"An Officer And A Gentleman" - A Made At Curve production.

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

Based on the 1982 film starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger, it's quite difficult to imagine this particular film being transformed into a stage musical, but here it is; a jukebox version of the film.

The musical follows the story of Zack Mayo, who enlists in a gruelling twelve-week training programme to become a naval officer. Alongside him is Sid Worley, following in his adored older brother's footsteps, who died in service. The two of them meet local girls Lynette and Paula, who are both desperate to get out of the small factory town they live in, but both have alternate ideas of how to do that. Also on the training programme is Casey Seegar, one of the only women on the programme, and desperate to fly jets.

Zack shows that he doesn't want to follow the course his Father took in life; drinking and womanising, while Sid wants to make his Father proud, be a pilot and have a family. On both accounts, the intentions don't quite go the way either the Officer and the Gentleman had envisaged.

With the nature of the storyline, especially the training programme, the show is also a really physical piece of theatre. You see Zack performing a multitude of press ups and pull ups on stage, neither impede his vocal talents one bit.

Luke Baker plays Zack Mayo. I had seen Luke before a few years back at Leicester Curve when he played the part of Tony, Billy Elliott's older brother, and was impressed by his acting and vocal talents. Here, he is the main man, so you get to see more of those talents. As a leading man, he is everything that you'd expect; he's good looking and his voice is incredibly strong, but he's also the type of person you could have a pint down at the pub with. 

Not only has Zack a strong solo singer, but his voice is one that blends well with others. His duet of Jon Bon Jovi's "Blaze Of Glory" with his stage Father, Byron, is a really good blend of vocal styles, but his vocals on Hall and Oates' "Family Man" are truly superb.

Georgia Lennon is Paula Pokrifiki, the "nicer" of the two leading girls; the one who actually falls in love and wants everything that true love brings with it, and she falls in a big way for Zack. The chemistry is there and you almost feel the heat in the duet with Zack of Foreigner's "I Want To Know What Love Is". 

I did feel that a couple of the songs for Georgia didn't quite hit the spot, on a personal level. Georgia has a wonderful voice for musical theatre, but the choice to have her sing Heart's "Alone" was maybe just a step to far away from musical theatre stylings. I loved that really long note at the end that Georgia absolutely smashed, but I didn't feel Georgia has a rock voice; she has a fantastic musical theatre voice, just not a raw, rock voice, it was a little too nuanced for me. Let's face it though matching that rawness of Ann Wilson is always a big ask for anyone, no matter what a great singer you are. Why she was singing "How do I get you alone?" though seconds after Zack had left after the family meal, plus they seem to have been spending quite a bit of time together; Paula had definitely not been alone for the previous few weeks!

Jamal Kane Crawford as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley. This character really knows how to get under your skin. He cajoles and pokes and prods until you want to retaliate, but of course you can't when you're in the Forces. Jamal is excellent in bringing all of this out of Foley; and then of course at the end, you discover that he may not be such an obnoxious person after all. Good job Jamal!

Paul French as Sid Worley, the character who falls deeply in love, only to get his heart broken, but what his reaction is, is quite upsetting. Paul is another powerful vocalist, which is bore out in the wonderful power ballad arrangement of "Family Man".

Sinead Long as Lynette Pomeroy, whose idea of getting out of her town by bagging herself a wealthy pilot who will marry her. Unfortunately when Sid proposes to her, it does not tick all the boxes that she wants and her refusal of marriage has devasting consequences.

Melanie Masson as Esther Pokrifki, Paula's mother and fellow factory worker. Melanie is also a very powerful singer; just hear her belt out lines from James Brown's "It's A Man's, Man's, Man's, Man's World".

Tim Rogers as Byron Mayo, Zack's Father. Like Luke, I've seen Tim on stage before, and know what a fine singer and actor Tim is. This role is quite different to  other roles I've seen him in as this is quite a seedy and unlikeable character, always belittling his son. Thank goodness Zack manages to change his opinion of him.

Olivia Foster-Browne as Casey Seegar who is aiming to be the first woman pilot. She is told over and over again that the Navy have never had a woman pilot, and that she would not be the first. Zack manages to boost her confidence enough to get her through, but does she break with tradition and make the grade for a woman pilot?

Lucas Piquero as Eduardo Cortez,  Chris Breistein as Finman, Wendi Harriott as Aunt Bunny, James Wilkinson-Jones as Troy and Sam Stones as Craig complete the rest of the candidates.

The cast is completed by Julia Jones, Etisyai Philip, Mia Harrison, Lukin Simmonds, Sam Stones and Ellie Grace Cousins.

Directed by Nikolai Foster, the Artistic Director at Curve Leicester. Let's face it, you can't go wrong with a Curve Leicester production when Nikolai's name is firmly attached.

Choreographed by Joanna Goodwin, and there's some very nice choreographic pieces here, as you'd expect military based, and the scene involving Seegar completing her training routine, finally, to "When The Going Gets Tough" is excellent, using slow motion choreography with the rest of the candidates.

Musical Director is Christopher Duffy. The sound was just on the right side of loud, but not loud enough to drown the vocalists. Almost like being at a party with all your favourite 80's anthems being performed live.

The soundtrack features songs  made famous by Status Quo (although there was a slight change of lyrics from "In The Army Now" to match the naval connection), Madonna, Bon Jovi, Cyndi Lauper, Heart, Martika, Foreigner, Blondie and more. It also includes the big hit from the film, "Up Where we Belong" which was, of course, where Zack wafts in to the factory and scoops Paula up and carries her away, resplendent in full naval attire, to wild cheers from some female audience members - obviously wishing that Luke would do the same to them. In their dreams of course!

The lighting design is by Ben Cracknell and the sound design is by Tom Marshall. Both areas covered superbly.

The Set and Costume Designer is Michael Taylor, who excelled in both areas. The set was utilised brilliantly, incorporating one large, movable metal structure for several different uses. The set props were moved on and off stage with great ease and speed by cast members, making the scene changes swift and smooth, which helped move the scenes on at a cracking pace. The costumes were wonderful, especially the suits for the scene for "Material Girl" (Can I have one of the jackets when the show ends, please?).

I had read earlier reviews (I don't normally, but I hadn't seen this musical before), and they were a real mixed bag of reviews. Personally, I only agree with a handful of the reviews; the ones who enjoyed the show for what it is; a brilliant night out packed with great songs, sung with gusto, with that boy meets girl and falls in love but nearly loses girl until the end scene scenario, with just a smidge of sadness in the secondary pair of lovers storyline. 

I had read that the songs bore no resemblance to push the story on. I didn't agree, I thought the choice of songs (apart from "Alone" - possibly another Heart song may have been better suited "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You", as this pair were besotted - at the time) were well chosen and arranged.

Jukebox musicals can be an excuse to throw a load of songs by an artist, group or era together and then throw a flimsy story over the songs and try to make the melting pot tasty. This wasn't that sort of jukebox musical as the story is strong and relatable and the songs were relevant to the situations.

It's as cheesy as a cheese-fest at a cheese counter at Cheddar Gorge, but who doesn't love a good cheesy rom-com now and again? That and some wonderful classic hits from the 1980's.

"An Officer And A Gentleman" is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 3 August. Don't let this ship leave port without boarding, at least for one evening!

Photos by Marc Brenner.