David Cradduck says "Heyyyyyyyy!" - and probably "Yay!" - and gives five big stars to the performance of 'Happy Days' at the Mayflower, Southampton - 11th February 2014.
Anyone who watched the Channel 4 documentary series The Sound of Musicals a few weeks ago cannot fail to have got caught up in the real life drama that saw Amy Anzel, young American actress/producer climbing a seemingly impossible mountain by attempting to stage a major musical in the UK.
Four years of ‘blood, sweat and tears’, the sinking of her life savings and ‘worrying times’ later, gutsy Amy has seen the fulfilment of a personal dream and is now bringing a huge dollop of happiness to audiences up and down the country with a UK tour of Happy Days – the NEW musical.
Happy Days does what it says on the tin – it is a foot tapping (or stomping if you’re not a reserved Brit), catchy, young, colourful, brash, energetic and very American two hours of musical fun that makes you leave the theatre with an aching jaw from smiling.
The eight piece band effortlessly provides a solid mix of ballads and rock and roll from composer Paul Williams, the singing is spot on and annoyingly catchy, the dancing energetic enough to make you exhausted and the standard of Andrew Wright’s direction and choreography is superbly entertaining.
Many will remember the 70s TV series starring Henry Winkler as the cool but flawed and vulnerable show-off Arthur ‘The Fonz’ Fonzarelli.
Like the TVshow, the musical is pretty thin on plot: in a similar mould to Grease, cool guy Fonz (Ben Freeman of Emmerdale fame) eventually unites with cool girl PinkyTuscadero (Sugababe Heidi Range), whilst saving their favourite café from the developers.
He sees off a couple of unlikely troublemakers in the process and is generally very cool throughout, with trademark motorbike and leather jacket and jeans.
He models himself on a cross between James Dean and Elvis (both of whom make cameo appearances); the wholesome, smalltown American story of innocent Jefferson High School folk is set in the simpler, innocent era of 1959 when teenagers went to café bars to listen to music, hang out with their friends and the most dangerous drug around was coffee.
Strong performances shine throughout. The headliners – Freeman, Range and Cheryl Baker of Bucks Fizz/Eurovision (circa 1981) all turn in excellent, polished performances, of course.
But it is the dance and chorus ensemble that really has the wow factor for me, especially the men who seem to effortlessly dominate the stage in their musical numbers.
Award for huge personality married to great acting/dancing/singing goes to relatively unknown Andrew Waldron as Ralph. Not physically built for speed, he is incredibly light on his feet and accurate in every way.
Other strong points: the lighting is adventurously colourful and complex for a travelling show although I’m not sure the strobe effect works during the wrestling competition; costumes that are equally colourful and authentic of the era; and an intriguing set that opens up like a neon pop-up book for all the different scenes.
There are very few weak points: a minor hitch with a curtain at the end of Act 1 and a wobbly follow-spot (neither of which will be repeated I’m sure); the wrestling scene is unconvincing despite strobe and slo-mo effects; and the encore following an impressive finale and curtain call is too long, especially as the audience is encouraged to stand for it.
All in all, Happy Days lives up to its name, deserves a five star performance and is great fun.
The tour continues at Sheffield next week with a further 19 venues before its conclusion in July. By which time those dancers will be exhausted, along with many an audience.
For more information and tour dates go to http://happydaysthemusical.com
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