"Our House - The Musical" by Greasepaint Productions

Loughborough Town Hall.

This is the first presentation from Greasepaint since Covid, and they really chose the right one, and seem to have come back fighting and with a new passion for performing. You can tell that they have missed being on stage.

As far as jukebox musicals go, this is one of the very best. The music of Madness and the arrangements of the songs put it head and shoulders above many of these kind of musicals form the past couple of decades or so.

Camden lad Joe Casey arrives at his house, later joined by his best friends Emmo and Lewis, his girlfriend Sarah, and her best friends Billie and Angie, where a party has been organised by his mother, Kath, for his sixteenth birthday. After the party, wanting to impress Sarah, Joe breaks into a building site to show her his street, Casey Street, from above. When the police arrive, Joe convinces Sarah to run away and is left with the decision of whether to run away or give himself up. The story splits into two paths revealed by the ghost of Joe's dead criminal dad: the right path where Joe gives himself up, and the wrong path where he runs away, but which is the path Joe Casey chooses? Everything is not all black and white!

Ollie Lewin takes on the role of Joe Casey, and straight from the off, I swear Ollie has not aged at all since the last production I saw him in, and can still get away with playing a sixteen-year-old very convincingly. This role is so energetic with several quick changes, and Ollie is barely offstage throughout.

Alix Stevens plays Joe's girlfriend, Sarah, and what I like about this role is that you can see the progression from schoolgirl to working woman, she matures before your very eyes.

Reecey, who is a bit of a bad influence on Joe, is played by Cameron Stephenson, and as with Sarah, you do see that age progression; from being in school shirt, untidily open and billowing backwards like a cape, to his black persona outfit of smart leather coat and black shirt. Black for bad and white for good runs through the play with Joe Casey switching between the two, dependent on the direction choice. Verging on panto villain territory, the "boos" rendered at the end brought a smile to his face, proving he had done his job.

Craig Saunders plays Emmo and Dan Robinson plays Lewis, Joe's best friends. These two are great fun and, by the looks of it, Craig and Dan are enjoying their roles as well.

Abi Crossley plays Billie and Jessica Mcnairn plays Angie, Sarah's best friends. Imagine Lauren from The Catherine Tate Show but double and that's this pair. Loved their voice characterisation, and like the lads, I bet they are having a great time in this show.

Judith Coles plays Kath, Joe's Mum and David Lovell plays Joe's Dad. I really am a sucker for a soft Irish accent and Judith's lilting brogue was like a tune running through my head, apart from her run in with Pressman when the good Catholic girl's language slipped! David stepped into the breach at the last minute, well eight weeks ago - and that's not a long time to learn a script and songs and choreography. It looked as if he had been there from the start.

Playing the other nasty character, Mr Pressman, the property tycoon who needed Kath out of her home so that he could raze it to the ground for his own building work, was Gary Peake.

Sarah nearly notched up a third wedding in this play with her University beau Callum, whose Father owns a distillery. Callum is played by James Highton, who I have not seen for quite a while and did not recognise him at all on stage, especially with that Scottish accent.

And last but by no means least in the main cast are Hannah Underwood who played Heather and Sophie Draycott who played Julie from reception.

OK, so maybe not last, but also not least, I must give credit to two actors who for me brought a lovely touch of comedy to the show, and touches that I can't remember seeing in other productions. Charlie Cound when explaining to Emmo and Lewis how to wash cars was priceless, even incorporating a funny walk that John Cleese would have bene proud of. And then at the opening of act two, Scott Tomkins as the gondola driver - do you call them drivers? - but his comedy sections in and out of said gondola almost had the lady behind me wetting herself!

The ensemble added more meat to the bones of the musical, especially in the music and choreographed pieces, providing a rounder sound and a stage full of dancers. It was also nice to see quite a few new faces in the ensemble, proving that local theatre is as alive as it ever was and still passionate about entertaining people.

Directed by Liam Patrick, who is building up quite a nice CV for directing musicals, he has added a few bits and has removed a few bits, to make this production very fresh. the opening of the musical gives a bit of a background to Joe's upbringing and explains things about his dad's disappearance when Joe was young. He has also trimmed some of the scenes that didn't enhance the story too much, like the scene in the chemist which originally had a multitude of actors on stage, and the umbrella scene in "The Sun And The Rain" - although in full flow, that scene is quite spectacular - opting to replace it with a full tap dance section, which was just as spectacular. By making these changes Liam has therefore slim lined the musical, which is by no means a bad thing as it keeps the show fresh for everyone, including myself who has seen "Our House" several times, so it was nice to see the bold directorial changes. And if my eyes did not deceive me, he also managed to get a cameo appearance as well!

Choreographed by Jeanette Patrick-Cooper. This show is practically all choreography, including of course the many Joes we see racing on and off, often within seconds of each other from either side of the stage and in a different costume. These dance routines for the thirty separate music sections, inclusive of reprises, have so much energy attached to the upbeat numbers and the ballads called for a softer style. All executed brilliantly by the cast, and it takes a good cast to execute good choreography.

The Musical Director for this musical masterpiece is James Stevens with a seven-piece band, who sounded just like an orchestra at times, replicating the sound of the nutty boys' music. I've always loved the arrangements of these songs as they bring out the lyrics so well when laid bare and orchestrated. That is, for me, what makes the difference between this jukebox musical and many of the others, the arrangements.

All the songs are in this musical, "Wings Of A Dove", "Baggy Trousers", "Night Boat To Cairo", "My Girl", "Embarrassment", "Tomorrow's Just Another Day", "House Of Fun", "It Must Be Love", "Driving In My Car" and so many more Madness classics.

A really colourful and vibrant lighting design by James Cladinboel, which really brought a party atmosphere to the stage.

Sound design was by Harry Greatorex. I could hear every word in every song, and while the elderly ladies behind me thought it was too loud, I loved the impact of the brassy Madness sounds, so level wise, it was perfect for me.

A great set by Scenic Projects Ltd which was easily moved into place without intrusion to the eye or the action.

I don't normally mention the following people in the crew, but this is one production where their input and timing need to be at their best and that is the job of the dressers. Getting the actors in and out of costume for the scenes, but this has such a quick turnaround for, not only Joe, but for several others. Hannah Gunn and Gemma Landers were invaluable in this musical and deserve to be mentioned.

Another team who I also don't normally mention, but again deserve one in this show, are the stage crew who make sure that everything off stage runs smoothly, so that everything on stage can run smoothly.

Welcome back Greasepaint, you've been missed, and thank you for asking me along to see this brilliant musical.

"Our House" is being performed by Greasepaint Productions at Loughborough Town Hall until Saturday 21 May. It would be sheer madness to miss this magnificent and moralistic monster of a musical.