Back in That... Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Mark Owen and Jason Orange. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA
And so a million hearts are aflutter with the news that Never Forget, a musical featuring the songs of Take That, is to open in Cardiff in July before a UK tour. It's another chance for a generation to swoon to Relight My Fire, Pray, Back for Good and Babe - this time under the pretext of a classy night out at the theatre.
Like the Abba musical Mamma Mia!, which was written by a proper playwright, Catherine Johnson, and staged by a proper director, Phyllida Lloyd, this one comes with a better pedigree than your average pop cash-in.
It's written by Danny Brocklehurst, of Shameless, Clocking Off and Sorted fame, and he's given it an actual story: a feelgood comedy about a Take That tribute band on a "rollercoaster journey" in pursuit of their dreams. Throw in young director Ed Curtis and Olivier-winning choreographer Karen Bruce and there's a chance of getting something a fraction more nuanced than the endless stream of rock'n'roll musicals that are little more than jumped-up sound-alike shows.
The same should be the case with Sunshine on Leith, a musical inspired by the songs of the Proclaimers that opens in Dundee in April. Written by Stephen Greenhorn, whose Passing Places was one of the funniest Scottish comedies of the 1990s, it promises to go into wilfully dark territory about life during wartime in Blair's Britain. The playwright has even resisted the pressure to include all the hits, using only songs that can move the narrative forward, although that does include Letter From America, I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) and the title track.
"Songs have to earn their right to be in a musical," says Greenhorn. "I didn't worry about having to include all the hits. I chose the songs that could work on stage."
And there's the rub. The range of subject matter in the songs of the Proclaimers (emigration, wife beating, football, colonialism) is surely broad enough to sustain an interesting drama. But what about those Take That hits? There's Pray, about regretting dumping a girlfriend, Relight My Fire, about regretting being dumped by a girlfriend, Back for Good, about trying to make up with a dumped girlfriend, and Babe, about getting back with an old flame.
I have tremendous admiration for Danny Brocklehurst. I'll have even more if he can make a compelling story out of that.
We can only wait and see, but even if these shows succeed, they're not good news for the future of the British musical. As Lloyd Webber retreats to former glories with Phantom II, where will the next generation of musical writers learn to fashion songs that meet the specific needs of the stage? For as long as familiar tunes are a bigger box-office draw than original work, the art of the musical is in terminal decline.
