Blaze of Glory! returns to stages across Wales

With just over a week to go until the first performance, tickets are selling fast for The Welsh National Opera’s next “toe-tapping, heart-warming adventure”.

Blaze of Glory!, originally staged in 2022 and taken on tour in 2023, is “an uplifting tale set in a 1950s Welsh Valleys community,” combining coal and choral singing.

With a cast of ‘trailblazers in blazers’, the show follows a group of miners who, after a disaster, form a Male Voice Choir to bring joy back to their community.

Supported by their chorus master, Dafydd Pugh, and a host of strong-willed women, their dedication to song takes them across Wales and the world, getting them involved in a few sticky situations along the way.

The Welsh National Opera explained that “Blaze of Glory! is a jubilant celebration of the Land of Song and a tribute to how community spirit can triumph over adversity.”

Composed by David Hackbridge Johnson and conducted by James Southall, the show includes 50s musical favourites and big band hits, as well as gospel and operetta from the Welsh National Opera Chorus.

The staging and choreography from Caroline Clegg, who also directs the performance, as well as Kevin McCurdy and Ryan Upton sees the “intrepid band of gleemen Lindy Hop their way to glory”.

During its initial run, Blaze of Glory! earned high praise from critics. The Times called it ‘laugh-out-loud funny’ in a four star review, while The Stage rated it 5 stars.

Blaze of Glory! will play at the Wales Millennium Centre’s Donald Gordon Theatre for three nights; Wednesday 1, Tuesday 14, and Friday 17 April 2026.

Tickets are available from £22 on the WMC site.

The show will also tour Theatre Royal Plymouth (Thu 23 Apr), Birmingham Hippodrome (Fri 8 May), Milton Keynes Theatre (Sat 16 May) and Swansea Grand Theatre (from Thu 21 May 2026 until Fri 22 May 2026).