Get it on with the Bolan story

20th Century Boy, Opera House, Manchester, to Saturday

NEARLY four decades after Marc Bolan’s tragic death in a car crash, the memory of the glam rock star is the inspiration for the smash hit musical which uses his hits to tell the story of his son’s search to discover his father.

Rolan Bolan is the son the rocker didn’t live long enough to get to know.

Rolan (Luke Bailey from TV’s “Waterloo Road”) was shocked to discover his father was married to June Child (Lucy Sinclair), the strong woman who was his rock as he battled to make it “bigger than Elvis.”

She was instrumental in helping him forge ahead to become one of the greatest stars of his era, only to lose him in a battle of love with Gloria Jones, superbly played by Donna Hines, whose tremendous voice stole the show.

Sue Jenkins, of “Brookside” and “Casualty” fame, played Bolan’s mother, Phyllis Feld, but the toughest job of the night is clearly that of Warren Sollars, who plays Marc Bolan.

Sollars performed admirably in a theatre packed to the rafters that itself proves the legend lives on.