'Rollermania' set for revival in new stage musical inspired by Scottish pop sensations

They were the Scottish pop sensations credited with turning the world tartan.

Now the Bay City Rollers are set to inspire a new stage musical - which will be launched half a century after their heyday.

A new wave of Rollermania is set to be triggered next summer when "Rollers Forever" is launched at the Pavilion Theatre in Glasgow,

The biggest hits of the Rollers, including Bye Bye Baby, Shang-A-Lang and Summer Love Sensation, will feature in the new stage show.

It will focus on two lifelong fans who meet up to relive their teenage years obsessively following the Edinburgh band, who were hailed as the biggest pop band since The Beatles when they burst onto the music scene in the mid-seventies.

Its premiere will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Rollers scoring number one hits in both the UK and the United States, as well as the 10th anniversary of a short-loved Rollers reunion, which saw them at the the Barrowland Ballroom and the Hydro arena in Glasgow.

Leading theatre and music producers are joining forces on the production, which is hoped to go on tour after its initial run at the Pavilion from in August.

Rollers Forever has been announced following the long-running success of Sunshine on Leith, Stephen Greenhorn's musical inspired by the songs of The Proclaimers, which was launched by Dundee Rep in 2007 and is returning to Pitlochry Festival Theatre next year.

Key collaborators in the Rollers show - which will be written by Danny McMahon and directed by Liz Carruthers - include long-time Roller Stuart "Woody" Wood and the leading Scottish music manager, producer and songwriter John McLaughlin, who masterminded the 2015 reunion.

Wood and McLaughlin both perform in the current incarnation of the band, which has met demand for live shows since the death of two long-time Rollers, Alan Longmuir and Les McKeown, in 2018 and 2021 respectively.

Wood, artistic consultant on Rollers Forever, said: "You can tell a lot of the original fans are still coming along to the shows, but they’re also bringing their kids along. After a couple of songs, they’re so into it they’re stealing the tartan scarves from their parents.

"We are so lucky we’ve got all these songs the fans still want to hear. It's what has kept the Rollers going for so long.

"The songs were all arranged in a way that was really easy for people to remember them. They were really melodic, but there was nothing too fancy or complicated about them. The important thing was they were performed with attitude.

"A musical is a lovely way to keep the name of the band up there and also show how big the Rollers actually were. It's brilliant to be involved in it.

"It's going to be more about the fans than the band. It will really show the power of the songs and how the Rollers have been the soundtrack to their lives."

Glasgow-born McLaughlin said: "I’ve been a Bay City Rollers since I was wee boy, when I saw them on TV and they blew my mind. I loved their records, their look and the fact they sounded like me. I’ve been fascinated and close to obsessed with them ever since.

“When I saw the huge success of the 2015 reunion and the reaction of the fans, right away I thought that there should be a Rollers musical.

“I realised they had an audience who just want to have a great and a brilliant night out. You’ve got all the songs, the tartan, the general joy of the Rollers and also their Scottishness, which travels brilliant.

“It feels like the time is right for a musical as it will be 50 years since their first number one hits in the UK and America in 2025. We’ve got a really good team of people working on it. It’s a really authentic, fun and exciting project.

“For now, we’re going to concentrate on making the Pavilion shows a huge success. We want it to be a mecca for the Rollers musical. But I’d like to think we will look at making it bigger and taking it out on the road if the rock and roll gods smile on us.”