Sheffield Lyceum – until 9 March 2019
Reviewed by Lottie Davis-Browne
4****
Welcome to Club Tropicana, where there’s enough for everyone and the drinks are free!*
This brand new 80s themed musical is jam-packed with some of the 80’s biggest hits – from Cyndi Laupers’ Girl’s Just Wanna Have Fun, The Look of Love (ABC), Depeche Modes’ Just Cant Get Enough, Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Relax and many more! The ultimate feel good night out that will have you reaching for your hairbrush, your pointed Madonna bra and that neon lycra hidden away in your attic!
Lorraine’s (Karina Hind) wedding day has finally arrived – but far from being a Fantastic Day, she’s sat at home in tears, comforted by her best friends Tracey (Hairsprays Rebecca Mendoza) and Andrea (Tara Verloop) having got last minute cold feet about the whole thing. However the groom – Olly (Cellen Chugg Jones) is already at the Church by the time Lorraine calls his mobile phone and calls the whole thing off. (Don’t Leave Me This Way).
Mortified, Olly’s friends decide to cheer him up and head off on holiday to help him forget the whole embarrassing day. Lorraine’s friends also decide that maybe heading off to warmer climes will give the would-be-Bride space to clear her head. Without realising the pair have gone and checked into the same hotel……will the vacation be just what the Doctor ordered and save their upcoming wedding or will they decide to call it a day?
With a pending hotel inspection, Club Tropicana resort Entertainments Manager – the outwardly camp and hilarious Garry (2009 X-Factor winner Joe McElderry) – along with receptionists Robert (Neil McDermott) and Serena (ex Sugababe singer Amelle Berrabah in her musical debut) along with the eccentric hotel cleaner Consuela (or Connie as she is often fondly referred to as) are working their socks off (or should that be leg warmers?), to ensure that they are ready for the arrival of the mysterious inspector. However it seems that someone has been tampering with bookings….or someone has just made some really bad booking errors – meaning the hotel is lacking in bookings by the time the Inspector is due. Robert however gets a brainwave and decides to advertise a fancy dress themed few days (or “Fansee Dress Night” as Spanish Consuela wrongly advertises it as!). Connie then has several dress changes to make it appear that there are more guests checked into the hotel – from Toyah Wilcox to Adam Ant – each costume change comes with some very uncanny impressions. Connie may be foul mouthed and have her own “sign” – but she brings in plenty of laughs making it impossible not to love her. When a high maintenance guest checks in under the name of Christine (Emily Tierney) – staff assume that she is the Hotel Inspector – with her demanding ways and her never ending questions about the facilities etc the staff bite their lip and aim to please her every demand. When Robert first meets her he is smitten, and despite secretly being in love with Robert, co-worker Serena tells him to do whatever it takes to make sure the hotel inspection goes smoothly. Christine may be irritating, but as Robert tells her, she’s got “a WICKED sense of humour!” (a joke sadly lost on tonights audience however – for those not lucky enough to have caught Emily in Wicked a few years ago, you missed a treat!)
It’s impossible to single out a particular cast member; McElderry was instantly a hit – getting the audience on their feet with some audience participation right from the start, Tierney, who’s character has one accidentally after the other brings the laughs in along with Kate Robbins as the lovable Connie.
Will the Hotel Inspectors finally get their way and close the resort down once and for all? Can the Club Tropicana staff save the day? Will Lorraine and Olly give love another go?
With twenty of the greatest 80s hits, more lycra than a roller-disco (remember those?), Club Tropicana is the ultimate feel good reminder of what in my opinion was the greatest decade for pop music (I am being slightly bias here as this is my era!). Sure the story line isn’t anything special – and felt far too similar to the recent Benidorm Live tour – as Producer Mark Goucher states “we are not trying to win prizes but to give you a good night out.” Well Mark I can certainly say I didn’t leave disappointed other than feeling it was all over quicker than The Reynolds Girls music career.
*Free drinks not guaranteed!