Tabard Theatre, Chiswick – until 7th November 2026
Reviewed by Phil Brown
5*****
The 80+ seat Tabard Theatre above the Tabard pub in a grade 2 listed structure around the corner from Turnham Green station, is something of a bijou pleasure dome. So intimate, the “fourth wall” doesn’t really exist, making for a particularly engaging and rewarding audience experience.
Who Put the Bomp is a show in two exhilarating one hour parts. I knew I would enjoy it, just from the title, but I didn’t expect to be completely bowled over by such an exuberant, accomplished and as far as I could tell, near perfect performance by a young cast, most of whom would have been born in the twenty first century – more than 50 years after the doo-wop genre became a thing. I really can’t remember enjoying a show so much in ages.
There is a freshness, a zing and an energy that fairly explodes off the stage, possibly because several of the cast are making their professional debuts and adrenaline and commitment are off the scale. Whilst being well rehearsed and superbly professional, there is a still a charming sense they can’t quite believe they’ve made it into a professional production and are having the best fun. To use a musical term – this is song (and dance) con brio – molto brio.
There are few musical genres more gloriously infectious than doo-wop. It was born in US urban neighbourhoods and post-war ghettos, rising to prominence in the 1950s and early 1960s, with mainly young Black teenagers—often lacking money for instruments—practicing a cappella vocal harmony on street corners, in school gyms, and at subway entrances. Key ingredients are harmonisation, nonsense lyrics (eg shboom, ram a lam a ding dong etc), and no or minimal instrumentation. It fundamentally shaped popular music.
Writer and director Keith Strachan, whose previous musical successes include Dreamboats and Petticoats, and many associated record releases, clearly loves the music of the 1950s and 60s. Rather than simply recreating a bygone era, his well written and structured production imagines a group of contemporary teenagers discovering doo-wop from their grandparents’ record collections, digging it, and having some fun recreating those swooning harmonies themselves. Meanwhile, with progress posted on TikTok (other apps are available), they become unlikely stars in the world of social media earning a shock invitation to perform at the Brits!
It may seem a touch unlikely, but it’s a plausible enough story that acts as a neat framework for the songs whilst covering themes of group dynamics and relationships, sexuality, responsibility, rehabilitation and social media. It moves at pace, the dialogue feels authentic, the acting nicely nuanced and there is no shortage of laughs.
There is a briefly awkward start where Billy Johnson (played by Billy Michael), a shy young man whose grandfather loved doo-wop, is playing it through his phone when cornered into revealing his hidden passion by secret admirer Summer Brown (Joy Silweya). She teases him relentlessly but wants into the band Billy has in mind to form with choir soloist and school mate Cole Williams (Joshua Webster). Cole duly rocks up, validates Billy through his own familiarity with the genre, and they break into a nicely arranged classic, Why Do Fools Fall in Love (Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers) unaccompanied. The show is now off and running.
Next to appear is the physically imposing, slightly cocky Danny Phillips (Aidan Spicer) who immediately tries to elect himself leader of the band. Having enlisted the help of formidable school music teacher/choir convenor Miss McTavish (Marissa Landy) in exchange for choir attendance, Billy recruits wonderful bassman Jack B Smith (Finn Williams) who puts Danny firmly in his place and the group named the Doo-Woppers is complete and ready to rock. In a reminder that we are actually in 2026, they are never without their mobile phones and naturally share song suggestions and details using group chat. Summer is the unofficial content creator which does create some friction with Billy.
In a small space like the Tabard, there is no need for amplification although I thought I detected some echo at the start. The sound is pure harmony singing with Summer on soprano voice, Billy and Danny on tenor, Cole on baritone plus Jack on basso profondo accompanied most of the time by Miss McTavish on piano. I have to commend Strachan on the casting for this show. He has assembled a team oozing talent. The complementary personalities and voices work so well and the ensemble really does function like a well oiled team.
As Miss McTavish points out early on, a doo-wop performance has to cover rhythm as well as harmony, and the ensemble performs an extensive catalogue of sophisticated arrangements to perfection. These vocal performances are truly wonderful throughout the evening, across 29 or 30 first rate songs. I particularly enjoyed It’s Only Make Believe (Conway Twitty), Be My Baby (Ronettes), Blue Moon (Marcels), My Prayer (Platters), and Crying (Roy Orbison).
Strachan or possibly Anne-Marie Lewis Thomas (Musical Supervisor) has exercised some artistic licence in stretching what is usually classed as doo-wop to include material that owes a debt to the genre but is probably seen more as straight ahead pop music – songs such as Be My Baby, Poetry in Motion (Johnny Tillotson), Shout (Isley Brothers), Going to the Chapel (Dixie Cups), Let it Be Me (Everlys) and Crying. If anything it adds to the story and enjoyment, making for an evening rich in nostalgia. The folk behind me couldn’t help but sing along.
Lighting (Callum Bruce) is spot on and costumes (Faith Powlett) are very fitting (boom boom). The stage set is essentially done by projecting well rendered scenes onto the back wall which is not only incredibly effective (Charlie Stace) but maximises the performance area for some fabulous choreography (Carole Todd) which gets more elaborate as the group develops.
This is a versatile group of performers. At one point, Cole (Joshua Webster also acting as Dance Captain) did an impressively gymnastic solo combining break dancing and back flip and Marissa Landy as Miss McTavish performs a nice tap dance solo in the finale. Finn Williams as Jack also springs a surprise in the second half of the show by taking over some of the piano duties
Congratulations to the outrageously talented cast and company of Who Put the Bomp for a sumptuous performance which deserves to be a huge hit. Feel-good is overused as a sound bite to describe entertainment, but this is the real deal. Trust me on this. Whether or not you love doo-wop, I guarantee you will love this show.