"NOW That's What I Call A Musical"

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

"NOW That’s What I Call A Musical" is a brand-new musical written by comedian Pippa Evans and directed and choreographed by Craig Revel Horwood, and celebrates 40 years of the iconic and chart-topping compilations brand "NOW That’s What I Call Music", which has sold an estimated 200 million copies worldwide and is still going strong today.

It’s Birmingham, 1989. Two school friends, Gemma and April, are busy with very important business - planning their lives based on Number One Magazine quizzes and dreaming of snogging Rick Astley. Cut to Birmingham 2009 and it’s the most dreaded event of their lives– the school reunion. Drama, old flames and receding hairlines come together as friends reunite and everything from the past starts to slot into place.

Over the years I've seen many jukebox musicals ranging from the very naff ("Tonight's The Night") to the brilliant ("Our House"); this one lies slap bang in the middle. The first half seemed to slot songs in willy nilly - why would John Parr's epic hit "St Elmo's Fire" be relevant to a couple arguing? - and had no relevance to the storyline, and my heart started to sink as steadily as Ladbaby's career. 

The strange thing was that, in the second act, the songs seemed to have more relevance to what was happening on stage and I started to believe that this jukebox musical could be saved, unlike Ladbaby's career. There were some really nice arrangements of songs that were different to the originals - "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" and "Heart Of Glass" were incredibly good, and sung amazingly well.

By the end of the musical I had warmed up sufficiently to actually like what I had seen and wallowed in the fluffy fun and campness of the show. There are quite a few really good comedy bits to be fair, especially the wedding scene between younger Gemma and Tim, and also Nina Wadia's drunk scene was superb.

EastEnders star Nina Wadia is Gemma. I have been such a fan of Nadia's for a very long time, in fact since the wonderful "Goodness Gracious Me", and this role seems to blend both the comedy side and the more serious side of her acting career. Nina also has a good voice and compliments Melissa Jacques powerhouse of a voice nicely.

Melissa Jacques is April, and I am quite sorry to say that I have never heard of Melissa previously, but what a star I had been missing out on. You can tell from the power in her voice that she has worked on some big West End musicals, due to the strength of her vocals. When Melissa started on "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves", I swear the roof of the theatre rose by an inch or two! NOW that's what I call a belter of a voice! melissa is also a wonderful comedy actor and that is highlighted in her role.

Special guest and pop icon, Sinitta joins the cast to give a lovely tongue in cheek, diva-esque performance of "So Macho". I last saw Sinitta as Mama Morton in "Chicago" and she has a lovely taste for comedy, which is so welcome in this role as herself.

Chris Grahamson as Tim is beautifully slimy, complete with the worst 80's chat up lines EVER!!

Kieran Cooper as Younger Tim is equally as slimy with his seduction technique on the young Gemma.

Nikita Johal plays Younger Gemma, and this lady could get away with looking like a schoolgirl all the time, as I don't believe that it's just make up that makes Nikita so youthful. A lovely bubbly role made believable by a lovely bubbly actor.

Maia Hawkins is Younger April. She looks gorgeous and she has a voice to match. Maia is responsible for giving vocalisation to a wonderfully slow arrangement of Tears For Fears romper stomper "Everybody Wants To Rule The World".

Shakil Hussain plays Frank, Gemma's brother who has always had a crush on April, even before her quest for stardom in the States. the older Frank is much more sensible but still shows that puppy love flame still burns as bright.

Luke Latchman is the Younger Frank. Great fun to watch, especially when he is being taunted by Gemma over his soppy crush of April. Good singing voice but the over the top Brummy accent just didn't do it for me. That said, this is a great fun role.

Callum Tempest plays Barney, who had always had a crush on Gemma. Another really fun role, and we also get to hear Callum's vocals on another great arrangement of The Police's "Every Breath You Take", a poem that he had written to woo Gemma. I remember Callum playing a G.I. in "Miss Saigon" at Sheffield not so long ago, so knew that he had a great voice.

Matthew Mori who plays Younger Steve, who as a worker at the local video hire shop, is a bit of a heart throb, especially to April, makes his professional debut in this show. 

Phil Sealey plays Steve, when he has grown up. How this character has changed but what character and personality he has developed with that change.

Christopher Glover plays Dad to Gemma and Frank, but what stood out to me was Christopher's voice. His stripped back version of Blondie's "Heart Of Glass" was stunning.

Poppy Tierney plays Mum. This show is full of fun characters and this is just one more of them.

Lauren Hendricks plays Ms Dorian, a teacher from Gemma and April's school who shows up at the School Reunion.

 

The cast is completed by Emily Barnett-Salter, Molly Cheesley, Lizzy Ives, Stefanos Petri (Lizzy and Stefanos both making their professional debuts here), Martha Pothen and Blake Tuke.

The choreography is, as expected FAB U LOUS Dahling, especially that famous lift from "Dirty Dancing" that is performed here by Keiran Cooper and Nikita Johal; a lift that takes strength and trust on both sides, but was perfectly executed. Craig has included some wonderfully camp choreography as well for the young male performers.

Set and Costume Design by Tom Rogers & Toots Butcher. It's the 1980's, what can I say? Marvellous, as I remember those styles so well. The set revolves around a typical bar from that era, complete with mobile disco set up at the back. The set then morphs into every other scene needed, including the kitchen, the bedroom, a hospital bed, a studio set in Hollywood, a bridge scene and more. Very clever use of foldaway scenery and props.

Musical Supervision, Orchestrations and Vocal Arrangements by Mark Crossland, and featuring massive hits like "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", "Gold", "Mickey", "Tainted Love", "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves", "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)" and many more.

Lighting Design by Ben Cracknell. Big, bright, bouncy and brilliant. A wonderful lighting design.

Sound Design by Adam Fisher. I had been told on the way in that the sound was going to be VERY LOUD!! Well, it wasn't, it was just like the lighting design; big, bright, bouncy and brilliant. I love a punchy sound, and this musical has it.

Wigs & Hair Design by Sam Cox, and there are some wonderful wigs including a brilliantly authentic mullet for Young Tim and a fab Marilyn Monroe-esque design for Young April.

Associate Direction by Guy Woolf, Associate Choreography by Aaron Renfree and  Associate Sound Design by Ollie Durrant.

Technically this musical is very well catered for, and while I started off being only mildly entertained and not really admiring the clunky song choices for the story, I actually ended up relaxing into it and quite enjoying the frothiness, as well as the odd serious moment, in this jukebox jamboree of the 1980's. I was won over eventually.

"NOW That's What I Call A Musical" is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 28 September.