IF anyone is equipped to offer guidance to a group of young, talented performers, you needn’t look much further than a former child popstar. Step forward Maureen Nolan, of Irish girl-group sensation The Nolans, who is currently on the road with a cast of multi-skilled youngsters for Footloose: The Musical.

The all-singing, all-dancing show comes to the Theatre Royal next week and Nolan – who plays Vi Moore in the adaptation of the famous 1984 film with Kevin Bacon – has been bowled over by her co-stars.

“They play numerous instruments, act, sing and dance – it’s a quadruple threat nowadays.”

As for Nolan’s own role, she decribes Vi Moore as the more “serious side of the story.” She is the mother grieving after the death of her son and married to the reverend who is trying to pass a law to ban unsupervised dancing in their smalltown home.

Ren McCormack, meanwhile, is a dance-lover who fights against this attempted clampdown with ultimately uplifting results. The plot is based on events that took place in the largely religious town of Elmore City, Oklahoma, in 1978.

“There were ministers and reverends who banned dancing in America because they thought it was spiritually corrupting,” says Nolan.

The singer-turned-actress happily says that she “has a bit of a boogie” at the end of the musical. “I begged the producers to allow me to do it – I always like a dance.”

Being on tour for almost nine months in such a mammoth theatre run might faze many, but Nolan is of course well-versed in the showbiz lifestyle. The Nolans, the pop group Maureen was in with her sisters, had seven top 20 hits just between 1979 and 1982, as well as scoring a Japanese Grammy and appearing on a host of television shows – all while the sisters were still in school.

“I wouldn’t encourage that (kind of lifestyle) now,” says Nolan. “I’ve got a son and three granddaughters, and I think that you can miss out on your teens if you live that kind of life. You are always catching up, and eventually seem like the oldest teenager in town. I certainly remember worrying about missing out on those years, especially when everyone would go the youth club or wherever and I’d be playing a show.”

Nolan’s parents were musicians, too, and their six daughters and two sons were such natural singers that the family was referred to as the “Blackpool Von Trapps” by friends. When Coleen was born, the youngest of the siblings who is now a television presenter, the family “didn’t wonder whether she would be a girl or a boy. We thought, ‘if she can’t sing, she’s weird! We just thought singing three part harmonies was normal – we couldn’t understand how people couldn’t do it.”

Nolan jokes that she doesn’t know “how we have a brain between us, as we were always missing school to tour,” but also that their dad used to quiz them on the road, and the sisters would read a lot. “We were always touring the working men’s clubs, which could be lovely or grim. We certainly served our apprenticeship in the business.”

After Bernie Nolan died of cancer in 2013, her sister Linda implied that The Nolans might reunite for a tour, projecting Bernie’s image onto a screen. This failed to transpire, but Maureen now has the “never say never” attitude when asked about a possible reformation.

“We did a reunion tour in 2009 and that astounded us all – it was amazing how much of a market there still was for it. We can still sing, but we have to be careful. That tour will really take some beating, and we don’t want to destroy the memory by doing something that turns out to be less special than that.”

Footloose: The Musical, Theatre Royal Brighton, New Road, 25 – 30 July, 7.45pm (matinees on 28 and 30 July at 2.30pm), from £18, 0844 871 7615.

Edwin Gilson