REVIEW: The Drifters Girl at the Mayflower Theatre

The famous Drifters were caught ‘Under the Boardwalk’ of the Solent, as ‘The Drifters Girl’ graced Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre for the first time ever. This musical is so much more than just a juke-box musical, it’s a revolutionary musical biopic that tells a story from within the story of the Drifters. ‘The Drifters Girl’ is a compelling, gripping, and awe-inspiring NEW musical that just ticks all of the boxes. As we know, juke-box musicals get labelled as cheesy and cliché but Director, Jonathon Church, and the whole company behind the show have made it classy and intelligent. As well as being a celebration of the music, this show also concentrates on different accounts of empowerment and they do it amazingly!

Many people have probably heard of The Drifters, and if not the group themselves then they have almost definitely heard one of their many songs (even if they don’t know that they have). But how many people actually know the story of The Drifters? The answer? I’m willing to bet not many. I myself actually wasn’t aware of the story prior to the show and was pleasantly surprised by how easy the story was to follow. Usually with biopics, the director/writer will expect the audience to have a pre-existing knowledge around the subject of the show. I can confidently say that this wasn’t the case for ‘The Drifters Girl’ thanks to the fantastic story writing, acting and overall production. If you do happen to know anything about The Drifters story, you’ll know that there were a lot of them. And I mean a lot! The cast however… only 6 people! 6 people, nearly all playing a handful of different characters each. UNBELIEVABLE! We’ll touch more on this later on, but my goodness; outstanding from each and every cast member.

The Musical follows the story of The Drifters and their Manager, Faye Treadwell – The Drifters Girl. It take’s us from the highs of the hit records to the lows of legal battles and personal tragedy whilst keeping a strong tempo and pace to this epic story. 

The main thing that made this musical so fantastic for me were the vocals. For once, I actually have no words I can write. Speechless! Each cast member was sensational but when put together? Just wow. From my point of view I can find no faults. Unbelievable! To mix in to this the fact that they were singing, acting and dancing as different characters in quick succession, I mean a spin at the microphone and they were a different person, it was just incredible! As there are only 6 cast members, I can’t bring myself to put just one in the spotlight. They all stood-out as stars! Carly Mercedes Dyer who played the role of Faye Treadwell, gave me literal goosebumps on more than one occasion. All I could think as she was singing was, wow! To add to her singing performance, she was so gripping with her strong character and stage presence overall! Incredible. As for The Drifters (and multiple other characters they all played); Miles Anthony Daley (George Treadwell & Others), Ashford Campbell (Ben E. King, Buddy Lewis & Others), Matthew Dawkins (Clyde Mcphatter, Lover Patterson & Others), and Dalton Harris (Johnny Moore, Gerhart Thrasher & Others) were all equally and individually spectacular. Not just with their singing voices, but the different personas they had to put on and the energy dancing that they all kept. We also can’t forget to mention Jaydah Bell-Rickets (Girl) who on her first national tour played an integral part in helping the story progress and bringing a sense of reality between the stage and audience. It’s not often you come out of a show and get to say that each cast member stood out, instead of one or two star performers. In this musical, they were ALL star performers!  Bravo to all!

The set and lighting for the show were exactly what you’d expect when you think of a West-End show. Set designer – Anthony Ward, and Lighting Designer – Ben Cracknell, have clearly worked extremely well together to give the show that concert vibe whilst still being able to turn the set into a train station or recording studio just from the change of some lights or use of a projection. The slanted flats that you see in the picture above were an incredibly clever design aspect, as they turned a static piece of set dynamic with the shadows from the light. There were times in the show where big hanging strips of light would come down, symbolising either a bar or fluorescent tube lighting for example. This mixed with the projections of rain or a studio sign was incredibly impressive. The set was minimal but so impactful and professional. As for the music, the live orchestra makes any musical that much more real! Dustin Conrad (Musical Director), as well as the whole orchestra, were fantastic in setting the correct tone of the scene outside of the songs that were being sung and played. It was also really energising to hear different twists on the songs that we do know and love! They truly all made THIS a ‘magic moment’. 

There’s nearly always times in a musical where the story may begin to drag or you feel the tempo start to dip. I don’t think this happened once! The show kept a perfect tempo all the way to the curtain call and final medley. Without giving too much away; Act 1 saw the introduction of The Drifters and the many members that came and went along the way, as well as the introduction of Faye Treadwell ‘into’ the band as trouble hits late in the act. Act 2 then takes us through Faye’s management of The Drifters and battles she faces being a black woman holding power, leading to the courtroom finale. At the very start of the show, you see Faye being questioned by the media before the trial, and at the very end you see Faye being questioned after the trial. This almost makes it feel as if the whole show is a flashback from that very point in time and when its over makes it feel as if we’ve all been on a journey and come full circle. Another very clever piece of writing which is just brilliant!

To sum up, ‘The Drifters Girl’ is a heartwarming, fun musical that takes you on journey through the highs and lows of one of the biggest groups of their century. The story is empowering and energetic having to take on some serious story points and doing so in a funny yet serious way. I think that’s something Church has found a great balance in; a way to make it so these moments aren’t dull and depressing but also aren’t too jolly that it becomes offensive. Extremely difficult and extremely clever, fantastically pulled off! I found myself laughing, tapping my feet along to the music and just in awe at the talent that was on that stage. It’s so refreshing to see a completely new ‘British born’ musical do something new so well, instead of playing safe and following the trends of pre-existing musicals with similar story lines. 

Southampton is the first stop for ‘The Drifters Girl’ on its first ever UK tour, and if it continues to be anywhere as good as it was tonight – this musical is going to go places! I urge anyone and everyone to go and see this show. Theatre lover or not, this show is text-book classic theatre and its got Broadway written all over it. So ditch your ‘Saturday night at the movies’ and go see this instead! From the bottom of my heart I just want to give one last huge congratulations to the whole cast, crew and company for an amazing show and wish them all the best of luck as the tour continues.