X FACTOR - IT'S TIME TO FACE THE MUSICAL! Confirmed! Opens Spring 2014

Stage Entertainment UK and Syco Entertainment are delighted to announce they willopen their brand new musical comedy X Factor - It's Time To Face The Musical!, in London's West End in early 2014.

X Factor - It's Time To Face The Musical! goes behind the microphone and under the judges' desk to reveal the (not necessarily accurate) story of heartache and laughter that keeps millions tuning in every week. In turn irreverent, anarchic and yet strangely touching XFactor - It's Time To Face The Musical! is an affectionate poke at the world's most talked about talent show that will please fans and knockers of The X Factor in equal measure.

Meet Chenice who lives in an ITV blackspot because her Grandad's iron lung interferes with the signal in her caravan, and the only girl in the world who has never heard of The X Factor. When she accidentally stumbles into the audition queue with her talking dog, she starts a journey to both stardom and love. Along the way she's joined by contestants with vastly varying degrees of ability, some judges you might well recognise and Max, a handsome ukulele playing plumber and part time eco-warrior.

Featuring 19 new songs with music and lyrics from Steve Brown (Evening Standard and Critics Circle Best Musical award winner for Spend Spend Spend. TV includesSpitting Image, Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge, TV Burp), withbook and lyrics by Harry Hill (Three BAFTAs, seven British Comedy Awards and a Golden Rose of Montreux) and directed by double Olivier Award winner Sean Foley (Co-founder of The Right Size; Do You Come Here Often?, The Play What I Wrote and Ducktastic. West End includes The Ladykillers and What The Butler Saw), X Factor - It's Time To Face The Musical! promises a lid-lifting theatrical rollercoaster ride behind the scenes at the mother of all singing competitions.

The creative team is completed by

· Choreographer Kate Prince (Founder of Zoonation; Into The Hoods and Some Like It Hip Hop, London Handover Ceremony at Beijing 2008 Olympics)

· Designer Es Devlin (Multiple West End and Broadway credits. Creative Director for Take That, Kanye West and Pet Shop Boys stadium tours. Designer for London 2012 Olympic Closing Ceremony)

· Sound Designer Gareth Owen (Tony Award nominee. Credits include A Little Night Music, End of the Rainbow, Saturday Night Fever)

· Lighting Designer Hugh Vanstone (Three time Olivier Award winner. Credits include Spamalot, Shrek, Bombay Dreams, God of Carnage)

· Musical Supervisor Phillip Bateman (Billy Elliot, Our House, Vernon God Little)

Stage Entertainment is one of the world's largest theatrical producers and venue owners, with bases across Europe and in New York. UK credits include Hairspray, Sister Act, Oliver!, Disney's High School Musical 1 &2 and Fame. Along with X Factor - It's Time To Face The Musical! the company is also developing a new stage adaptation of the hit British film Made In Dagenham.

Syco Entertainment is a leading global music, television, film and digital Production Company. Syco is a joint venture between Simon Cowell and Sony Music Entertainment, with offices in London and Los Angeles. Syco's television and music assets include leading global franchises The X Factor and Got Talent, as well as artists as diverse as One Direction, James Arthur, Leona Lewis, Susan Boyle, Il Divo, Labrinth, Loveable Rogues, Ella Henderson, Tate Stevens, Emblem3 and Fifth Harmony. Syco are also co-producers of the forthcoming One Direction movie.

The X Factor launched in 2004 in the UK airing on ITV1. The X Factor's 2010 finale achieving a peak of 21.2 million viewers. The 2011 finale, held at Wembley Arena in front of a live audience of 12,000, was the most watched entertainment TV show of the year. The winner of 2012's X Factor, James Arthur, has sold more than a million copies of his debut single 'Impossible', making it the fastest selling single of last year. Other artists to emerge from the X Factorinclude the world's biggest pop group One Direction and Leona Lewis, who has sold more than 20 million records to date.

The X Factor launched in the US in the fall of 2011 on Fox, immediately becoming the No 1 unscripted show of the season. Season 2 of The X Factor was the #1 most social TV show of 2012, with the season premier having 1.4MM social comments, making it the most talked about premier for a TV series ever (Source: Bluefin Labs). The US version of The X Factor airs in 166 countries. Local versions of The X Factor are now produced in more than 42 territories and artists discovered by The X Factor format have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, including 110 No 1's, 270 Top 10 records, and 500 Top 50 releases.

For further information visit: www.thexfactormusical.com