Will Young is to make his theatrical debut in a controversial play which catapulted Noel Coward to fame.
The Pop Idol winner will play the lead in The Vortex - a scandalous sensation when it premiered in 1924.
Young, like Coward, will play troubled musician Nicky Lancaster in a play that depicts the drug-fuelled hedonism of the Bright Young Things.
There is a strong subtext of homosexuality throughout the play, which when Coward wrote and performed the play in the 1920s, was illegal. Young, 27, started rehearsing last week at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.
It follows his film debut in Mrs Henderson Presents.
The play is expected to open on 17 January and run until 10 March.
