Mayflower, Southampton – until 25 November 2017. Reviewed by Karen Millington Burnet
5*****
A real shock! It was high energy from the outset…great music and the choreography was outstanding; at one point I counted seventeen people on stage at once. Of the two lead actors, Tom Chambers who plays Bobby Childs in this musical was a class act, with superb dancing; “obviously his days on Strictly Come dancing were well spent”. He also sang well; a man of many talents. He was a very good match with Charlotte Wakefield playing the part of Polly Baker. She played a strong character and was loud and brash…and sang and danced wonderfully with her co star Tom Chambers.
Constant, quick-fire one-liners…the humour was well timed and kept coming.
The first half seemed to be over in minutes…as the pace of the show just did not ease. The musicians intertwined their roles on stage with ease …the music was toe tapping and high energy. Not-only did they play their instruments well, they danced, sang and acted with incredible talent in this musical by the acclaimed George & Ira Gershwin. The play is a typical love story…and it was easy enough to follow and predict the story-line. We came away but feeling energised and chirpy.
This gets a 5 out of 5 for me as I came away humming the music in the car on the way home.
The whole performance was so wonderful…I didn’t even notice the beautiful Mayflower theatre as my gaze was fixated from one scene to the next.
Amazing! We were left exhausted for all the fun.