Atomic Kitten star joins 911 frontman for Chesterfield Panto
A magic carpet tale of adventure is set to touch down in Chesterfield with two multi-million selling pop stars leading the line-up of the family favourite pantomime Aladdin this Christmas at the Pomegranate Theatre.
Atomic Kitten star and Celebrity Masterchef winner Liz McClarnon, will take to the stage as the stunning Princess Jasmine, while 911 frontman and star of the stage, Lee Brennan, will take on the title role as our hero Aladdin.
Liz is best known as one third of Britain’s most successful girl group of the noughties: Atomic Kitten. The group experienced phenomenal success, going on to have 15 singles reach the top 10 in the UK, including the number 1 hits Eternal Flame, The Tide is High and their biggest selling single Whole Again which sold over a million copies in the UK alone. The girls’ popularity led to global record sales of over ten million, chart success and sell out arena tours at home and throughout Asia and even a slot to perform at Buckingham Palace in front of a TV audience of millions for the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations in 2002.
After the girl group went their separate ways, Liz achieved chart success in her own right, landing a top 5 hit with her version of the classic Barbara Streisand song Woman in Love, which was produced for her by Bee Gee Robin Gibb.
Away from the music world, 2008 saw Liz back on our screens for an altogether different reason – swapping microphone for apron, she embarked on a new challenge when she entered Celebrity Masterchef. Five million people regularly saw her take on everyone and every challenge put in front of her, where her natural culinary ability and hard work helped secure her the title of Celebrity Masterchef 2008!
Cooking took Liz into the world of television, leading to regular appearances on panel shows and opening doors for her as a presenter. She has hosted the National Lottery for BBC1, interviewed the hottest names in music for MTV and fronted her own series for BBC3. Not forgetting her musical roots, Liz took to the stage in the lead female role in The War of the
Worlds starring opposite Jason Donovan and hit the road in the touring production of Legally Blonde where she starred as Paulette.
Fast forward to January 2013 and Liz was back with Atomic Kitten, starring in ITV2’s huge smash hit fly on the wall documentary The Big Reunion, which documented the real life ups and downs of being part of a reunited pop band. Watched by over two million people, an arena tour followed which saw Liz and the kittens perform to over 200,000 people along with bands Five, Atomic Kitten, B*Witched, Blue, Liberty X and 911!
After joining forces for a smash hit tour of pop nostalgia, Liz is set to be reunited with fellow popstar Lee Brennan, the lead singer of hit boyband 911. Lee and the lads shot to fame with chart-topping hits such as A Night to Remember, Bodyshakin, Don’t Make Me Wait and A Little Bit More. The band’s debut album The Journey spent 17 weeks in the UK charts, was awarded a gold disc and even went 12 times platinum in Malaysia, such was their success and appeal.
Four more studio albums, including a Greatest Hits, and 14 singles kept the boys in the charts and the public eye from 1996 to 2000. As the millennium approached the hit-makers were one of just five acts in the decade to achieve 10 consecutive top 10 singles in the UK. The lads had become one of the biggest and most recognisable faces of the 90s pop scene, selling more than ten million records and playing to thousands in sell-out arena tours in the UK, and 70,000 people in Singapore alone on their tour of Asia.
Away from the group, Lee has clocked up years of experience on the stage. He has played to thousands in headline pantomime roles around the country, including four consecutive appearances as Peter Pan, and a headline role cutting loose on stage in Footloose, The Musical alongside stage star Maureen Nolan.
Liz and Lee will star in Aladdin at the Pomegranate Theatre from Friday 2 December 2016 to Tuesday 3 January 2017. Tickets are available from the Chesterfield Theatres Box Office by visiting www.chesterfieldtheatres.co.uk/panto or by calling 01246 345 222. Further cast members will be announced soon.