THIS is a show for anyone who grew up with a boy band in their life. It's for anyone who kissed their pop idols on bedroom wall posters, played their songs over and over, and screamed their heads off at the concerts.
Featuring a crowd-pleasing selection of Take That hits - including A Million Love Songs, Never Forget, Shine, Pray and Rule the World - Greatest Days celebrates the fans who have stayed loyal for the past 30 years
Tim Firth, who wrote the musical, decided against making the show about the band, because he realised it was all about the fans: "It seemed to be what it is to be a fan...of a band who reformed, especially if you as a human being had followed the same path - if you had been in a band of friends who had loved, lost, fallen apart, reformed..."
Greatest Days is the story of five friends who are "16 and fantastic". It's 1993 and their beloved boy band is everything to them. The band is especially important to Rachel, who seeks solace in their music to drown out the sound of her parents splitting up. "Louder boys," she says, as the volume cranks up.
When the girls go to see their heroes in concert, they vow to never lose touch. But a shocking incident sends them on separate paths - until 25 years later, when Rachel wins a competition to see the reformed boy band in concert - in Athens - and decides to track down her old pals to take along.
This is a warm-hearted, funny show with some genuinely touching moments and plenty of nostalgic appeal. And for an audience who appeared to know all the words to the Take That hits, the nostalgia is clearly a big draw.
The energy seemed to dip a little in the second act, when the reunited friends head to Greece and end up in a bit of a daft situation at the local police station. I think there was potential for a better storyline involving fortysomething women re-living their youth in Greece.
But overall it's an enjoyable show, about the friendships we make at school and how they never really leave us, and the power of pop music to take us right back there. There are some lovely interweaving moments between the girls as they were and the women they become.
An excellent female cast is led by the impressive Jennifer Ellison as Rachel, the girl we first meet hiding from her parents' rows in her bedroom. A quarter of a century on, she has her own relationship to sort out. Great performances too from Holly Ashton as Zoe, Charlotte Anne Steen as Heather and Karen Holmes as Claire, and from the girls - Olivia Hallet, Kitty Harris, Mary Moore, Evangeline Jarvis Jones and Bayley Hart. Nice comic turns too from Alan Stocks as 'Every Dave' and Christopher D Hunt as Jeff.
And special mention to the band - Jamie Corner, Archie Durrant, Regan Gascoigne, Alexanda O'Reilley and Taylor Alman - who, like a Greek chorus, are at the girls' side, singing the soundtrack to their lives.
* Greatest Days runs at the Alhambra until Saturday.
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