Viva not quite Forever for the Spice Girls musical as it’s been revealed that the West End production is to close in June. Devastating news for sure.

The news came on the back of poor reviews and a subsequent slump in ticket sales, despite the show initially boasting that it was taking bookings up until 2014 in the wake of December’s high profile launch. Sadly producer Judie Craymer confirmed “We just can't make it work," who was hoping to follow up the success of Abba musical Mamma Mia!

In a statement, the Spice Girls said they were "thrilled that the thousands of people who came to the show had as much fun as we did,” but on a personal level it’s clear there were a couple of disappointed members. Emma Bunton took to her twitter to say that she was “gutted” about the news, while Melanie Chisholm also confessed herself “devastated” – an emotion shared by the many who actually went to watch the musical, we feel, though not perhaps for the same reasons.

The show’s cast were notably gutted too, with star Anthony Topham writing on his Twitter "My show catchphrase could never be truer. 'What a shocker!'" Honestly, with material like that it’s a real wonder that Viva Forever never got off the ground. It says something though that a show which took in £4 million in advance sales couldn’t make a go of it – a true stinker.

Emma Bunton
Emma Bunton is "gutted" about Viva Forever closing #prayforemma