Get ready to dance non-stop as Disco Inferno comes to Cambridge

Get those afro wigs, medallions and flared trousers ready – Disco Inferno, a lavish, two-hour production celebrating the very best in ’70s disco music, is on its way to Cambridge.

Coming to the Corn Exchange in March, and featuring a cast of West End performers and top musicians, this showcase of music and dance includes hits by the likes of the Bee Gees, Village People, The Jacksons, ABBA, Donna Summer, Barry White, Kool and the Gang and many more.

The show’s producer is Mark Halliday, an actor in musical theatre who has previously worked in the West End, appearing in shows such as Jersey Boys and The Rat Pack (where he and his wife, who also has a background as a West End performer, met).

“My wife and I run the company [Veritas Entertainment] together; we create a series of shows which we put into theatres, into the cruise industry and other markets,” explains Mark.

“And at the time we thought we saw a gap for something, we thought we saw a gap for great music – this is what we love, the music from Disco Inferno is so infectious, it’s so great, and that’s what we look for.

“When we’re going to put a show together, we want to put something based around music that we know people love – and that’s never been more true than in the case of Disco Inferno, because as soon as that first song hits, the whole of the theatre is on its feet and dancing for the entire two hours of the show.

“That’s kind of why we put it together, and that was about six years ago now.”

Explaining how their musical extravaganzas develop from having the idea to bringing it to the stage, Mark says: “My wife and I have a process.

“We basically sit in a room for about three days and we listen to every single song that we can get our hands on from the genre, to see which songs are really exciting, see which songs are going to get people moving – and which inspire us.

“Because when we put a show together, we try and make a journey – even if it’s a genre show like this, we try and find ourselves a starting point and then kind of take a roller coaster of tempos through the era and through the music.

“With Disco Inferno, that’s where we decided on the songs that we were going to use, and then my wife choreographed the show, put all the dance steps together.

“Then we use a casting director, we go into auditions for three days. We see a whole lot of very talented people and try and narrow that down to the ones that we really think can do justice to that genre.”

Mark notes that the couple’s “involvement never ends”, adding: “We’re constantly looking at the costumes, looking at the lighting, the cast, making sure that it stays tip-top.

“So once the show is created, we don’t just send it off and then that’s it, we’re constantly staying on top of them.”

Which songs tend to get the biggest reaction during Disco Inferno? “It’s Raining Men is always a big hit,” replies Mark, “Car Wash, YMCA, Boogie Wonderland is always a big-hitter…

“The whole genre – the actual song Disco Inferno itself, the Jacksons’ material, Earth, Wind & Fire stuff...

“People absolutely love it, and what’s really interesting about it from a demographic perspective is when we started the show, we imagined that most of the audience that would come to see it would be 45-plus.

“But interestingly we get bunches of people coming together all dressed up in disco gear maybe from 25 upwards, so it does have a much wider demographic appeal than we originally anticipated.”

Other shows from the Veritas stable include Walk Like a Man which, like Jersey Boys, features the music of The Four Seasons, a Rat Pack show, an ABBA show, and Just My Imagination, which is a tribute to American soul legends The Temptations.

The latter will hit the Cambridge Corn Exchange on Friday, 12 April. Before then, Disco Inferno will be coming to the Cambridge Corn Exchange on Saturday, 23 March.

Tickets, priced £22-£38, are available from cornex.co.uk. For more on Veritas Entertainment, go to veritasentertainment.co.uk.