Beverley Knight excited at return to home stage

Beverley Knight says she is excited to be returning to the hometown theatre where she last performed 40 years ago on her stage debut.

The Wolverhampton artist will tread the boards at the city's Grand Theatre from 27-31 May for a production of Marie & Rosetta.

She last performed on stage in a theatrical production of West Side Story at the Grand when she was 12, she said.

Knight, widely regarded as one of Britain's greatest soul singers, said she was looking forward to her return to the city.

"It's my first time back on this stage - the last time I was here, I was about 12 years of age in West Side Story so I am exceptionally excited to be here playing my hometown," she told fans through the theatre's Facebook page.

Knight, whose many West End performances include Memphis, The Drifters Girl, Sister Act and Sylvia - which won her an Olivier award - said to be cast as Sister Rosetta in the production was a "great honour".

The work tells the story of gospel and blues singer Rosetta Tharpe and her protégé, Marie Knight, played by Ntombizodwa Ndlovu, and features music celebrating Tharpe's legacy in the development of rock 'n' roll.

Tharpe herself performed at Wolverhampton's Civic Hall on 26 November 1957.

When Beverley Knight was told the news by the theatre team that she would be bringing Rosetta's story back to the city 68 years later, she said: "That's before my parents even came to England, dad came in 1958, I can't believe it.

"I can't believe she came to my Wolverhampton. This is like gold to me, to know she came, it is everything.

"It means when we stand on stage and honour her it will resonate even more than it was going to in the first place."

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