They were the biggest boyband of the 90s.

Take That's journey from five lads starting out to becoming the band they went on to be was meteoric.

Though the stage show, The Band, may not officially be about the group - Gary Barlow, Robbie Williams, Howard Donald, Mark Owen, and Jason Orange - it's as close as we're going to get, with Take That at its helm. And it features their music, with numbers such as Back for Good, Relight My Fire, Shine and Rule The World.

Gary said: "This isn't a story specifically about us, this is a story alongside our story.
"We're starting to really fall in love with everybody we're working with and feel very proud at this point to be able to just sit in an audience and watch our music being performed... because this is all new for us. One of the things we loved when this story came about was that it pays the ultimate respect to the audience."

The fresh-faced members for Tim Firth's musical were chosen after a search on the BBC's Let It Shine.

AJ Bentley, from Hythe near Ashford, Nick Carsberg, Curtis T Johns, Yazdan Qafouri and Sario Solomon, won the show as Five to Five.

They will star in the show which tells of what it’s like to grow up with a boyband. For five 16-year-old friends in 1992, “the band” is everything. And 25 years on, the audience is reunited with the friends, now 40-something women, as they try to once more fulfil their dream of meeting their heroes.

The soundtrack to the women’s lives includes Take That songs including Never Forget, A Million Love Songs, Greatest Day, The Flood and Shine.

Playing the parts of Rachel and young Rachel will be Rachel Lumberg and Faye Christall respectively.

AJ, a former Brockhill Park student who studied dance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire, said of Take That: "That's why they are such successes - they look after their fans, they talk to their fans and they have that rapport and I think if we can take a bit of what they've had... and Take That with us then hopefully that will be a success."

The Band is produced by David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers, and Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Mark Owen, Robbie Williams.

The show is at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury until Saturday, March 3, but there are very few tickets left. To book call 01227 787787, and marlowetheatre.com.

As a result of the demand, a second Kent date has been added to the tour schedule - it will be at the Orchard Theatre in Dartford from Tuesday, February 5 to Friday, February 9, 2019. To book visit orchardtheatre.co.uk or call 01322 220000.