Now That's What I Call A Musical Playhouse Theatre Edinburgh 25th February 2025 review
Now That’s What I Call A Musical is at the Playhouse Theatre Edinburgh this week (Tue 25 February - Sat 1 March) and if you want a trip back to the music of the 1980s then this could be just the show for you. Also in this show Toyah Willcox is in the Edinburgh run for one scene performing her now classic “I Want to Be Free”.
It is always a safe road to travel with a show if you are giving your audiences songs that they can instantly identify with, and this trip back to the music of the 1980s is no different in many respects than any of the other (and there have been a lot) jukebox musicals over the years. Like this one, they tend to stick to a well-proven formula where the songs are well enough known that people who were there at the time will remember them, but also many younger people will also know the music because it has been played so often over the years. Often, many of these songs are still being played on the radio, or have been part of mass media advertising campaigns. The fact that Sony and Universal music are involved in this production says a lot about how popular and commercially valuable the music in this show still is.
There is a story here and, to be fair to this show, it has a bit more depth to it than many other stage musicals of this genre. The idea though is still a simple one; it’s Birmingham in 1989 and two school friends, Gemma and April, are planning what they have no doubt in their minds will be their life in the years ahead, and they each have very different ambitions. Fast forward to a school re-union, again in Birmingham, but now the year is 2009. Will dreams have come true?
A production like this is always going to focus heavily on the music, but there is enough other material content here to let Nina Wadia (older Gemma) use her comedy and dramatic talents to very effective use. Likewise Sam Bailey (older April) gets some good opportunities to show off her vocal and theatrical skills.
The idea of using a younger cast to play the parts of Gemma (Nikita Johal) and Emma (Maia Hawkins) works well here, and the constant change of younger dreams contrasting with older reality is what gives this show the narrative counterbalance that it needs. This format of using younger/older versions of other cast members provides some interesting scenes.
Ultimately though this show is about the music, and how these songs are dealt with on stage varies. Some are pretty much straight covers, but others are new arrangements of the songs to fit the scene that they are used in. As always, forcing a song and its lyrics into a scene that it was never intended to be used for can be a bit of a hit or miss, and some work better than others here. One interesting arrangement though was “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” by Tears For Fears. Annoyingly at times we only get part of a song, so just when your brain is singing along to it, it stops.
There are some very predictable plot developments here, plus a few little surprises and telling you in this review what happens to some of Gemma and April’s friends and family would just ruin the show for you, so I am not going to do that. There are a few moments in the time-line of this story that are in the end not too clear, but there is limited time to tie up all of these loose ends and still fit in the music and dance routines.
At the end of the day, this one is lightweight stage musical entertainment, and there is nothing wrong with that. Choreography is by Craig Revel Horwood, and the set and costume designs have been done well.
Now That’s What I Call A Musical is what it is – entertainment - and to be fair, it is not pretending to be anything else.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
It is always a safe road to travel with a show if you are giving your audiences songs that they can instantly identify with, and this trip back to the music of the 1980s is no different in many respects than any of the other (and there have been a lot) jukebox musicals over the years. Like this one, they tend to stick to a well-proven formula where the songs are well enough known that people who were there at the time will remember them, but also many younger people will also know the music because it has been played so often over the years. Often, many of these songs are still being played on the radio, or have been part of mass media advertising campaigns. The fact that Sony and Universal music are involved in this production says a lot about how popular and commercially valuable the music in this show still is.
There is a story here and, to be fair to this show, it has a bit more depth to it than many other stage musicals of this genre. The idea though is still a simple one; it’s Birmingham in 1989 and two school friends, Gemma and April, are planning what they have no doubt in their minds will be their life in the years ahead, and they each have very different ambitions. Fast forward to a school re-union, again in Birmingham, but now the year is 2009. Will dreams have come true?
A production like this is always going to focus heavily on the music, but there is enough other material content here to let Nina Wadia (older Gemma) use her comedy and dramatic talents to very effective use. Likewise Sam Bailey (older April) gets some good opportunities to show off her vocal and theatrical skills.
The idea of using a younger cast to play the parts of Gemma (Nikita Johal) and Emma (Maia Hawkins) works well here, and the constant change of younger dreams contrasting with older reality is what gives this show the narrative counterbalance that it needs. This format of using younger/older versions of other cast members provides some interesting scenes.
Ultimately though this show is about the music, and how these songs are dealt with on stage varies. Some are pretty much straight covers, but others are new arrangements of the songs to fit the scene that they are used in. As always, forcing a song and its lyrics into a scene that it was never intended to be used for can be a bit of a hit or miss, and some work better than others here. One interesting arrangement though was “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” by Tears For Fears. Annoyingly at times we only get part of a song, so just when your brain is singing along to it, it stops.
There are some very predictable plot developments here, plus a few little surprises and telling you in this review what happens to some of Gemma and April’s friends and family would just ruin the show for you, so I am not going to do that. There are a few moments in the time-line of this story that are in the end not too clear, but there is limited time to tie up all of these loose ends and still fit in the music and dance routines.
At the end of the day, this one is lightweight stage musical entertainment, and there is nothing wrong with that. Choreography is by Craig Revel Horwood, and the set and costume designs have been done well.
Now That’s What I Call A Musical is what it is – entertainment - and to be fair, it is not pretending to be anything else.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com