New Wimbledon Theatre, Wimbledon – until 6 April 2024
Reviewed by Emily Smith
2**
[Trigger warning: Themes of suicide and abortion]
An Officer and a Gentleman the Musical, is based on the 1982 film of the same name, and follows officer candidate Zack Mayo (Luke Baker) as he joins the navy with a dream of flying jets. Along his journey he meets love interest Paula Pokrifki (Georgia Lennon) and builds friendships with his fellow candidates, including Sid Worley (Paul French).
The show relies heavily on the audience having knowledge of the original film as without this, the dialogue mixed with 80s songs that have questionable relevance to the action on stage, miss key plot points. The most well-known lines from the film are sprinkled in throughout, probably to ensure we remember what show we’re watching. In addition, several characters make more of an appearance in this musical compared with the film, such as Zack’s father, Byron (Tim Rogers), and Paula’s mother, Esther (Melanie Masson), presumably to fill some of the plot gaps left by the stage adaptation.
The film, released over 40 years ago, makes for fairly sombre viewing, so I was intrigued as to how this has translated to the stage with the additions of upbeat, classic 80s songs such as Girls Just Want to Have Fun and Livin’ on a Prayer. The answer is that really it doesn’t. The addition of the music only served to further detach the audience from the plight of the characters. The songs often lacked relevance to the action on stage, and given they were in place of key points of dialogue, it felt quite disjointed and as though they had been retrospectively fitted in. When the opening notes to Girls Just Want To Have Fun came on, there was a palpable excitement, which was short-lived as the song started slow, and then tried to reach a high on the dance-floor with disco lights, but never quite got there.
My personal highlight was St Elmo’s Fire which had been adapted to have a military theme but still gave the big choral number everyone had been waiting for (…through the whole of Act 1). I also enjoyed the latter part of Zack and Paula’s duet, I Want To Know What Love Is, I just wished it had been longer given it was the only time I felt some emotional connection to the characters.
Up Where We Belong is the famous number for the closing scene, and while it was a pleasant rendition, I can’t help but feel it would have made a beautiful closing duet between Zack and Paula rather than a group number by the factory workers. Kids in America was also slowed down and used to tell Zack’s childhood story; it is a skill to bring sadness to such a happy song, but this musical achieves it.
I give credit to the cast and ensemble who deliver and upbeat and energetic performance, particularly given the physicality required for the choreography and exercises thrown at them. Jamal Kane Crawford delivers a stellar performance as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley; arguably the best of the night. How he manages to consistently deliver his lines with such a bark beyond me!
Luke Baker’s performance as Zack Mayo was that of a leading-man; he delivered excellent vocals alongside an emotionally sensitive performance. I also commend his stamina and strength given the number of push-ups done on stage. The fight scene between Luke Baker and Jamal Kane Crawford was also notable.
Paul French’s performance as Sid Worley was also very well played, with the number, Family Man, delivered with the edge it required. I enjoyed the unique tone of Sinead Long’s (Lynette Pomeroy) voice, especially in her lead number, Material Girl, which for once, did fit logically into the plot. Whilst Alone could have been a truly stunning number, it was let down by Georgia Lennon’s desire to make it her own, with the addition of growls, riffs, and off-timing.
Olivia Foster-Browne’s performance as Casey Seegar was admirable, with Hearts on Fire being a great chance for her to show her vocal talent. That being said, in this show, the character of Seegar (referred to as ‘Ghetto Girl’) is very stand-offish and quite rude, which means the emotional scene at the end where Zack helps Seegar climb the wall fell very flat and lacked emotional depth. In addition, the infamous scene where Sid takes his own life lacked emotion and was not well explained given the act happens off stage. The fact this scene leads into a burst of Final Countdown also felt poorly timed.
The script as a whole fell short on any comedy added to offset the sombre mood; the show was not without giggles and scoffs from the audience with the actor’s bests attempts at comedic delivery, but ultimately the attempt to add humour to a relatively dark show was not sufficient to be a success. In fact, the most laughs of the night came from Paul French’s line “I’ll do the right thing by you… pay for the abortion”, which I’m not sure was intended to be comedic.
As far as Michael Taylor’s set goes, it consisted predominantly of a grey metal structure that moves around the stage, alongside some neon signs on the sides. It wasn’t particularly inspiring or anything new, but it served a purpose. It was always going to be challenge to recreate an obstacle course on stage for some of the key scenes in a touring production, but having candidates run in circles on stage before leaping at a yellow metal climbing frame (the infamous wall) did mean the scene lost it’s effect.
The live band, led by musical director Christopher Duffy, were brilliant but at times the volume between the microphones and the band were slightly off, meaning it was hard to hear the words being sung. Equally at other times, I wished the band’s volume was increased for the climaxes of the songs. The choreography, with its clear military influence and energetic numbers, was brilliant by Joanna Goodwin.
While Act 1 lacked many musical numbers with oomph, Act 2 was (too) full of them. The use of hand-held mics for the first two songs was confusing.
Overall, the show is a pleasant night out, but Nikolai Foster’s show misses the mark.