How McFly rejection led to one of the biggest West End hits of all time

When McFly burst onto the country 21 years ago, they became an contiguous juggernaut successful the charts and 1 of the biggest bands successful the country.

Their conflict with Busted, which volition proceed with their 2025 face-off connected circuit crossed the UK, was a improvement and they went onto instrumentality implicit Strictly, I’m A Celebrity, children’s books and more.

This play Danny Jones heads into the jungle arsenic McFly’s reign successful popular civilization continues, but the All About You hitmakers besides had an improbable relation in West End history.

No, this isn’t the Paddington philharmonic Tom Fletcher has been moving on, but Operation Mincemeat.

The deed amusement has already had countless accolades – including being named champion caller philharmonic astatine this year’s Olivier and WhatsOnStage Awards – and sold implicit 300,000 tickets, arsenic good arsenic a record-breaking instrumentality turning up implicit 140 times.

The amusement was precocious fixed an astonishing 10th extension, and it’ll beryllium heading to Broadway aft pulling successful 67 5 prima reviews and counting, making it the champion reviewed amusement successful West End past – but however bash McFly travel into each this?

It each goes backmost to Mincemeat’s Felix Hagan, who wrote the book, euphony and lyrics alongside chap SplitLip troupe members David Cumming, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts.

A vocalist songwriter successful his ain right, Hagan – whose enactment has been heard connected everything from Spitting Image and Bad Education to adverts and much – erstwhile auditioned for McFly portion astatine boarding schoolhouse successful his mid-teens.

Recounting the communicative connected a unrecorded watercourse gig during lockdown, helium recalled seeing an advertisement for an audition calling for bassists and drummers for a caller band.

‘I work this, like, “I’m astir apt the 5th astir handsome lad successful my radical of six friends, I’m in,”‘ helium quipped astatine the time. ‘I was a precise very keen drummer, inactive am.’

‘I locomotion in, it’s a vast, immense bare hall, with a drum kit successful the middle, a table astatine the acold end. We each came in, we instrumentality turns to spell up and play a drum solo,’ helium said.

He remembered being successful the mediate of telling the sheet sometimes astir himself erstwhile they halt him with a ‘that’s enough’, and told his radical they could go.

A fewer months later, his member appeared and showed him that week’s apical 10, with ‘the set that I auditioned for and failed to get into apical of the charts with their debut single’.

‘McFly. Think what could person been. What a fork successful the road,’ helium laughed. ‘Just think, I could person been connected I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! by present chomping connected a kangaroos anus! I could person been connected Strictly!’

Hagan admitted helium didn’t expect to get the gig aft walking past Harry Judd successful auditions, and helium ended up creating 1 of the biggest ever shows connected the West End.

Everyone’s a winner!

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