Barry Band: Musical Nineties in full technicolour brought out stars Phillip Schofield, Paul Nicholas and Darren Day

The success of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats as the 1989 summer season show at the Blackpool Opera House opened the way to a musical Nineties.

Today we are dipping into the Gazette photo files, looking for pics from some of the seven summer seasons of big musicals, which started with 42nd Street in 1991.

The were a few local sages - me included - who thought it could be a risky booking because the show had already toured several big city theatres, including three months in Manchester, where many of Blackpool’s summer visitors lived.

The back-stage musical, born on Broadway in 1980, based on a 1933 Hollywood musical, featured some dynamic dance routines and great songs by Harry Warren and Al Dubin.

It was an Opera House winner and made two further Blackpool visits (to the Grand) before becoming a favourite of dance schools and operatic societies.

Could the Opera House follow it with another crowd-pleaser for 1992. Yes, with two musicals!

First came Paul Nicholas in the circus musical Barnum, for six weeks in early summer, the biggest segment of a national tour that went into London’s Dominion Theatre for Christmas.

Then came the juke-box musical Buddy, the story of chart-topping Buddy Holly, who died in a plane crash at the height of his fame, in 1959.

Three actors played Buddy in the 16-week Blackpool season.

The Opera House had a Christmas season success in 1993 with a six-week run of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, starring TV presenter Phillip Schofield, who had first played Joseph in the West End in 1991.

This Biblical piece by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber never lost its appeal with young families and for the Opera House summer season of 1995 it returned with singer Aled Jones in the title role.

In both seasons of the show a few dozen Fylde kids the chance to appear on the stage of the big theatre in the musical ensembles. Choirs from four schools were involved.

Regular theatregoers in the Nineties will remember that one show actually played two summer seasons at the Opera House.

It was Summer Holiday, the stage version of Cliff Richard’s much-loved 1963 film of the big red bus heading for the Mediterranean sunshine. The stage show had its own red bus.

In 1996 Darren Day, Faith Brown and Claire Buckfield headed for the Blackpool sun and had a great time, launching a few Gazette headlines. When the show returned for the 1998 season Darren Day was still at the wheel but his co-stars were Isla Fisher and Hilary O’Neil.

The intervening season (1997) saw the disco musical Oh, What a Night, starring Kid Creole (August Darnell), John Altmann, Mark Walker and Bernie Nolan.

In 1999 four shows covered the main weeks at the Opera House. The ever-popular Grease did three spring weeks, starring Luke Goss and Jasmine Jeffrey as Danny and Sandy.

Then Russ Abbot came with Goosebumps, the children’s stories of American author RL Stine.

The Seventies disco theme was the basis of 1999’s Boogie Nights musical, which played eight autumn weeks with Shane Ritchie, Grace Kennedy and Peter Piper.

The decade ended with an eight-week run of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar.