WHEN Gareth Gates walks onto the stage of The Beck Theatre, there will only be one thing on his mind, he says.

“I have to remind myself of where we are.

“I’d hate to be on stage and say the wrong town or city.

“If I said ‘Hello Milton Keynes’ and we were in Hayes that would be a bit embarrassing wouldn’t it?”

The 28-year-old is just one of the stars of British musical Boogie Nights, which is appearing at more than 50 theatres across the country.

On March 9, the all-singing, all-dancing musical, which features pop songs from the 1970s, will come to the Beck Theatre in Hayes.

Joining Gareth on stage is a whole host of household names – Jimmy, Merrill and Jay Osmond, Louisa Lytton (Ruby from EastEnders), Andy Abraham (X Factor finalist), Chico and Shane Richie Junior.

“It’s a really upbeat, feel-good show,” Gareth enthuses. “There’s lots of singing and dancing. They’ve thrown me right into the deep end, my dancing is terrible. Thankfully most of the time I’m just singing.

“But it’s going really well, we’ve done about 25 performances. It’s all good, although it’s tiring doing one-nighters everywhere.

“You do a gig, get straight on a tour bus, drive to the next venue, then start all over again. But you get used to it, I’ve done a lot of touring.

“The hardest part is being away from my daughter Missy. She comes and sees me lots, she’s very used to the touring lifestyle and she’s my biggest fan.”

Gareth rose to fame as runner-up on television talent show Pop Idol. He has accumulated a huge fanbase, and has had followers send him everything from underwear to death threats.

Since then he’s been carving a career in musical theatre, appearing in shows such as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Les Misérables and Loserville, to name a few. There are only two things he keeps on his rider when he’s perfoming on stage he admits – bottled water and bronzer, in plentiful supply in order to maintain that healthy glow.

“I’m just loving doing theatre. Les Mis is my favourite, it was great to be part of 25th anniversary tour. “After Pop Idol, which was a really fun, yet crazy time for me, I fell into music theatre accidentally, I didn’t know much about theatre to begin with.

“Andrew Lloyd Webber asked to see me randomly, I had no idea what it was about. I showed up, and it was about Joseph. From there it’s snowballed.

“It was funny because I did Joseph at school and that was when I realised I could sing.

“Having had a stammer all my life, I was never able to express myself. But Joseph, music in general, has really helped me to express myself.

“Now I’m on stage and performing with The Osmonds. We do this shtick in Boogie Nights where we ask the audience what song they’d like us to perform. They always say Puppy Love, and The Osmonds respond they can’t because they’re missing a brother. I charge on stage, the crowd goes wild and I take the role of Donny, with The Osmonds supporting me.

“It’s a novelty having The Osmonds as my backing band, they’re legends. They have some incredible stories to tell, they were friends with Elvis.

“All the cast are great singers and dancers, Chico brings the comedy and as for Shane Richie Junior, it’s a nice touch having him in the show seeing as his dad helped create the musical.”

So why should people come along to see Boogie Nights?

“It’s literally all about the music, hits everyone will know, everyone will be on their feet and well, where else are you going to get a chance to have a boogie with The Osmonds and Gareth Gates?”

Boogie Nights is coming to The Beck Theatre, Grange Road, Hayes, on March 9. Details: 020 8561 8371 or www.becktheatre.org.uk