FROM Tinseltown to Ipswich town - that's the journey one Hollywood superstar will be taking this year as she prepares to appear at the New Wolsey.

Paul Geater

FROM Tinseltown to Ipswich town - that's the journey one Hollywood superstar will be taking this year as she prepares to appear at the New Wolsey.

Top Gun star Kelly McGillis is coming to the theatre in a touring production in the spring, according to sources in the town.

Full details of her appearance in the town are expected to be released on Monday - but the show seems certain to attract hundreds of curious theatre-goers during its week-long run.

McGillis, 52, shot to stardom opposite Harrison Ford in the film Witness in 1985 when she played an Amish mother whose son was witness to a murder.

But she really hit the big time the following year in Top Gun when she played the flying instructor who becomes the love interest for ace pilot Tom Cruise.

She later starred opposite Jodie Foster in the hit movie The Accused.

Later she took time away from Hollywood to bring up her children, and in recent years she has been working more in the theatre in America.

She received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Mrs Robinson in a production of The Graduate in the US.

Now she is travelling to Britain to perform in a play that is touring theatres around the country.

The play is understood to have an adult theme and to involve nudity in a heady cocktail that is expected to see crowds flocking to the New Wolsey.

It is understood that bosses at the Ipswich theatre are unable to say any more about the production at this stage, but the box office is due to open at 10am on Monday and further details should be available from then.

Ipswich is used to playing host to big name entertainers at the town's largest theatre, the Regent, or musical extravaganzas at Portman Road and the parks.

But McGillis will be the biggest name to appear at the New Wolsey.

Stars to have appeared at the Wolsey and New Wolsey:-

- Imogen Stubbs (later TV detective Anna Lee) made her acting debut in Cabaret at the Wolsey.

- Alun Armstrong (New Tricks) starred in The Baker's Wife.

- Francis Matthews (Paul Temple) starred as Capt Von Trapp in the Sound of Music.

- Paul Eddington (Jim Hacker, Jerry Leadbetter) appeared in the costume romp The Double Dealer in 1991.