REVIEW: Now That’s What I Call A Musical at New Theatre
A show celebrating 40 years of the much-loved Now That’s What I Call Music albums opened last night (Tuesday 29 October) at The New Theatre, and we were invited to the party!
It's a real celebration which brings some of the most iconic chart-toppers to life on stage.
Now That’s What I Call A Musical follows two school friends in Birmingham in 1989 - young, free, and dreaming of what their lives will be like in the future.
Fast forward to 2009, and Gemma (played by Nina Wadia) is waiting for April (Melissa Jacques) at the event everyone dreads - a school reunion.
The show quite cleverly bounces between moments from their past and friendship, to the reunion throughout act one - showing important life events and how the characters have changed. Act two then focuses on life after the reunion, showing how our childhood dreams often aren’t a simple reality to make.
An added bonus with his play is that we had the talented Sonia as a guest star! As imagined, the audience were very excited to see her, and hear her play her hit song Better the Devil You Know. When she was asked about being in the production, Sonia said “We are going to take people back on a nostalgic road of all their favourite songs”.
There will be other guest stars at different venues, such as Sinitta, Carol Decker and Jay Osmond. They each have a few places they will be turning up at so make sure to keep a look out on that!
The cast also features Nikita Johal as Young Gemma, Maia Hawkins as Young April, Luke Latchman as Young Frank, Shakil Hussain as Frank, Kieran Cooper as Young Tim, Chris Grahamson as Tim, Callum Tempest as Barney, Poppy Tierney as Mum and Christopher Glover as Dad, as well as many more talented performers.
I can confidently say, that every song played during this musical will have you wanting to sing along. My highlights were, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Video Killed the Radio Star, Mickey, and Relight my Fire - I was struggling not to sing along to them all, though!
A lot of songs in this show are important to a lot of people. Nina commented that she “grew up listening to the Now tapes so for me being part of this musical is like going home”.
One thing that has to be mentioned is that the production is choreographed by the King of Strictly, Craig Revel Horwood, and the performers did it justice. There was one dance sequence in particular that I was in awe of.
The set design was also beautiful. It always amazes me how smooth everything transitions in a set, and especially with this one. A lot of the chairs and tables were incorporated into dances as they were being moved off the stage. It seemed like an easy transition into each set as well which I think added to the flawless flow of this play.
Now That’s What I Call A Musical is in Cardiff until Saturday (2 November) so make sure to get your ticket for this symphonic performance. Tickets are available by ringing 0343 310 0041 or by clicking here.
Review by Sophie Platt
We received free tickets for this performance in exchange for an honest review
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