Sheffield Lyceum – until Saturday 17 June 2023
5*****
Tim Firth’s Greatest Days is a new spin on what was previously The Band. Following the lives of a group of teenage girls and their love for a band over a period of 25 years.
Set in the North West of England, the younger group of friends Emilie Cunliffe (Rachel), Mary Moore (Debbie), Kitty Harris (Heather), Mari McGinlay (Claire) and Hannah Brown (Zoe) are the biggest fans of the Band ever, watching Top of the Pops regularly to learn the lyrics and dance moves to practise at school the day after. Luck brings them winning tickets to see their boys at a concert and what was the best night of their lives turns into tragedy and the girls all go their separate ways.
25 years later another competition brings the chance to see their band again, this time in Greece and the older group of Kym Marsh (Rachel), Rachel Marwood (Heather), Jamie-Rose Monk (Claire) and Holly Ashton (Zoe), now grown women, meet up again.
The Band (Kalifa Burton, Jamie Corner, Archie Durrant, Regan Gascoigne and Alexander O’Reilly) are excellent, singing and dancing along and a shout out must go to Christopher D Hunt as Rachel’s long term partner; steady dependable Jeff and Alan Stocks who is hilarious as several different cameo characters and billed as Every Dave in the programme
It’s a fabulous feel good show, although there are times when you need tissues. Tim Firth is an excellent writer and proves yet again he can write well rounded multi dimensional characters and the music of Take That fits seamlessly into the show, moving the narrative along nicely. Aaron Renfree’s choreography works well and the live band ((Zach Flis, Josh Cottell, Gareth Lieske, Nathan Finn and Dave Stewart) play the music to perfection. Lucy Osborne’s set design is ingenious, easily adapting to living room to bus to plane to school etc
Greatest Days celebrates how music soundtracks our lives – and powerfully brings back memories while making plenty of new ones too. Bursting with emotion, laughter and some of the most loved pop songs ever written. Laugh out loud jokes mixed with some heart-rending and tear-jerking moments, it takes the audience on a roller-coaster of emotions from the opening scene to the very last.