Who remembers all of those old NOW That’s What I Call Music albums from back in the day that must have reached the early 10,000s at this point? Well, just like those classic compilation albums, there’s a new show in town with a jukebox score ready to get you out of your seats and transport you thirty years into the past. So bust out that old CD player, turn off the telly and get ready to dance to the latest musical to hit the Lyceum stage!
NOW That’s What I Call a Musical takes us to 2009, and a school reunion where everyone is back in town. As Gemma begins to reminisce on the old days with her best friend April, strangely absent from the celebrations, we are taken back to 1989, with the old antics fresh in mind! As we explore Gemma and April’s friendship and diverging dreams, we begin to see the cracks beginning to show in the friendship, and in the friends themselves. But when April makes a spectacular return from her antics in Hollywood, they may face their greatest challenge yet, with years of no communication leaving a lot left unsaid.
For a musical which has no basis in pre-existing formats, is clearly written as a love letter to the 80s and 90s and attempts to cover so much ground in such little time, this musical is quite a feat to say the least! Written by Pippa Evans and directed and choreographed by Craig Revel Horwood, NOW is a well-crafted, if occasionally tenuous, story about love, loss and friendship that can connect with anyone, no matter your age, experiences or points of view. The decision to play these two timelines, 1989 and 2009, side by side is creative genius, and watching the characters walking between them makes every story beat that much more satisfying.
And speaking of Revel Horwood’s roles in this show, the choreography is simply exquisite. Every performer is utilised so well in the space, using their bodies and props creatively to demonstrate emotion and tell stories with themselves, in the foreground and background. The high-energy dance numbers were exciting and enjoyable to watch, the slower, more emotional moments were treated with care but never felt boring, and the use of background performance and cast filling in to move set and props around kept the show flowing, and given the number of songs included here, it needed it! A jukebox musical as it is, no songs were new, but the interpretations of classic songs always got a small chuckle as the audience realised what was about to play, before forming a near-universal excitement at the new direction in which the songs were taken – there were numbers in here of which the original version could not interest me less, but these ones were right up my alley!
Shifting focus to the technical departments, I simply must begin with the use of lighting, which is one of my favourite displays of the craft I have ever seen. Designed by Ben Cracknell, it is simply wondrous to behold. LEDs integrated cleverly into set pieces, the extra lights descending from the fly gallery, and mixed colour palettes on different areas of the stage really helped to sell the story of the cast bathed in this glorious lighting. Nearly every scene had me in awe at some of the techniques used, especially when needing to hide or highlight different sections of the stage, and this was handled so brilliantly it deserves special commendation.
Similarly, Tom Rogers and Toots Butcher’s costume array was spectacular on so many levels. From Gemma’s slightly ugly metallic pink dress that is so vulgar on the eyes I want it myself, to sparkling ensemble dance outfits, the uniforms past Gemma and April wear, and even the stripping pizza guy’s tiny number were all fabulous, and if Sheffield Theatres security would not have stopped me, would be overflowing my wardrobe by now! Besides one unusual design choice, namely in the ‘Gold’ number having all but two performers in skintight golden outfits, the costume department truly outdid themselves with this show, and it’s almost worth watching just for that.
But because Rogers and Butcher can’t seem to handle doing only one department, and are seemingly so addicted to praise from me, their set design also impressed me on so many occasions, simply due to the versatility of each set piece and smoothness of the transitions! The gambling machine becomes a phone box, the fireplace recedes, and a bed emerges from the hole, the bar flips around into Gemma’s parent’s kitchen, the list goes on! But the best one has to come from the transition from the bar into the video rental shop, where an entire, full-length shelving unit stacked with video tapes unfolds from the bar within seconds, causing you to take a double and triple take as you wonder how it was done so quickly. I have seen impressive sets but the sheer versatility and dynamism on this stage is such an achievement. There are moments where your belief has to be suspended slightly, most noticeable for me is when April walks out of Gemma’s kitchen, around the kitchen unit which I had assumed had been a window and then out of the bar doors on the other side of stage, which did at points take me out of the story, but this is never for long and given everything else done here, can be overlooked.
