The Band, Birmingham Hippodrome - review and pictures
The Band is made for anyone who grew up loving a boyband and illustrates how songs can become the soundtrack to a young person's life for so many years.
But it is also a musical which takes the audience on a rollercoaster of emotions: laughter, loss, friendship, sadness and most importantly, growing up - feelings I wasn’t expecting to go through when I walked through the doors of the Birmingham Hippodrome for the opening night of the fastest-selling musical theatre tour of all time.
I also wasn't expecting the story, which runs alongside some of the songs from my childhood, to captivate me as much as it did and I left the theatre after two hours feeling uplifted.
Written by award-winning writer Tim Firth, The Band stars the winners from the BBC’s Let it Shine, Five to Five, and features the songs of Britain's most successful boy band, Take That.
Yet it is a Take That musical which isn’t about Take That, though the group are featured everywhere. The band isn't mentioned by name, but their catalogue of songs from back in 1991 up until 2017 is the soundtrack to the lives of the five girls that the story follows.
For five 16-year-old girls in 1992, the band is their everything. Rachel, Debbie, Heather, Claire and Zoe get the chance to see their idols live in concert one night, before a tragic event sets up the second act and sends the audience on their emotional rollercoaster.
Twenty-five years on, the girls are reunited. After winning a competition to see the pop giants, the 40-something ladies, all in different stages of their lives, head off an adventure as they try once more to fulfil their dream of meeting their heroes - and along the way end up in a police cell, reflecting on the different directions their lives have taken them separately.
For every situation or event in the girl’s lives, there is a Take That song to fit. The soundtrack features some of the band’s hit songs from their 25-year career including Back for Good, Greatest Day, A Million Love Songs, Relight My Fire, Giants and Shine.
A musical finale encouraged the whole audience to get up on their feet, clap, sing along and even have a dance in the aisles.
Stand-out performances included Katy Clayton as young Heather, who had some of the best one-liners of the show, plus Rachel Lumberg and Alison Fitzjohn who play older Rachel and Claire respectively.
I also enjoyed Andy Williams as Every Dave, who would pop up every now and then, with his own take on a Take That classic.
The band also appears in the background of every situation involving their five fans, as they navigate the story through Take That's songs.
Another highlight also included an emotional rendition of ballad Back For Good, which sees the older women, joined by their younger selves, reflecting on how they have changed over the last 25 years and how the situation has brought them back together again.
The show sent me through an array of emotions from start to finish, with some classic pop songs from the 90s thrown in for good measure. I also enjoyed the nostalgic throwbacks, including Top of the Pops and Smash Hits.
The cast were fantastic, the sets were eye-catching and the dance moves were fresh from the 90s.
Take That fans will be sure to have the Greatest Day of their lives.
The Band runs at Birmingham Hippodrome until Saturday, May 12.
For tickets, click here
