THE Barricade Boys are back in York, led by local lad Scott Garnham on their return to the Grand Opera House on Saturday night.

Malton-born Scott co-founded the group in 2016 with fellow singer Simon Schofield as a showcase for "Britain's finest male voices from the world’s longest running musical, Les Misérables".

The Barricade Boys not only perform the greatest show tunes, but also celebrate music from iconic names in the music industry, "from powerful ballads and beautiful operatic arias to some of the best pop, rock and swing numbers of all time".

The format of "fabulous harmonies, incredible vocals, dashing good looks and stacks of charm" has worked so well that The Barricade Boys now travel overseas and on the seas, as Scott explains. "We've just comeback from our April U.S. tour, where we did lot of shows in Florida and around New York," he says. "We did 34 venues, after playing six on our first tour the year before, so that's a big increase!"

What's more, there is more than one version of The Barricade Boys. "We have four guys in the show at each performance, but we now have up to four teams of Barricade Boys out on the cruise ships at any one time," says Scott.

"It's become the go-to show for West End singers between shows, like Michael Watson, who's played Frankie Valli in town in Jersey Boys. He's worked with us a lot. Ricky Rojas, who's about to go into Moulin Rouge on Broadway, he's done our show too."

Scott, meanwhile, finds himself "taking more of a back seat in the team of performers". "So is Simon[Schofield], because of all the ground work we now have to do, but we still do the British tours and the American tours...and one or two of the really nice cruises when they come in! Like going to Cape Town, where I stayed on for a few days afterwards," he says. "And of course I'll be on stage on Saturday! I'd get lynched if I didn't do York."

Scott began attending acting classes at the age of seven at Kirkham Henry Performing Arts in Malton; at 12, he appeared in the original cast of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe's Honk!, The Ugly Duckling musical, at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. 

York Press:

The Barricade Boys: Scott Garnham, left, and his fellow musical performers

He went on to make his West End debut as Irish entrant Ronan Corr in the Eurovision Song Contest spoof Eurobeat; Les Misérables ensued, playing Feuilly and understudying Enjolras and Marius in the London production and being selected to participate in the Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert alongside Matt Lucas, Alfie Boe and Nick Jonas.

He has since starred in Nativity! The Musical, Billy Elliot The Musical and Made in Dagenham too, and now, after 12 years in London, he has moved to Hitchin, 25 minutes from the Big Smoke by train.

From there, he is broadening his impresario role with Schofield. "The Barricade Boys have played sell-out shows in the West End; we had a night on Broadway; we do international tours, and we've appeared on ITV’s This Morning and The Paul O’Grady Show," he says.

"We're always trying to different things, not just working out different harmonies and different songs for The Barricade Boys, like introducing five new medleys for the American tour.

"We also set up Sisco Entertainment three years ago, and we now have three acts on the cruise ships: The Barricade Boys; The Knights Of Music, with the music of Rod Stewart, Elton John, Paul McCartney etc, and The Showmen, celebrating Freddie Mercury, Elvis, Sinatra, Bowie...and Bruno Mars."

Scott is in cruise control, as it were. "Cruise ship entertainment has really changed for the better in the past five to ten years," he says. "We're bringing in guys straight from the the West End and it's great to be able to do cruise shows to this high standard."

Tickets for Saturday's 7.30pm show are on sale on 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york.