"The Commitments" by Roddy Doyle

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

"The Commitments" tells the story of Jimmy Rabbitte, a young working-class music fan who dreams of starting the finest soul band Dublin has ever produced. Placing a classified advert in a music paper, Jimmy auditions a number of wannabes before finalising the members of his new band: The Commitments. But as any live musician knows, getting a band together never quite goes to plan – especially after a few pints of Guinness!

I loved the film and I love the music and this is the second time that I've seen the stage musical. And guess what, I love this show.

It features over 20 soul classics performed live on stage including: "Night Train", "Try A Little Tenderness", "River Deep, Mountain High", "In The Midnight Hour", "Papa Was A Rolling Stone", "Save Me", "Mustang Sally", "I Heard It Through The Grapevine", "Thin Line Between Love and Hate", "Reach Out, I'll Be There" "Uptight", "Knock On Wood", "I Can’t Turn You Loose" and more!

It stars Nigel Pivaro, who you may remember from "Coronation Street" when he played Terry Duckworth. Nigel plays Jimmy's Da and marks his return to the stage. Surprisingly I didn't see an older Terry Duckworth; I saw an actor who looked as if he was enjoying every second on that stage. Now, when I say "stars" Nigel Pivaro, I'm sure that even he would concur that the real stars were the actors who took part as the band, The Commitments and their lead vocalist. Nigel also gets a secondary role as the caretaker, but with that bushy moustache, you may not have noticed it was he!

Jimmy, who at times is also the peacemaker as well as manager, is played by James Killeen. He pretended not to be able to sing during "Mr Pitiful", but that impression was smashed in the final encore of soul smashes.

Deco, the lead singer, is played by Ian McIntosh. What a voice he has. Whether it is belting out the big, brassy soul tunes such as "I Can't Turn You Loose" or "Reach Out I'll Be There", or melting achingly with the ballads like "Thin Line Between Love And Hate" or "Try A Little Tenderness", the audience loved him, on several occasions breaking the fourth wall to croon to an audience member. He had them in the palm of his hand, especially when he did a costume change on stage. One for the ladies there!

All members of the band played their own instruments, and they sounded amazing, almost as if they were performing in their own little concert for us.

Stuart Reid plays Joey "the Lips", Outspan is played by Michael Mahoney, Ryan Kelly plays Billy, Dean is played by Conor Litten, Ed Thorpe tonight was Derek, Stephen O' Riain plays James,

Ciara Mackey plays Imelda, Eve Kitchingman plays Natalie and Sarah Gardiner plays Bernie, the three backing singers who also sounded great upfront.

The roles of Mickah and Ray are played by Ronnie Yorke. This man also won everyone over as the skinhead bouncer who could also bash out a solid rhythm on the drums. A wonderfully comic performance which was enjoyed by all, if the increase in the applause volume was anything to go by!

Directed by Andrew Linnie, who should feel at home with this show as he played the role of Dean in the original stage production in 2013. Later he went on to play Jimmy in 2016/2017. To borrow from The Who, the whole show was meaty, beaty, big and bouncy with lots of pace.

The scenery just seemed to melt away, only to be replaced with something else for the next scene, thanks to the designer Tim Blazbell.

George Francis was the Musical Director, working the wonderful arrangements by Alan Williams of these classic songs brilliantly. It was like being at the best soul party ever.

Sound Design is by Rory Madden. You could hear every single word of speech and the music was like the first time you heard your favourite song on compact disc. The sound jumped out at you, slapped you around the face and ordered your feet to dance!

Jason Taylor's Light Design really shone. there are several sections that have to be split second timed to get the desired effect, and while most of the audience may not notice or appreciate this light cueing, I certainly did.

The show is pure entertainment with the absolute best soundtrack ever. Some people may not like "jukebox musicals" but when the quality of the music is as excellent and tasteful as the music used for this show, you just can't go wrong. I can still hear that mental brass section for "Turn You Loose" now in my mind and I need to break out some more Wilson Pickett.

If you don't leave the theatre dancing, then someone must have crept in and lopped off your feet while you were watching the show, obviously enjoying it so much that you hadn't noticed.

"The Commitments" is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 8 April.