Jason Donovan joins rehearsals for music festival

Pop star Jason Donovan has joined rehearsals with a 50-piece orchestra ahead of his appearance at a Wiltshire music festival taking place in July.

"It's all a bit bizarre, and I can't believe it. I rang his agent, and invited him to come and sing with us, and his agent said 'yeah, okay,'" said Jemma Brown, artistic director at the Full Tone Festival.

Brown started the event with her husband in 2017, saying "in places like Devizes, it's really difficult to go out and see good quality music".

Ahead of rehearsals starting, the Australian singer and actor said he got a "round of applause coming in, so that's a good start". The festival runs over the weekend of 11-12 July.

Brown said this was the first time the festival, which is run by volunteers, had "somebody mega come and be a part of it".

"His songs just blast you back to the 80s," she added.

Donovan said he appreciated the chance to "bring the songs that people know me for to a different sort of audience".

"I work with theatre orchestras a lot, but to sprinkle that with pop music is a different twist," he said.

Orchestra member Grace Sheridan said Donovan's appearance was "such a testament to Full Tone".

"They put so much effort into it, so it's so great that we can get someone like Jason to come along," she added.

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