A DUMBARTON lad will take centre stage at the Glasgow Music Theatre as the lead in On the Town, and he can't wait.

Andi Denny, who was born in the Vale of Leven and raised in Dumbarton, will star as earnest sailor Gabey who has only 24 hours of shore leave and is looking for love.

Following its Broadway success, On the Town was adapted for the big screen, with Oscar-winning results. The film, starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, is often considered one of the greatest films of Hollywood’s Golden Age, and one of the best cinematic musicals of all time.

Performer and playwright Andi steps into Gene Kelly’s shoes, a role he has dreamed of since his schooldays in Dumbarton and Motherwell.

The leading man is a former pupil of St Patrick's Primary and Our Lady and St Patrick's High School and remembers his days there fondly.

He told the Reporter: "I'd always been interested in the arts at primary school, in the Nativity and planning variety shows with my friends that we'd never, ever see through, but that first year of high school, when you feel like you could suddenly do anything with your life, it really hit me."

Andi was only at Our Lady and St Patrick's for one year before moving but says his time there has stayed with him: "The drama and music departments had such a big impact on me in such a short time.

"I was at every choir rehearsal, I sang in the school production of Grease - I even acted as Eeyore in a Winnie the Pooh play done totally in Latin.

"All through high school I really felt like an outsider, even when I wasn't, and there's a safety and confidence you get in a great drama department that really helps you survive being an awkward teenager.

"That's always a good outlet: awkward teenager to 'tortured artist'. That all started at Our Lady and St Pat's, and the love I have for it has never gone away."

On the town opens on January 31 and tickets are available from the Box Office: www.eastwoodparktheatre.co.uk.