Smash hit musical The Bodyguard is back, this time with a Coronation Street favourite taking to the stage.
Matt Milburn will share the role of former Secret Service agent Frank Farmer with Adam Garcia when the romantic thriller based on the film starring Whitney Houston comes to Mayflower Theatre from April 21 to 25.
The actor, best known for his depiction of Tommy Orpington in Corrie as well as parts in Hollyoaks and Brassic, has played Sy Spector in the show since the start of the tour. Tickets for the Southampton dates are on sale now from mayflower.org.uk
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He said: "I was a huge fan of the film when it originally came out and friends and family who'd seen the musical previously told me how amazing it is. The show is an exciting new take on the story. Another attraction is the level of the tour itself - the places it's going, cities that we're going to be seeing and the theatres themselves. I'm a huge theatre fan, which makes me sort of an amateur architecture fan, and when you're doing tours of this size and scope, you're in the best theatres and they're all beautiful. I've done various tours before, such as with Heartbeat and various Shakespeare productions, but this is easily the biggest show I've done so far.
"This is my first musical, which was on my wish list because even though I'm not a singer or a dancer I love going to watch musicals. To actually now be in one of this calibre is a dream come true."
Matt's Corrie character, football favourite Tommy Orpington, actually left the cobbles a year ago for a coaching role in Southampton.
On Tommy, he added: "I've played him off and on for six years, so I've sort of flitted in and out. Recently there was the affair storyline, where I was splitting up Steve and Tracy (McDonald). They're two of the most iconic characters on the show and I was expecting a negative backlash from some people about the affair, but it got really good feedback. I think people enjoyed the manner in which we performed it because it was a bit of fun and a bit tongue-in-cheek."
