Any show that has a backdrop of Ceefax pages (Teletext? Remember that?) flipping through news stories of 9 Sep 1993 and the Top 40 listings, is already a winner with me. That’s what greeted last night’s audience as we filed into the New Theatre: a huge reminder of pre-Smart TV, pixelated nostalgia. The Top 40 listings took me back to a time when summers were spent playing Sonic the Hedgehog on my Sega Master System while recording my favourite tunes off the radio, desperately trying to avoid getting the DJs voice back-announcing the song. Tim Firth, the writer of The Band, understands the power of music. In the programme he speaks of how a song can evoke a specific moment in time, not just aurally, but incorporating sight, smells, emotions.
The Band is a jukebox musical featuring the songs of Take That. The story is set around five teenage girls for whom ‘the Band’ is everything. 25 years later the friends re-group to try and meet their heroes, who are on a reunion tour. While the title of the musical would imply that The Band are the central focus of the show, it’s the story of the girls that is the real focal point. We first meet Rachel (Faye Christall) tuning into Top of the Pops and suddenly the band are in her room. Literally. With a brilliantly clever set design, the five boys (AJ, Curtis, Yazdan, Nick and Sario) are in her wardrobe, bed, even her dressing table. They are her ‘boys’; they bring comfort to a young girl whose home-life is not completely happy or perfect. They give her an escape. From this initial scene, the show moves on apace. We meet Rachel’s friends: the flamboyant Heather (Katy Clayton), studious Zoe (Lauren Jacobs), athletic Claire (Sarah Kate Howarth) and the unstoppable Debbie (Rachelle Diedericks). The bond is clear and while the girls may seem such a mish-mash of personalities, their common adoration of The Band brings them closer than family.
The Band themselves are ever-present throughout the show – they are very talented and rather handsome young men, as anyone who watched the reality show Let It Shine would attest. With magnificent costume-changes aplenty (the Prague fountain scene was a particular favourite) the boys work hard to bring the music of Take That to the audience, and to their super-fans (the girls) in a convincing stadium-selling band-type way. They pull it off with aplomb. While I may not have been Take That’s biggest fan (despite them being ‘my era’) I spent the entire performance with the most enormous grin on my face, and desperate to get up and dance and sing along.
Mixed in with the nostalgia of my own youth, there were some fabulous comedic moments provided by Every Dave (the wry Andy Williams) who pops up here and there as a roadie, a cleaner, even a Czech police officer. His brief moments on stage were perfectly pitched and met with lots of laughter.
I didn’t really know much about The Band before going to see it, but I cannot recommend it enough. It’s a joyous celebration of the importance of music and friendship, with a brilliantly written script and some fabulous music. What’s not to like?