Soul singer Mica Paris will take to the theatre stage for the first time in over 20 years when she stars in a brand new Elvis-themed musical this summer.

Love Me Tender, which co-stars Shaun Williamson (aka Barry from Eastenders), will be rocking into the New Wimbledon Theatre for one week in June.

Directed and choreographed by Olivier award-winner Karen Bruce, the show featuring more than 25 of the King’s greatest hits and is bound to have audience members all shook up.

Platinum-selling singer Mica Paris has collaborated with the likes of Prince, David Gilmour, Jools Holland and Dionne Warwick and will now be lending her voice to this new musical which has a plot loosely inspired by Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

Paris stars as Sylvia, a bar owner in 1950’s America, and she was amazed by the parallels between herself and her character.

"When I read Sylvia’s character I thought: ‘Oh my gosh! She is me!’

"Everything about her is similar, the way people rely on her because she appears strong and feisty, but inside she’s just a soft walking disaster!", says 46-year-old Paris.

So what was it about this role that drew her in after such a long hiatus from the theatre?

"I haven’t done a play for 21 years, because quite frankly I don’t really see myself as an aspiring actress, but when I was sent the script I fell in love with the story," she says.

The story is set in a small town where segregation is rife and life is dull until a guitar-playing, hip-swivelling stranger rides in on his motorbike and acts as a catalyst for love in the town.

"It is a very powerful script but is also uplifting," says Paris.

"Often when you hear stories about race it is always very depressing but what is fabulous about this is that it makes you feel good even though the subject matter is powerful".

Does she have any pre-show rituals to get her psyched up?

"I think about maybe jumping off a cliff! I’m always terrified just before going on.

"After all this time you would think I would be over it but it actually gets worse!"

Co-star Shaun Williamson, who plays Jim, Sylvia’s love interest, has been an admirer of Elvis Presley’s since his youth.

"The rest of the cast have all been joking about how I knew every line, even to the lesser known songs.

"I started listening to my dad’s Elvis records when I was about eight or nine and I’ve been a huge fan ever since.

"It actually makes it hard, because you know the lines exactly how he sung them, and for this we’re singing them as harmonies, so it is really hard not to sing it as you know it on the track."

Love Me Tender, New Wimbledon Theatre, the Broadway, Wimbledon, June 22-27, £15-£44, 08448 717646, atgtickets.com.