"The Cher Show" by KTco.

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

Cher is quoted as saying “All of us invent ourselves. Some of us just have more imagination than others". As history has proven with Cher's amazing career, this is quite true. Just look back at the hair styles and costumes that this woman has presented. People have mentioned Madonna and Tina Turner with re-inventions of their career, but Cher is also a name that must be up there with the best of them.

From the off, let me state that I have been and probably always will be a massive fan of this lady and her music. From the jangly folky style 1960's pop classics like "I Got You Babe" with Sonny Bono through the 1970's "Dark Lady" period and the first venture into disco with her "Hell On Wheels" period - let's not forget that Cher recorded the original version of the Sophie Ellis-Bextor hit "Take Me Home", through the rock chick 1990's of "Walking In Memphis" and "If I Could Turn Back Time", again re-inventing herself as a disco diva in the nineties and noughties with "Believe" and "Strong Enough". And apart from the music changes, there were the incredible outfits and wigs for each genre.

She had an incredible movie career with smashes like "Moonstruck", "Mask", "Witches Of Eastwick", "Mermaids", "Come Back To The Five And Dime", as well as her cameo in "Mamma Mia 2, Here We Go Again", which also spawned an album of Abba covers by this chameleon of music.

"The Cher Show" tells of the meteoric, trail-blazing rise to fame; the people who she was influenced by, the men who she battled with who under estimated her, her husbands, Sonny and Greg, as well as her battles against convention to become the powerful, talented and beautiful woman she still is today at the age of 79.

Helen Perry, Beth Denham and Natasha Cartwright all star as Cher in different sections of her career; portraying her in the 1950s and 60s ("Babe"), one for the 1970s ("Lady"), and one for the 1980s and 90s ("Star") respectively. In my eyes all three ladies are stars and......well, I don't want to appear misogynistic, but you know exactly what I mean! They bring a certain uniqueness out of the three stages of Cher's career, all of which blend like a wonderful Cher smoothie.

Cher has one of those voices that is instantly recognisable, with or without autotune, and this trio of Chers have obviously worked incredibly hard to get that tonal timbre in their voices for the various stages of Cher's career path. They all have great power in their voices but if you shut your eyes, which I did for a minute, it was almost as if Cher was in the room when Natasha spoke and sang.

I loved the various Cher costume stages, the many iconic clothes were paraded by our three stars, and the wigs transformed all three into this icon. 

Needless to say that the acting was stupendously good. They brought out the wit and the humour, as well as the sadness and heartache of Cher over the years, and the scene where Sonny has passed over was beautifully and achingly private as well as sad.

Aaron Murray, who I last saw last year in Loughborough in "The Producers", plays Sonny Bono. I have mentioned the obvious work put in to sound like Cher, but Aaron also seems to have done a lot of tone matching in Sonny Bono's very distinctive nasal vocal style. And once again, the costumes and wigs department have nailed the look for Bono.

Cameron Trail plays Gregg Allman, Cher's second husband. The long blond wig completely transforms Cam into character.  Cam also pops up as the host of Top Of The Pops as well as John Southall, the man that Cher called Daddy.

Matt Powell plays Bob Mackie, Cher's costumier and fashion designer. I don't know that much about this particular character but what fun Cher must have had with Mackie in her life. Flamboyant would be the best word to describe him, which is the perfect role for the wonderfully flamboyant Mr Powell.

Rob Camilletti, Cher's boyfriend when she hit forty, is played by Luke Grainger. Luke also doubles as the fiery Phil Spector at the start of Cher's career. Two very important people in her life, and two very different roles.

Debs McPherson plays Georgia Holt, Cher's mother. What a firecracker this character is and you can see just where young Cherilyn, or Cheryl as she was originally named, inherited her no nonsense attitude from.

The other named roles are played by Darcy Cole (Bridget), Callie Egan (Colleen), Alana Fay Moran, Soleil Quarless and Millie Seymour (Booth Singers at Spector's studio), Georgina Anderson, Lydia Thacker, Sophie Lowe and Abbie Faulkner (Girl group), Megan Singleton, Sandy Lane, Reema Rose and Jane Magee (Goldie & The Gingerbreads), Sophie Lowe (Dark Lady Soloist), Louise Curd and Sinead Parkin Various Production Roles), Max Fuller (Bob's Assistant), Jake Lightbown and Soleil Quarless (Entertainment Tonight Hosts).

