BASED on the true story of the chart-topping Cornish singing sensations and their hit 2019 movie, Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical is a feel-good voyage about friendship, community, and music which arrives at Mayflower Theatre on its world premiere tour next week.
When a group of Cornish fishermen came together to sing the traditional working songs they’d sung for generations, nobody, least of all the fishermen, expected the story to end on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury.
They are spotted by a fish-out-of-water music manager on a trip from London, who must learn that there is more to life than selling your sole for fifteen minutes of fame.
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A star cast includes James Gaddas (Coronation Street, Billy Elliot the Musical), Parisa Shahmir (Mamma Mia!), Robert Duncan (Drop the Dead Donkey), Anton Stephans (The X Factor) and Susan Penhaligon (Bouquet of Barbed Wire).
As the world premiere production of Fisherman’s Friends:The Musical arrives in Southampton, director James Grieve promises audiences are in store for "a feel-good, foot-stomping, sea shanty musical telling the astonishing story of the world’s least likely boyband".
He told the Daily Echo: "The real Fisherman’s Friends are ordinary blokes who work hard as fishermen, farmers, builders and shopkeepers. We all see ourselves in them. They never sought fame and fortune but it found them and their remarkable talent, and it’s wonderful when good people get justly rewarded.
"That’s what makes this story so uplifting. But more than a story about finding fame and fortune it’s a story about friendship, loyalty, community and the unbreakable ties that bind us, and it is full of humour."
The multi-level set designed by Lucy Osborne recreates the fishing village of Port Isaac, including the famous Golden Lion pub where the lads first begin singing over a few pints, as well as the Atlantic Ocean and locations in London.
There’s also a life-size boat on stage and 37 musical numbers in the show.
Fisherman's Friends: The Musical runs from Tuesday, February 14 to Saturday, February 18.
Tickets from mayflower.org.uk
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