Boyband returns

There were four people who were not invited to see the first season of the musical Boyband when it opened mid-2005.

While the show proved a box office and popular success, the creators felt it was not quite ready to be seen by the members of pop group Human Nature, who might have a very different reaction to a show about what really goes on behind the scenes of a boy band.

But with the new season of Boyband about to open on Friday in an all-new, revised and updated production, co-creator and co-star Andrew Threlfall says this time around Human Nature are being sent tickets.

We just weren’t ready last time as there was still work to be done and things we wanted to iron out, which is what we have done, Threlfall says. We were all aware the Human Nature guys will see the show in a particular light, so we wanted it to be ready for them to see it. While Boyband is not about them, it is about the phenomenon of boy bands, so we hope Toby and the boys will turn up to see the show.

Threlfall again plays Mark, the sexually confused member of the boy band 4ORCE, who faces a battle to come out as gay as the record company attempts to push him back into the closet in the name of keeping teenage girl fans happy.

We have made much more of that storyline this time around, and I think it works much better, says Threlfall. The drag scene in the gay club was always one of the high points of the last season and it is still in the show, but we have reworked so much of the rest of it, so I think the people who see it again will be happy with how it has developed.

Joining the original cast for the new season is Helpmann Award winner Amanda Harrison (We Will Rock You), and Mitchell Winter as band heartthrob Corey. Choreographer William Forsythe, who has often worked with Kylie Minogue, has also created new dance routines for the cast.

We have a show on Mardi Gras night, but I think that might work quite well, says Threlfall. Once we have danced through two hours of Boyband, everyone can then dance up Cleveland Street to the Mardi Gras party and keep dancing all night. Well, that’s what I am planning on doing anyway!

Boyband plays 3-25 March at the Seymour Centre. Bookings on 9351 7940.