X Factor UK 2018 champion and Digicel Rising Stars 2010 winner Dalton Harris has ventured into another sphere of the entertainment industry.

The 27-year-old, who is now based in the United Kingdom, has announced his debut on the stage.

Harris took to Instagram on Monday to announce his work in a film version of Richard Maltby Jr and Richard Shire’s Closer Than Ever, a musical revue in two acts.

“Excited to announce and finally share this project with you all,” he said on the social media page.

He noted that the digital revival of the production marked another moment in his career, and will be streamed worldwide on September 23 via broadwayhd.com, the on-demand digital streaming company. Based in New York City, the company records and distributes live theatre performances and previously recorded theatrical productions.

“We shot this in the middle of the pandemic, and man, it was a lot of pressure. Days on set studying material between breaks and takes. We all had to get tested every two days and had a close set. Still, it was so much fun and was extremely rewarding,” he said.

Harris further explained how he took the task at hand seriously and paid tribute to his Jamaican high school for fostering his love of music and the theatre.

“I took it so seriously that I wanted to lose bulk and weight for the character. One of the most challenging things I have done in my career but also one of the most fulfilling. I wanted to submit to the discipline of theatre which has been my first love and introduction to music and stage performance. Thanks to my alma mater Edwin Allen High School and its theatre arts department,” Harris added.

Closer Than Ever features self-contained songs which deal with such diverse topics as security, ageing, mid-life, second marriages, working couples, and unrequited love. Maltby and Shire based many of the songs on real-life experiences of their friends, or stories told to them. The revue contains no dialogue, and Maltby and Shire have described this show as a “bookless book musical”.