September 29, 2009
It seems a lot of the audience hadn’t done their homework about this show (me? of course not…) and were expecting a Take That tribute show, thinking it would be about Take That forming, splitting, reforming…you know the story. But it soon became apparent that our assumptions were wrong – the story is actually a Mamma-Mia-esque story about a Take That tribute group and is loosely set around the songs. Opening with ‘Could it be Magic’ and Ash proposing to his girlfriend Chloe, we then learn that Ash has to raise £10,000 in 2 weeks to save his mum’s pub from closing. So he auditions for a Take That tribute band with a £10,000 prize… and, well, you know the rest.
The story is pretty weak and predictable but don’t get me wrong, this is a surprisingly funny show – there were plenty of laugh-out-loud slapstick moments. Scott Garnham as Jose steals the show with the best lines and a very convincing take on a Spanish wannabe-singer for a born and bred Yorkshireman. Chloe (Aimee Atkinson) was a good addition to the line-up, giving a great Lulu turn in 'Relight My Fire', although I thought her ‘Love Don’t Live Here Anymore’ would have worked better as a duet with Ash. The costumes were great, and the sets good, in particular the ‘rain’ scene worked really well, and I loved the Oasis Meal Deal chalkboard – ‘Buy a pint a get a roll with it’. Geddit?
The show twists and turns predictably around success, betrayal, and the required coming-together-nicely-at-the-end finale, but although the actors all put in fine performances – of course Philip Olivier as Dirty Harry the stripper getting lots of female whistles every time he even flexed a muscle – the best parts were always going to be the songs. For anyone thinking this was a 'tribute band and going along for a boogie, you will be disappointed – until the end when a great finale gives us a 10-minute or so medley where everyone was on their feet dancing and singing their hearts out - without this finale I think we would have felt a bit cheated of the opportunity to dance so this really made the evening end on a high.
Do go and see this play for the laughs and the songs, and remember kids, the moral of the story is…
“Never forget where you’ve come here from, never pretend that it’s all real, someday soon this will be someone else’s dream’
The story is pretty weak and predictable but don’t get me wrong, this is a surprisingly funny show – there were plenty of laugh-out-loud slapstick moments. Scott Garnham as Jose steals the show with the best lines and a very convincing take on a Spanish wannabe-singer for a born and bred Yorkshireman. Chloe (Aimee Atkinson) was a good addition to the line-up, giving a great Lulu turn in 'Relight My Fire', although I thought her ‘Love Don’t Live Here Anymore’ would have worked better as a duet with Ash. The costumes were great, and the sets good, in particular the ‘rain’ scene worked really well, and I loved the Oasis Meal Deal chalkboard – ‘Buy a pint a get a roll with it’. Geddit?
The show twists and turns predictably around success, betrayal, and the required coming-together-nicely-at-the-end finale, but although the actors all put in fine performances – of course Philip Olivier as Dirty Harry the stripper getting lots of female whistles every time he even flexed a muscle – the best parts were always going to be the songs. For anyone thinking this was a 'tribute band and going along for a boogie, you will be disappointed – until the end when a great finale gives us a 10-minute or so medley where everyone was on their feet dancing and singing their hearts out - without this finale I think we would have felt a bit cheated of the opportunity to dance so this really made the evening end on a high.
Do go and see this play for the laughs and the songs, and remember kids, the moral of the story is…
“Never forget where you’ve come here from, never pretend that it’s all real, someday soon this will be someone else’s dream’