(seen at the afternoon performance on 10th April 2025)
In these Spotify times, most have forgotten – and young people will never know – that feeling when you find a compilation album in a record shop that has only the songs you love on it.
Repeated playing of the album really hits the spot. So does this show.
“Now That’s What I Call Music” is a famous album series which compiles the best pop singles in one place. This musical does the same thing.
Pippa Evans’s book drifts between Birmingham High School 1989 and a school reunion 20 years later. Via 1980s hit songs of the era we follow friends Gemma and April, Gemma’s family, April’s breaking free of Brum and assorted class clowns, nerds and weird teachers.
It shouldn’t really work – the songs evoke the feel of the era rather than driving the plot, which in turn isn’t particularly original in itself... yet it does, hugely satisfyingly well.
There’s a massive plot-twist that nobody sees coming, and the tunes emerge from the hearts and souls of the loveable characters, just as much as the situations they find themselves in.
“Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” is the youthful exuberance of Young April and Young Gemma (Maia Hawkins and Nikita Johal). Both are on absolute peak form vocally, a dynamic duo with a neat line in guy-teasing. Hawkins gets a soaring solo “Everybody Wants to Rule The World”, Johal to carry a huge chunk of the show effortlessly.
Their older selves, Nina Wadia and Sam Bailey reveal that Wadia has a surprisingly good singing voice for a “Wham” karaoke, and that Bailey belts to the back row without breaking sweat. We believe in both of them, the entire audience cheering and sighing as their lives unfold.
Poppy Tierney and Christopher Glover as Gemma’s mum and dad capture exactly the 80s parents. Aspirational but worried sick about their jobs, consumerism running rampant (the waffle advert reminder is an earworm alert), and an era where teenagers connected with elders face-to-face without phones.
Frank (Shakil Hussain), Gemma’s brother, gets several moments to shine in that respect, with some good comic / tragic timing later on.
Smaller roles are equally important. Tim (Chris Grahamson) wins “Gold” in the scum stakes, and deals neatly with a recalcitrant coat. Shame as his younger self (Kieran Cooper) gives little hint of what is to come.
Steve and Younger Steve (Phil Sealey / Matthew Mori) on the other hand are as expected, “Planet of the Tapes” a neat pun and highly appropriate habitat for the pair.
Callum Tempest as Barney is a touchingly sympathetic pathetic, while Lauren Hendricks as Ms Dorian must have based herself on a teacher she has known. Which is, on reflection, slightly worrying.
Not forgetting star guest Sonia. Still got it, and “Better the Devil You Know” indeed.
Craig Revel Horwood keeps it as bubbly as possible, choreography of that decade including the “Dirty Dancing lift” done to “(Flashdance) What A Feeling” just for a giggle and excellent effect.
There is a nutty “Video Killed The Radio Star,” plus “I’ll Stand By You,” “Tainted Love” and more. Horwood loves creating it all, ensemble members of the cast likewise particularly enjoying presenting it.
Tom Rogers and Toots Butcher pay homage to the TDK cassette in stage surround and disco deck unit. The pub counter becomes a kitchen, a bed and poster above change for location, a well-dressed shelving unit slides in and there is maximum space for dancing.
Ben Cracknell as usual ensures bright colours for all to dance under, with the grey of the Birmingham skyline visually balanced so as not to deflate the atmosphere.
Georgia Rawlins and a four-piece pit band are maximum wattage electro-pop, Adam Fisher’s sound design bringing it to us properly under the vocal line.
A happy, light nostalgic trip through its teen music years, delivered via a delightfully daffy yet touching tale, by a sparklingly energetic cast. Frankly, the monkey enjoyed it even more than "Mamma Mia!" thanks to the variety of hits.
Hey Mickey, it spun me right round baby, really did relight my fire... and so it goes.
4 stars.
Watch the “Megamix” final sequence now on Theatremonkey's Youtube channel.
Photo credit: Mark Senior. Used by kind permission of the New Wimbledon Theatre.