Even sound, notably the area hardest to impress with me, was handled well, with good audibility for most of the run, powerful beats and dialogue coming across loud and clear. Besides being scared half to death at the top of Act 2 when the band began playing at top volume and nearly making me drop everything in my hands, the sound was great, if a little loud at points. I’m notable in these reviews for picking up on bad sound work when trying to get into a production, but it’s clear that Adam Fisher’s work has been implemented thoroughly to avoid my usual criticisms!
And now to our lovely cast. Every cast member, particularly the talented ensemble members, do themselves so well in this show, each represented and given a stage to shine. There was not a single ensemble or principal cast member who broke the rule, and each performed to such a great standard, with their huge, beaming smiles and bright eyes betraying this in every scene they emerged in. But as for stand-out performances, Nikita Johal as Younger Gemma steals the show. Her portrayal is candid but brilliant as a girl living often in her friend’s shadow, but with a fierce story of her own to tell. The way she engages with every performer brings the audience with her, until you are hanging off of her every word, lyric, movement, inflection and everything else!
Similarly, Maia Hawkins as Young April completes this musical’s dynamic duo and what a team they form together. Hawkins’ vocals are simply unmatched in this cast, and her ability to hit those particularly challenging notes blows audiences away on multiple occasions. Her personality that she brings to April is clear for all to see and her characterisation goes so far in selling this flawed dreamer vision which we cannot help but love. Both Hawkins and Johal work so well with each other and they are both no less than superstars in the making! I also want to mention Nina Wadia as Gemma, who’s emotional portrayal of the older version of the character when paired with Johal, illustrates the change in tone over the years in such a unique and powerful way. Seeing the way this character has changed for better or for worse over the years is often sobering, but as Gemma reclaims herself and her identity and her dreams, seeing this young version returning to her is a joy to watch, and Wadia blesses audiences with her incredible performance.
My biggest gripe with this show comes from a certain celebrity name which is featured so heavily in the promotion for this production and strangely, has not been mentioned or alluded to once so far in my review. Yes, I am of course talking about Sinitta, the fabled guest star of NOW That’s What I Call a Musical. Now how do I put this in a way that makes sense and can’t be misinterpreted? Well…Sinitta’s role doesn’t need to exist. At all. There’s nothing wrong with her performance, but there is no reason at all she is in this show. There are easter eggs throughout teasing Gemma’s somewhat tenuous love of the star, all building up to her entrance, which comes as a vision, performs one song and then disappears again.
It reminds me painfully of Kylie Minogue’s inclusion in I Should Be So Lucky which was done in an almost identical way. I get having a celebrity sells more tickets and brings in wider audiences, but if they’re not going to be utilised in any meaningful way, don’t turn to cheap storytelling and visions or dreams to include them, it distracts media focus away from the real showstopping performances on display here. Sinitta is on so much of the promotional material for her one needless scene at the expense of so many other worthy performers – any ensemble member has much more business on the poster than Sinitta does. Plus, whoever decided to have her say “Can I get an Amen?” I need to have a serious conversation with as that phrase belongs to our beloved RuPaul and no one else now!
NOW That’s What I Call a Musical is so much fun, and I guarantee you will have a fantastic evening seeing this incredible performance. Every element comes together so beautifully to create a near-seamless production filled with emotion, side-splitting comedy and some of the best songs from the 80s and 90s to top it all off. This show is knocking at the door of being a five star production, and with a few small tweaks, minor changes here and there, and the removal of an unneeded guest star, will be an unstoppable show that could easily get a tour extension or a London residency if it so desired!
Rating: ★★★★☆
NOW That’s What I Call a Musical is playing at the Lyceum Theatre until September 14th, & touring the U.K. until April 12th 2025
