Hull New Theatre Hull – until 5th November 2022
Reviewed by Dawn Bennett
5*****
Roddy Doyle’s The Commitments (presented by Phil McIntyre Live) and directed by Andrew Linnie burst onto the Hull Theatre stage and kept the audience very entertained from beginning to end.
Adapted from his own novel Roddy Doyle tells the story of group of working-class amateur musicians and friends from Dublin who get together to form a ten-piece band that Jimmy Rabitte (James Killeen) describes as “the hardest working band in the world”.
Jimmy (James Killeen) loves soul music from the sixties and wants to put together a band, he knows a couple of musicians and advertises for some more and gets all sorts of different people turning up to his house to audition.
We follow the group from rehearsing in a garage to playing church halls instead of the bingo, we follow the fights, the arguments, the romances and the lives of this band of musicians and singers.
The soundtrack to this musical is amazing from Proud Mary to (I can’t get no) Satisfaction to many others. This is not a Juke Box Musical the songs are total classics and the lead singer Ian McIntosh who plays Deco has the most fabulous voice.
Its really difficult to single out one person in this fabulous show, the set designer (Tim Blazdell) produced a set that went from Rabitte family flat to a rehearsal room to night clubs which was so clever. And costume designer and supervisor (Alice Lessing) costumes took me right back to the 80’s, particularly the Ra Ra skirts. How they went from normal kids in jeans etc at the beginning to the slick suits and dresses of their last performance was brilliant.
All the singers, actors and the musicians, both on and off stage, were all so talented. This a real feel-good show that will leave you wanting more and had the New Theatre audience on its feet.
If you go and watch, and I would really recommend you do, try and watch everyone on the stage not just the person singing or acting there is something going on everywhere!
This is one of the best musicals I’ve seen in a long while…miss it at your peril!!!