The official Take That musical Greatest Days is in town this week, writes Chris Gregg.
It's the first tour of a new version of the show which previously came to Milton Keynes in 2018 in its original guise as The Band. This new version stars Hear'Say, Corrie and TV star Kym Marsh as Rachel.
It's the story of a group of 16 year old girls who go to their first concert in 1992 and then reunite in the present day as they discover how important the bonds of friendship can be.
When Take That and Tim Firth created the original show, they chose to avoid the obvious and not to place the band at the centre of the show, instead making a musical which was all about the fans, growing up with the music of the (in the show, un-named) band. It's a great idea because it means the audience can absolutely relate to the main characters, both as teenage fans in the nineties and in the present day.
There are performances from "the boys" throughout the show when their music comes on the radio or just in the imagination of the characters, with the boy band dancing round the characters but not actually really being there. This actually avoids having to crowbar the songs into the storyline in a typical jukebox musical style, and makes the music a much more natural part of the story.
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As well as being a moving and relatable tale of growing up and drifting apart from childhood best friends, this is a show which doesn’t take itself too seriously and there are some very funny moments with witty lines from the girls as they tease each other, retro references to cassette recorders and a quite risque line about the Grand Old Duke of York which has somehow stayed in the script from 2018!
Each of the girls is played by two actors with their teenage selves at the start of the show and then as forty-somethings, which might remind you of the Mamma Mia sequel. There's a large cast but everyone delivers a great performance. Kym Marsh as the central character Rachel is warm, confident and sincere and Jamie-Rose Monk (Claire), Rachel Marwood (Heather) and Holly Ashton (Zoe) are great together on stage.
The younger cast were fantastic with a powerful performance from Kym Marsh's daughter Emilie Cunliffe as the younger version of her character Rachel at the start of the story. She has great chemistry with newcomer Mary Moore as Debbie, some funny lines from TikTok star and Keith Harris's daughter Kitty Harris as Heather. Hannah Brown (young Zoe) and Mari McGinlay (young Claire)
Although ‘the band’ weren’t the focus of the show, when the time came for them to take to the stage properly, they gave a convincing and tightly choreographed performance which got the audience on their feet.
This is a show which has a strong plot that will resonate with audiences whether or not they grew up with the music of Take That. It’s a bittersweet nostalgic musical which deals with some emotional themes but will leave you heartwarmed and dancing.
