than the TV show if that’s possible” – and has a new solo single out, How Many Times, with a possible solo tour in the wings.

And he dropped some big hints about the possibility of new projects coming from JLS – who reformed and had a hugely successful comeback tour in 2021.

Let’s hear it for the boys – and girls – of the UK tour of Footloose The Musical heading for HMT.

“As you can tell we’re all back on our projects, but we are going to be back in the studio, we are going to be creative together. So if we can get our act together and make something happen music-wise, then we would love to be back out on the road.

“We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

Aston Merrygold has blizzard of memories from JLS Aberdeen gig

For now, though, Aston is concentrating on his role as Willard and being back in Aberdeen.

Ask what he remembers about the Granite City and it unleashes a blizzard of memories for the performer – literally.

“The one memory of Aberdeen that really springs to mind is that it (AECC) was one of the first arenas that I ever played, but there was a snowstorm. Trying to get the bus up to the arena that was a task I’ll never forget.

JLS in concert at the AECC in 2013. Picture by Andy Thorn.

“The struggle and effort from the whole team to make that show work – and even people getting to the show was such a pain – but it was such a good night and definitely worth it.”

How to get tickets to see Aston Merrygold in Footloose at HMT

There won’t be any snowstorms to contend with next week, so Aston is looking forward to welcoming audiences to Footloose at His Majesty’s.

“Hold on to your seats… the fact that I’m able to get hold of a character and really let loose is going to be a lot of fun.”

For more information and tickets for Footloose The Musical at His Majesty’s, go to aberdeenperformingarts.com


You might also like…

Conversation