MUSICAL theatre royalty will be lighting up the stage in Bolton for a weekend of celebrations.

Kerry Ellis will appear at the Octagon Theatre for a very special evening of Voices & Lyrics to bring Bolton Pride 2017 to a close in style.

The West End and Broadway performer is set to join a line-up of performers at the one-off live music and spoken word event at the theatre on Monday.

Kerry is best known for originating the role of Meat in Queen’s We Will Rock You, and was the first British Elphaba in the West End smash hit Wicked.

Having just come back from working in New York, she will be taking a break from rehearsing in London for new arena touring musical Heaven on Earth to join the Pride celebrations.

She said: “I’m really excited! I have done London and Manchester Pride before but Bolton is a new one for me so it’s nice to be part of a great cause.

“I have performed at the Octagon before so when I was invited I thought why not, it sounded really fun.

“Over the last couple of years I have done a lot more touring and I enjoy getting to meet people in their own towns.

“The evening will feature some big musical theatre songs and a tribute to Freddie Mercury. I’m looking forward to singing alongside musicians and the performers.”

Joining her at the Voices & Lyrics event will be Britain’s Got Talent duo James and Graham Edgington, along with Olivia Archbold and Jenny Carson while The Voice’s Divina De Campo plays host for the evening.

It will feature musical theatre songs, extracts from plays by writers including Alan Bennett and stories from the LGBT community about coming out and hate crime.

Pride organiser James Edgington added: “It’s wonderful that we can share this with Bolton and celebrate powerful performance past and present.

“As Bolton Pride is a hate crime campaign, it is important to give people local to Bolton who may have been affected by homophobia a chance to be heard. Sharing their stories will be something quite special.

“To have Kerry on board with this project is an exciting prospect having been involved in such varied iconic work during her career.”