REVIEW: Tonight’s The Night – King’s Theatre, Glasgow
This review was originally written for and published by http://www.thepublicreviews.com
Writer: Ben Elton
Director: Caroline Jay Ranger
Choreographer: Denise Ranger
It’s down in Gasoline Alley, Detroit. Here we meet Stuart, madly in love with garage receptionist Mary but unable to declare his love, the lovelorn lad makes a deal with the devil to trade his soul for that of his idol Rod Stewart. He then learns the hard way to be careful what he wishes for, as in the pursuit of fame and fortune, he loses not only the girl he loves but everything he ever was.
Ben Elton’s plot of Tonight’s The Night is holier than Swiss cheese and has not so much been shoe-horned around the hits of Rod Stewart as crow-barred. Seriously outdated, the storyline and the humour regularly fail to meet the mark: essentially a well-worn love story with a bit of a morality tale about losing oneself in the pursuit of fame, it has all been done before and better. What saves the whole endeavour is the cast who, to a man, work their socks off.
Ben Heathcote turns in a creditable performance as our hero Stuart and is ably supported by Jenna Lee-James as love-interest Mary, it must be said though, that Miss Lee-James voice was cracking under the pressure at times throughout the night. The real stars however are the supporting cast, in particular Andy Rees as mechanic Rocky, Rosie Heath as Dee Dee whose delivery of ‘The First Cut is the Deepest’ brings the house down and Ricky Rojas as Mick Jagger/Keith Richard hybrid Stoner, who not only is in possession of an excellent voice but also manages to deliver the shows only funny lines with considerable aplomb. This trio are seriously underused, as the action and quality of the singing elevates when they are given their moment in the spotlight. The onstage (but camouflaged) band are also deserving of credit, fine-sounding, they help to drive the action along apace.
If you forgive the holey (almost non-existent) plot and concentrate on the music you’ll have a half decent night, and indeed the first night Glasgow crowd who sang their hearts out along with the cast at the biggest hits, were on their feet, (free) sailor hats on head, belting out the encore megamix at the end. Possibly of interest to Rod Stewart fans – musical theatre lovers might well do themselves a favour and steer clear.
Runs until Sat 14 June 2014
