Some of my earliest memories of listening to music are of being in the kitchen while my mum listened to Pick of the Pops (which often had 60’s music on it, being the late 70’s and early 80’s), and to Sounds of the Sixties. I continued to listen to Radio 2 in my teens, 20’s and 30’s - and still listen to it now. With the title including Bringing On Back The Good Times I knew that this show would have a good selection of music in it.
I went to see the show yesterday afternoon, at Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple (Saturday 9th April 2022). I haven’t seen any of the previous Dreamboats and Petticoats musicals, so didn’t know quite what to expect. We possibly wouldn’t have come to see this show had it not been for the special offer on the tickets; however, an opportunity to see a show when the tickets were £15 each was too good an opportunity to miss. We were able to get seats quite near the front and in the middle of a row.
What a fantastic show this is! People who like the shows Return to the Forbidden Planet and That’ll Be The Day will certainly enjoy this show. The music blends together to enhance the story - and the storyline brings the songs together well. The musical continues the story of Bobby and Laura, and the other characters who met at the youth club in the first musical - Norman and Sue, Ray and Donna and others. It was lovely to see the cast members playing live, and it really showed what a talented bunch of people they are; I was particularly impressed with the ladies playing saxophone, as they did this and danced at the same time - something that cannot be easy at all.
There were some jokes in the show that were funny - but later were shown to be even funnier. Without giving too much away, the band wants to play a song for Laura’s manager; he asks what the song is called, and on hearing its title Venus in Blue Jeans, he says it will never get anywhere with a title like that!
Towards the end of the show, as part of the story, we were told that there was a special teen sensation going to appear - one Mark Wynter - who had been mentioned earlier in in the story. As this character came on, the two ladies behind me said “Is that actually him? It is - it’s him!” - and it was indeed Mark Wynter, and he sang a medley of some of his hits including Venus in Blue Jeans, Go Away Little Girl and It’s Almost Tomorrow - suddenly the jokes and references from earlier in the show made sense.
A highlight of the show was David Benson as Kenneth Williams; his portrayal was absolutely spot on, and his rendition of Ma Crepe Suzette left me crying with laughter. If you have never heard this song, it is worth looking in YouTube for it.
The show is written by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, who have also brought us Birds of a Feather, Love Hurts, The New Statesman and Goodnight Sweetheart to name a few.
The one small issue was that it sounded to me like the balance of the singers was not quite right at times, with the instrumentalists sounding louder than the vocalists. This did not affect my enjoyment of the show, and it left me wanting more - and wishing that I had seen the earlier musicals in the series.
I can wholeheartedly recommend this show - if you get a chance to see it, do make the effort to do so - you will not be disappointed!
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