SUIT sleeves rolled up just so Eighties, Ben Adams is in York this week, making awkward management decisions as Pittsburgh steel mill boss Nick Hurley in Flashdance, The Musical at the Grand Opera House.

Once the chalk dust settles on the 2017 UK Snooker Championships at York Barbican, the A1 boy band singer turned musical actor will return to the city to begin rehearsals on December 11 for the lead role in the Barbican pantomime, Robin Hood And The Babes In The Wood.

Adams will star alongside Boyzone singer Shane Lynch's Sheriff of Nottingham, EastEnders' Ricky Norwood's Silly Billy Carlet and Brookside's Michael Starke's dame, Nurse Nellie, in Those Magic Beans' debut York production as pantomime returns to the Barbican for the first winter since 2012.

"This is my debut with Jamie [producer, director and writer Jamie Wilson] after I've played Aladdin for three years in a row, so it's a breath of fresh air to be playing a part other than that," says Adams, whose previous panto seasons were in Manchester, Milton Keynes and Woking.

"The main thing is that at the end of the year you have a laugh with your mates on stage and everyone is having a good time. We're only doing ten days, so people better make sure they book quickly because the show comes and goes!"

Ben has a busy 2018 ahead of him: his debut solo album, 1981, is scheduled for release in June, preceded by the lead-off track Oh My God, and before then comes Eugenius!, his musical co-written with Chris Wilkins, which premieres at The Other Palace, in London, from January 22 to March 3.

First staged as a public concert performance that sold out the London Palladium last year, the show is built around a teenage love story set against a backdrop of comic books and superheroes.

The totally originally score is "a homage to all the great sounds of the Eighties" that will have the audience punching the air as they shout “Go Eugenius!".

Expect a show where geeks rule, dreams come true, and everyone finds the superhero inside themselves. Apparently, you’ve just gotta know where to look.

In the meantime, Adams will be in prototype superhero mood as Robin Hood at York Barbican from December 21 to 31, and there is still time to see Ben in early Eighties' mode in Flashdance, The Musical at the Grand Opera House tomorrow (December 1) at 7.30pm and on Saturday at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.

Tickets for Robin Hood And The Babes In The Wood can be booked on 0844 854 2757, at yorkbarbican.co.uk or in person from the Barbican box office; Flashdance, The Musical, 0844 871 3024 or atgtickets.com/york