REVIEW: Greatest Days at the Mayflower Theatre

Tonight, Southampton turned into Manchester as the Mayflower theatre housed Take That on their brand new tour! Okay not exactly, there were no surprise cameos from Gary or Robbie, but Take That’s official musical ‘Greatest Days’ performed its opening night on its tour stop in Southampton. This isn’t your standard juke-box musical, but is instead a heart-felt story following friendship and everything in-between, using Take That’s back catalogue of music to help tell the story. The show has been slightly reworked from its original form where it was called, ‘The Band’, and has even had a film (with the same new name) which was released earlier this year. I knew very little about the story line to this musical before tonight and was expecting an almost biopic love letter to Take That for their biggest fans. I however, was pleasantly surprised because what I thought would be a potentially tacky and cheesy affair, turned out to be a heartbreaking but hilarious story. 

You may be wondering, ‘How can the show be both heartbreaking and hilarious at the same time?’. The answer is simply down to the fantastic writing. Tim Firth, the original story writer, really knows how to write a story that you can connect with, empathise with, and understand whilst feeling full of laughter. Without giving too much away; The story follows a group of five boy band obsessed friends in the 90s, who drift apart but reunite over 20 years later to see their heartthrobs one last time in what could be potentially be the ‘Greatest Day’ of their lives! (I got this one in early, I’m sorry). One thing that I found very impressive was the relationship that the audience managed to build with the ‘boy-band’ through the other characters on stage. It was almost as if the boy-band were the thoughts of the actors on stage (like the imaginary friend to them) and that the audience were connecting through the thoughts of the other characters via the band. Extremely clever idea, written and directed brilliantly!

The whole cast were fantastic. They made you laugh when you needed to, made you think when you needed to, and made you feel when you needed to. The cast can basically be split into 4 separate groups; The boy-band, The young friends, The old friends, Jeff and every Dave. The boy-band not only portrayed that ‘friend figure’ like I mentioned before, but also at multiple points throughout the show, actually put on mini concerts – transporting you back to the 90s. Not only through the fantastic dancing, choreography and costume, but of course singing which was incredible! Both sets of friends, young and old, were fantastic! Their chemistry was brilliant and the way in which they portrayed their emotion across to the audience was perfect. Also the way they resembled their older/younger counterparts was terrific. I’d like to give a special shoutout to Jamie-Rose Monk, who played the role of ‘Claire’ as I was hung up on her every word. She got the most laughs out of me (and the audience at that), and you could just feel the meaning in every word she said. Amazing performance. Mary Moore, who played the role of ‘Debbie’ also deserves a shoutout. In a show where there are some quite serious points they have to hit, she did so in an upbeat classy way leaving the audience feeling positive and not upset. Another Amazing performance! It goes without saying that Jennifer Ellison, who played the role of ‘Rachel’, was the audiences main point of connection and her and her younger counterpart, Olivia Hallett, had the audiences full attention into what they were doing. Brilliant! And of course how could I forget Christopher D. Hunt (‘Jeff’) and Alan Stocks (‘Every Dave’). Although they both may not have had the biggest roles, I think that some of the impact and laughs that they created were of the biggest. That in itself says masses, so well done to everybody! 

The set and lighting for this show were so impressive. To start with the set, it was a fixed set with moveable interactive components I.e. the stairs. Those stairs became so much more however; a bus, a stage, a police station, a water fountain and many, many more. Set designer, Lucy Osbourne, clearly worked very closely with both Directors, Tim Firth and Stacey Haynes, in creating an immersive set that the characters can become a part of when moving and interacting with. Very well thought out, and very well handled by the actors. The lighting was also brilliant. There were times the lighting would’ve been bog standard and lighting the types of places mentioned above. But then in an instant they would have to turn into this huge concert light rig which was just amazing. They were big, they were extravagant, and they matched the tone of each song perfectly. One thing I would say is that the show is clearly used to being performed on a much smaller scale, so they did struggle to fill the stage a little bit, leaving a lot of blank space. However a personal favourite touch of mine was the lights within the staircase; that without giving away too much away, gave that extra ‘Shine’. (I’m not sorry for that one).

Of course the music to the show was all ‘Take That’ hits, perfectly selected at the correct moments to help portray the story. But what really helped these songs portray their message further was the fact that they were orchestrated and played by a live band. This musical actually opened up new meanings to each of the songs in the specific context that they were in, and a live band was definitely the way to go to help this. I’m always a firm believer that soundtracks for musicals are a big no no, and a live band makes it all feel so much more real. The pace of the show and storytelling was actually very good. I don’t think there was one moment that I was beginning to think things were dragging. Act 1 takes us through the 90s where the girls have been to see their adored boy-band before drifting apart. Act 2, takes us fully through the reconnection of friends and finding comfort in each other and who they’ve become in their personal journeys. 

To sum up, I thought I’d be leaving this musical and writing, “if you’re big fans of Take That, this is a can’t miss show for you” (which is still true), but I’m actually leaving thinking that if you’re a fan of musicals with a poignant touching story, then this is definitely one for you as well. I love how everybody can resonate through this story of friendship and having ‘your band’ or ‘your artist’ that you put on when you’re excited, or when you’re sad, or angry, or happy. For the characters in the musical, their band may have been singing Take That songs but they were just called ‘boy-band’. The way the story was written and performed seemed to be a call that everybody can individually perceive in their own way. It’s such a touching, uplifting musical that actually makes you feel things. All of this, plus a free Take That concert – you cant really go wrong. ‘Greatest Days’ is currently half way through its UK tour and I wish them all the success going forward, hoping they’ll be ‘Back for Good’ soon.