The songs of the trio dubbed The Hit Factory, Stock, Aitken and Waterman, a video projected Kylie Minogue and an endless urge for food for nostalgia, signifies that new musical I Should Be So Lucky guarantees a lot to an viewers prepared for an evening of enjoyable – however does it ship?
At first look Debbie Isitt’s (she of the much-loved Nativity film collection) latest present has a Mamma Mia-like vibe. Bride-to-be Ella (Lucie-Mae Sumner) is left on the altar by fiancé Nathan (Billy Roberts) after a fairly frankly baffling misunderstanding. Undaunted by the trauma she packs her baggage and takes herself, her rag-tag household and motley crew of pals to Turkey on what would have been her honeymoon. The inevitable set of madcap mishaps happen as Nathan tries to win Ella again.
The very first thing of notice is the forged: distinctive and really numerous in age, color, and measurement, they’re an utter pleasure and an ideal illustration on stage of what Britain seems like in 2024. The power ranges all through are fairly frankly astonishing. The gusto with which they execute Jason Gilkison’s pitch-perfect, and infrequently relentless choreography and the Hit Factory songs is exemplary.
However, Isitt’s work lacks the category and originality of its well-known predecessor. Never has the guide of a musical been so blatantly shoe-horned round its songs. The storyline, what there may be of it, has too many plotlines (began then dropped or underdeveloped) and too many characters vying for his or her second within the highlight. Most particularly felt because the central pair of Nathan and Ella are the least likeable characters on stage. It additionally suffers as our heroine’s life decisions are questionable at finest to an viewers in 2024. The peripheral characters do shine although, and unfold the love and lightweight all through. Giovanni Spano (finest man Ash), Jamie Chapman (resort supervisor Spencer), Jemma Churchill (Nan Ivy), Matthew Croke (tour information Nadeem) and Scott Paige (finest pal Michael) are an utter pleasure. To the present’s credit score it additionally manages to scatter a collection of native references all through, a lot to the delight of the viewers.
But what concerning the music? Many of the songs stay completely true to their origins, just a few are re-worked cleverly as ballads, Kayla Carter’s (Bonnie) rendition of Sonia’s You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You is a stand-out instance, and plenty of are diminished to tantalising snippets however there are such a lot of faves right here to fulfill even essentially the most hardened Hit Factory followers.
It’s all a bit in incoherent, the style ranges are a bit questionable at instances and the plot is paper-thin however all that stated, if it’s an completely undemanding, eye-popping assault on the senses, a vivid and breezy evening of escapist, undemanding enjoyable, set to a soundtrack of banging tunes you’re after, then look no additional. From ground to ceiling, every layer of this four-tiered auditorium was packed and on its ft on the inevitable mega-mix on the finish. Guaranteed to banish the winter blues.
Runs till 17 February 2024 then touring | Images: Marc Brenner
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