-
AllAnytime Fitness Gym Art Beer Of The Week Blog Bus Fares Bus Service Business Business Expo C2C Care Care Home Charity Children Christmas Cinema City Status Cliffs Pavilion Cliffs Pavilion Review Cocktail Recipes College Community Competition Construction Coronation Coronavirus Dannielle Emery Design Easter Education Emma Smith Employment Emsella Chair Environment Essex & Suffolk Water News Essex Police Essex Wildlife Trust News Events Family Fun Fashion Festival Film Finance Fitness Food Food & Drink Football Foulness Bike Ride Fresh Face Pillow Company Gardening General Election Hair & Beauty Halloween Harp Havens Hospice Havens Hospices Havens Hospices Health & Fitness Health & Beauty Health & Fitness Healthwatch Southend Historicaleigh History Holidays Housing Indian Indirock Jubilee Karen Harvey Conran Kids Kids Blogs Kids Competitions Kids Reviews Lazydays Festival Legal Legal Eagle Leigh Art Trail Leigh Folk Festival Leigh Library Leigh On Sea Finds Leigh Road Leigh Town Council Leigh Town Council Press Release Leigh on Sea Leigh on Sea Sounds Leigh on sea Folk Festival Leigh on sea Town Council Leigh on sea man breaks marathon record Leigh on sea news Lifestyle Livewell Southend Press Release LoS Shop London London Southend Airport Los Shop Marathon Melinda Giles Mortgage Angel blog Mortgages Motherofalloutings Mughal Dynasty Music My Mortgage Angel MyLoS NHS News News Newsletter Offers Outfit Of The Week Palace Theatre Parenting Parking Pets Picture Of The Week Pier Politics Press Release Press Release Southend City Council Professional Property Property Of The Week RSPCA Ray Morgan Re:loved Recipes Recycling Restaurant Restaurant Review Restaurants Review Roads Rotary Club Royal Hotel Royal Visit SAVS Schools Seafront Shopping Shows & Music Review Shows & Music Shows & Music Review Southend Southend Airport Southend Borough Council Press Release Southend City Bid News Southend City Council Southend City Council Press Release Southend City Council Press Release Southend Community Safety Southend Hospital News Southend In Sight Southend In Sight Southend In Sight Press Release Southend on Sea Sport The Mortgage Mum The One Love Project The Ship Hotel Theatre Theatre Blog Theatre Review Theatre review Transport Travel Veolia Village Green Volunteer Weddings Whats On c2c
I Should Be So Lucky Review by Nina Jervis
Thanks to Nina Jervis from www.ninathewriter.com for this review.
I’ve got a Russian friend who had never seen the film Dirty Dancing. A few years ago she finally got around to watching it, only to proclaim that she couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about.
“That’s because you didn’t see it when it first came out,” I told her, with the tiniest sniff of defensiveness. “You had to be there at the time, and you had to be young.”
I had the exact same feeling about I Should Be So Lucky. If you weren’t queuing outside Our Price to get your hallowed copy of Especially For You; if you weren’t carefully ripping out Smash Hits posters of Kylie, Jason, Rick, or Mel & Kim to hang on your teenage bedroom wall… then I’m sorry, but you just won’t get it.
For those who do get it, there’s a whole lot to love about this musical. It’s pure nostalgic joy; reminiscent of a genuinely magical time when all that mattered in life was music, friendship, and fun. The heart-shaped set resembles a teenage girl’s secret diary: all glitter and seashells and tiny padlocks, and of course the rollcall of Stock Aitken Waterman hits is never-ending.
Some, like Never Gonna Give You Up and Respectable, are iconic pop bangers that absolutely everybody knows. Others, like the album track Tell Tale Signs (the 1989 album in question being Kylie’s Enjoy Yourself… and no, I didn’t have to look that up!) are there for the hardcore fans only.
Others still are gloriously re-imagined, like the Turkish cabaret version of Dead or Alive’s You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) that’s utterly bonkers, but in the best possible way. Dance routines are choreographed by Strictly’s Jason Gilkison, while some of the costumes nod to Kylie’s ever-changing looks over the years, including her iconic gold hot pants… ably sported by the brilliant Jamie Chapman as Spencer. Oh, and did I mention Actual Kylie appears in a mirror throughout the show?
Looking totally fabulous, she dispenses sass-filled bites of advice to Ella, who at the start of the show is jilted at the altar by her fiancé, Nathan.
Ella decides she isn’t going to waste her Turkish honeymoon, so her coterie of friends and family join her on the trip instead. But Nathan soon realises he’s made a big mistake, so he jets straight off to Turkey – best man Ash by his side – to win Ella back.
Let’s face it, you won’t have come for the story. That’s a good thing, because it’s – to use the word again – bonkers. Parts of it, like Nathan’s reason for jilting Ella, make no sense whatsoever, while other story developments seem to do nothing more than signpost the next song.
Happily this doesn’t matter in the least, especially since the characters are all played with bucket loads of charm and smiles, even in the story’s few downbeat moments. Lucie-Mae Sumner is a delightful Ella, though Scott Paige as her friend Michael was an audience favourite, with his cheeky quips and a wide smile that lit up the stage.
Be warned: with so many classic Stock Aitken Waterman hits on the turntable, this is a hard show to stay quiet and seated for! But those itching to sing and dance along will finally get their chance at the end, when the cast perform a rousing medley that’s guaranteed to leave everybody on a nostalgic high.
ADD A COMMENT
Note: If comment section is not showing please log in to Facebook in another browser tab and refresh.