The Band: A musical triumph that will steal your heart

As a show which features the music of Take That, this brand new musical managed to stir up quite the fuss before the curtain even lifted.

Attracting both theatre lovers and avid fans of the band alike, it's a show which has garnered mass appeal and while the soundtrack is the obvious draw, it does have a captivating story to back it up.

Now I must confess, I am not a huge fan of Take That myself.

Having grown up with a taste for all things rock 'n' roll, my expectations for enjoying a show about a boyband I am only familiar with through older family members were, admittedly, limited.

But as the curtain lifted to an excitable young girl swooning as her idols appeared on Top of the Pops, my curiosity was undeniably sparked.

The show takes us back to 1992 when for five 16 year old girls, their favourite boyband is everything.

While the girls are all very different in personality, with one out-going, one sporty and another the obvious clever one, their close-knit friendship is held together by one thing in common: the band.

Between them they gush over songs, pick out which member they're going to grow up to marry (we've all been there) and experience their first concert together - a memorable moment which I'm sure most of us can relate to.

The five friends bonded over their love of the boyband (Photo: Matt Crockett)

But the show isn't all smiles and laughter and it does come with its fair share of darker, teary moments, with loss, heartache and disappointment wreaking havoc on each of the girl's lives.

While tragedy pulls apart the once inseparable friends, an unexpected turn of events sees them reuinte 25 years later and although life has seen them head off in different directions, their beloved boyband remains the glue that manages to pull them back together.

Despite being the centre of the girl's friendship, the band take something of a backseat in the show, serving as the soundtrack in the background to the many dramas the group are dealt with - and as someone who expected to be presented with a re-telling of Take That's rise to fame, it comes as a welcome suprise.

Of course Take That's stamp on the show is undoubtedly there, with a string of their most popular songs bringing the tale to life, including crowd pleasing favourites Relight My Fire, Rule The World and Never Forget.

But while the music may serve as the main attraction, it is the heart-warming story which ultimately wins you over and although it does come with its emotional moments, overall the show is wonderfully uplifting.

Packed with plenty of laughs and frivolous adventures, it is a strikingly relatable story which will resonate with anyone who grew up with a band and it proves that music really can form the soundtrack to your life.

But be warned, you will be walking around with 'let it shine' engraved on your brain for the foreseeable future.