Big the Musical starring Strictly winner Jay McGuiness is heading to the West End

29 March 2019, 16:38

The Tom Hanks movie Big is getting the stage musical treatment, with The Wanted singer and Strictly Come Dancing winner Jay McGuiness leading the cast of a new West End production.

Based on the 1988 comedy starring Tom Hanks, BIG The Musical will make its West End premiere at the Dominion Theatre in London for a limited nine-week run from September 6 to November 2, 2019.

The musical is centred around 12 year-old Josh Baskin, who longs to be bigger and older. When a mysterious Zoltar machine grants his wish, he suddenly finds himself trapped inside an adult’s body, and is forced to live and work in a grown-up world.

Jay McGuiness will star as Josh, having first played the role at the Theatre Royal Plymouth in 2016.

He first found fame as part of the boy band The Wanted, and he later won Strictly Come Dancing in 2015 with professional dancer Aliona Vilani. He and his Wanted bandmate Siva also won last year’s celebrity version of Channel 4’s Hunted. He is currently starring in Rip It Up - The 60’s in London’s West End until June.

Tom Hanks originally starred in the 1988 movie, which was one of his breakthrough roles.

Big (1988) - Playing the Piano Scene (2/5) | Movieclips

The American actor has recently signed up to play Elvis Presley's manager Colonel Tom Parker in a new movie titled The King from director Baz Luhrmann.