THERE’s a simple formula for a musical that’s in vogue at the moment – take existing tracks by a well known artist or band, string them together with some sort of storyline and book it on a tour.

Some work, some don’t – depending entirely on the quality of the original songs and the strength of the accompanying script.

But hopes are high for David Essex’s All the Fun of the Fair, which won good reviews and standing ovations on its opening last year.

Its success lies in the committed involvement of the actor and singer, who chose the music for the show from his extensive back catalogue and stars in the lead role of funfair owner Levi Lee.

The musical has a week-long run at the Liverpool Empire Theatre later this month.

It is not, he insists, “a jukebox show” but a “play with music” – the storyline stands up on its own.

“What we did was look at all the music I’d written and anything that was remotely relevant I put to one side and I’d tinker with the lyrics,” he explains.

“There’s a lot of music that, unless you really follow what I do, you won’t have heard.”

Essex’s hits Winter’s Tale, Hold Me Close, Gonna Make You a Star, Me and My Girl, Nightclubbing, Silver Dream Machine and Rock on are all included in the score, combined with sound effects of the big dipper whizzing past and carnival dogs barking.

We are promised dodgems and motorbikes, crafty cons and candy floss, fairground horses and fights, along with romance and rock and roll.

Widower Levi Lee is struggling with the affections of a new woman in his life and the mystic predictions of a gypsy fortune teller.

The relationship between Lee and his rebellious teenage son is central to the plot, described on the marketing poster as a “moving story with a heartbreaking twist”.