Now That’s What I Call Musical
Theatre Royal Brighton
Step back into a time of cassette tapes, leg warmers, and chart-topping anthems—NOW That’s What I Call a Musical is a vibrant explosion of 80s nostalgia that will have you toe-tapping and nodding along from the first note. Directed and choreographed by Strictly’s Craig Revel Horwood, this jukebox extravaganza not only celebrates the iconic NOW That’s What I Call Music mixes, but throws a glitter-filled party in their honour.
In Pippa Evans’ story we follow two school friends, Gemma (under: Molly Cheesley) and April (Maia Hawkins), through a dual timeline: their youthful dreams juxtaposed with their adult realities during a 2009 school reunion, twenty years on. The story was straightforward and sometimes predictable, though it did serve as an effective framework for the real star of the show—the music. With songs like Relax and Spandau Ballet’s Gold, the soundtrack evokes fond memories for audiences, most of whom grew up with such songs. What we would say is that the production does rely quite heavily on the recognisability of the musical numbers it uses, and at times they felt almost shoehorned in to pack the nostalgia punch for the audience, and the plot’s looseness was amplified too by this fact.
The production often used techniques such as silent slow motion movement to introduce characters and blue lighting to signal flash forwards, where characters like Nina Wadia’s ‘older’ Gemma physically weaved in and out of the 1980s ‘then’. While visually intriguing, we felt these techniques did not translate well in the theatre, as they muddied the stage and read more like unfleshed tropes than effective storytelling. This muddiness was also exemplified through the ensemble regularly having to move off the set pieces themselves in an infantile choreographed manner, done more for the sake of its connection to Horwood than for any identifiable reason.
There were certainly some notable performances, particularly from Maia Hawkins, in her professional debut, and in an emotive ballad rendition of Everybody Wants to Rule the World exhibited powerful vocals and impeccable tone and control. April’s character is further bolstered by Melissa Jacques’ incredible performance as well, though only coming in at the second half, the rest of the show felt it was missing her exceptional talent.
In terms of characterisation, the show also fell short in this regard. Being so focused on the music, oftentimes characters felt two dimensional and flat. The Birmingham setting was done crassly and was entirely unnecessary when coupled with frankly atrocious accents that felt almost mocking and a comedic addition, rather than relevant at all to the plot. We felt it should either have been set elsewhere in the country or had actors from Birmingham to perform. This element to the show really brought it down a peg in quality and it was at times difficult to sit through without cringing, and that is before considering some of the dialogue. However, we do maintain that the young cast’s voices blended extremely well together and some of the harmonies were executed very well indeed.
Despite our views on some elements of the show, the audience for the most part was in fits of laughter and it seemed as though the nostalgic trip down memory lane that the production offered was suffice for many. The intertwining of tight choreography, flamboyant costumes, and comedic flair offer a night of unapologetic fun, and kept audiences engaged between 80s hit after 80s hit. So overall, for an evening of lighthearted escapism, and if you aren’t deterred by a overly simple plot and terrible put-on accents, NOW That’s What I Call a Musical is a great choice.
Reviewers: Asalie Balasuriya & Sophie Rose
⭐⭐