The ensemble are made up of Lydia Thacker, Max Fuller, Megan Singleton, Reema Frost, Sandy Lane, Sinead Parkin, Millie Seymour, Soliel Quarless, Sophie Lowe, Alana Fay Moran, Callie Egan, Darcy Cole, Georgie Anderson, Harrison West, Jake Lightbown, Jane Magee, Louise Curd and Abbie Faulkner.

Directed by Alysha Gomes who, obviously along with Tash, Beth and Helen, has managed to catch every side of this superstar Goddess perfectly. The show is so fast paced, which it needs to be to fit in all of the many sides of Cher. Alysha has done the same as well with all of the other characters that Cher had in her life over the years, bringing them all together in this gorgeous stage biopic. I saw the touring production of this show a few years ago and this production has the same energy that the professional show had.

The show is produced by Millie Gilks which in my mind is always an underrated role in theatre and involves a lot of hard work, strategy and planning. Millie is also the Stage Manager

Choreographed by Kristian Cunningham. I love the choreography for this show, mainly because there is so much of it. It has energy, it has spirit, it is sexy, and there's one section that I adored. One of my favourite Cher songs is "Dark Lady", which in this show is sung by Bono and Allman, but I completely forgot all about the duet when watching the choreography for this section. It is absolutely beautiful choreographed and performed with such skill and tenderness. Another one of my favourite pieces was for the rock rework of "Bang Bang". There are also flashes of Fosse in certain sections, and who doesn't lobe a sophisticated flash of Fosse? Everything about the choreography is stunning, but what do you expect when you have Kristian Cunningham at the choreographical helm?

The set design is like I have not seen before with the ensemble using the large transport cases that are used for lighting etc as transportation for the cast, which give a feeling of people gliding in and out of Cher's life, but also provide an almost cinematic sliding doors effect as well as acting as a multi-level staging set. The four large letters on the back wall reminding us all the while of just who the star is. And this is just what's on stage. Below the stage area, which was opened up we see more transport cases and more disco balls with separate under stage lighting, almost extending the stage area. the steel deck is courtesy of Roydon Charlesworth.

The costumes, as you may guess are wonderful, and all thanks to Costume Supervisor Amy Wicks and Seamstresses Abbi Burns and Jan Brockhurst. We all know Cher's style over the decades and those changes in fashion are all here.

Another fashion accessory that Cher adores are wigs and there are all of those wonderful style of wigs on stage.

Lighting Operator is Lauren Polimos. This area created that concert feel of the show being as bright and colourful as Cher herself.

Sound Operators for the show are Stephen Greatorex and Phil Holland. There were a few missed mic cues, but there are a lot of bodies on stage with radio mics, and being as picky as I always am on sound, nothing could take away my enjoyment of this production.

Musical Director is Dave Dallard, who also played keyboards as part of this ten piece band, creating a powerful backing to the powerful vocalists on stage. From the sound of the gypsy violins and folk melodies to the stomping dance floor anthems of "Believe" and "Strong Enough", just everything about the music side of this show was fantastic; it was almost like being at a Cher Show!

The band consist of Dave (Keys), Gabryl Oleshko (Keys 2), Chris Renshaw (Guitar), Tim Yearsley (Guitar), Dave Shipley (Drums), Dawn Bratby (Reeds), Jeff Widdowson (Bass), Joy Gravestock (Violin) and Phil Reckless and Rob Murray (Brass).

There's an incredible array of songs performed in this epic jukebox musical including "The Shoop Shoop Song", "Believe", "Little Man", "Bang Bang", "All I Ever Need Is You", "I Got You Babe", "I Found Someone", "Strong Enough", "Just Like Jesse James", "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" and among all of these, two of my favourites from her early 70's songs, "Living In A House Divided" and "You Better Sit Down Kid", all wonderfully arranged and performed.

Because the subject of the jukebox musical is the artist who sang the songs featured, the songs will have been a reflection of Cher's life, so this is not a case of fitting the song to a section of the musical journey. The song is part of the musical journey, so every song feels natural in its' placement.

Cher has always been one of my favourite singers, and I expect that this will be the closest I'll ever get to seeing this icon on stage. It's an excellent retelling of Cher's life, from childhood to her late 1990's resurgence. With all the songs any fan should know and a brilliant finale, I went home with all these songs going round my head and in seventh heaven. Everything was marvellous, so much so that I could ask for three chers for the three Chers! (Sorry).

An absolute must see for anyone who loves glitter, glam and glorious music.

"The Cher Show" is at the Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton from Tuesday 7 April until Saturday 11 April.