Paul Chuckle will trade his familiar comic turn for a stage role this winter, joining the cast of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice as Mr Boo in a National Theatre production that begins in London on 2 December. The 78-year-old entertainer, whose real name is Paul Elliott, said he was delighted to be taking part in the tour.

The show will run at the National Theatre until 23 January before heading to Newcastle, Sheffield and Salford. Francesca Mills will play the title role, with Jill Halfpenny as Mari Hoff, in Robert Hastie’s new staging of Jim Cartwright’s play.

Elliott said he could not wait to get into rehearsals with Hastie and the rest of the company, adding that performing at the National Theatre and then touring across England is a dream come true. Mills said she could not wait to reunite with Hastie, pointing out that her first show at the venue was in the Dorfman Theatre and that returning there over Christmas, followed by a tour around England, left her “truly over the moon.”

Halfpenny said she was so excited to play Mari Hoff in the beloved northern play and said she has long admired Cartwright’s work. The production is being billed as a joyful, tender and bittersweet celebration of music, ambition and the courage it takes to be heard, with music from Judy Garland and Dame Shirley Bassey woven into the evening.

That blend of old songs, sharp feeling and a cast built around three recognisable names gives the production its pull, but the scheduling tells the bigger story. The National Theatre run is the anchor, and the tour that follows is the point: this is a production designed to travel, taking Cartwright’s play from one of London’s most prominent stages to theatres in cities across England in the depths of winter.

For Chuckle, the casting also marks a notable turn for a performer best known as a children’s entertainer. At 78, he is stepping into a part in a play that depends on timing, vulnerability and a little musical sparkle. The question for audiences is not whether the title will draw attention; it is how this company uses that attention once rehearsals begin and the curtain rises on 2 December.

If the staging lands as intended, the London run should set the tone and the tour should widen the audience. That makes the National Theatre dates the first test and the January handoff to Newcastle, Sheffield and Salford the moment the production proves whether its promise can travel.