KEVIN Kennedy will take to a York stage for the first time since July 2002 on Monday.

Both occasions are rooted in the Coronation Street soap legend's love of music: first leading his own band when showcasing his album Present Kennedy at Fibbers and now drawing on his Irish roots to play Jimmy's Da in the national tour of Roddy Doyle's stage adaptation of The Commitments at the Grand Opera House.

"I was in town doing We Will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre when my kids told me The Commitments was coming up and they said 'you've got to do it," recalls Kennedy, who has appeared in such musicals as Chicago, The Rocky Horror Show and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang since his 20-year stretch as paper boy, binman and supermarket assistant manager Curly Watts in Corrie.

Kennedy was determined The Commitments would be his next musical commitment. "I adored the book, loved the film, plus Roddy Doyle writes amazing stories, so I really wanted to do the tour," he says. "I auditioned for the show, like everything else I've ever done, and I was very pleased I was offered the job as The Commitments is so iconic and lots of fun."

Doyle's musical tells the story of Jimmy Rabbitte, a young, working-class music fan who transforms an unlikely bunch of amateur musicians into the finest soul band Dublin has ever produced: The Commitments, with their repertoire of Try A Little Tenderness, River Deep, Mountain High, In The Midnight Hour, Papa Was A Rolling Stone, Save Me, Mustang Sally, I Heard It Through The Grapevine and plenty more.

Just when they gain a name for themselves, they combust. The backing singers are all getting off with the middle-aged horn-playing legend; the singer has entered Eurovision; the drummer has walked out mid-gig and the saxophone player has dangerous leanings towards a jazz career.

Kennedy, 55, has been playing Jimmy's Da since last October and already the tour has taken in a homecoming to Dublin. "We brought The Commitments back to Ireland, which was an extraordinary feeling. It belongs not only to Ireland, but it does belong to the people of Dublin at that time," he says.

York Press:

Kevin Kennedy as Jimmy's Da in The Commitments. Picture: Johan Persson

"My Irish roots helped with the accent, which is not generic but North Dublin: the accent I was brought up with as my mum's family was from there. I found it was like music: you hear it and then you can do it."

Kennedy had been asked to audition for Jimmy's Da and had to push to one side his brief reticence. "It was such an iconic role for Colm Meaney in the film, but Roddy Doyle said he was going to write some extra lines, which was great for me," he says.

"Jimmy's Da comes out with these acidic lines, which are a joy to say when he just sits there, this Elvis-obsessed couch potato, when everyone else around him is putting everything into playing their music.

"Sometimes it's a production, not a specific part, that attracts you but the boon to this show is that Jimmy's Da is very funny. He says his piece, causes 'murder', then sits down again, and it's all quite subtle, which is unusual for one of my performances!"

Nevertheless, the role is a harder challenge "because there's so much going on around me", says Kennedy. "Doing the odd one-liner is much harder than doing soliloquies because every line counts," he says.

He looks forward to his return to York next week, recalling a day of highs and lows on a past visit by this Manchester City fan on December 19 1998. "I went to see Berwick Kaler's pantomime that night, but I'd just seen City lose to York City at Bootham Crescent!" Kennedy reminds himself.

The Commitments runs at Grand Opera House, York, from Monday to Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york