Curtains up for Jason Manford in the West End

Musical comedy replaces The Man In The White Suit

Jason Manford is heading to the West End with the murder-mystery musical Curtains.

The show – currently on a UK tour – will play at the Wyndham’s Theatre for a month from December 13.

It is replacing The Man In The White Suit – the Ealing comedy remake starring Stephen Mangan which this week announced it was closing early amid poor ticket sales.

Curtains revolves around a murder that takes place on the set of a Broadway-bound musical – with Manford playing detective Frank Cioffi, a huge musical theatre fan, who has to find the killer while giving the show a lifeline.

The show’s musical numbers have been written by John Kander and Fred Ebb, who wrote Cabaret and Chicago, prompting Manford to comment: ‘There’s some brilliant big old classic Broadway tunes in there.'

Manford’s previous musical theatre credits include playing Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Leo Bloom in The Producers on the UK tours, as well as Pirelli in "Sweeney Todd in the West End and Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls at the Royal Albert Hall.

Set in 1959, Curtains initially ran on Broadway in 2007 with Fraser star David Hyde Pierce winning a Tony Award for in the lead role. It ran for 15 months.

After its Central London run the show will move to the New Wimbledon Theatre before continuing its UK tour until April 4, 2020, where it ends at the Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton. The full tour details are here.