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Janet Dibley as Jackie with dancers from the lively cast. Pictures: Janet Raith Photography Jackie the Musical
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
***** WE didn’t know what to expect when we
turned up to this new musical written by Mike James and directed by Anna Linstrum. How could anyone make a musical about a teenage girls’ magazine of the 60s and 70s? We joined the large audience of ‘women of a certain age’ along with a spattering of men and twenty something’s. What we saw can only be described with the
proverbial F word! FAB! FAB! FAB! The open leaves of the popular periodical framed
the set in neon splendour complete with speech bubbles. Jackie, beautifully portrayed by Janet Dibley, is
a 54 year old, soon to be divorcee who seeks advice once more from the
pages of her rediscovered collection of Jackie mags.
Young Jackie (Daisy Steere) pops up to give her
older self a reminder of lost youth, whilst offering tips on makeup,
fashion and how to mend a broken heart. Jackie’s 19 year old son and budding musician
David (Michael Hamway), is on hand to make tea and toast, whilst
blogging about his unrequited love. Hamway not only provides the
eye candy in this production but also the strongest singing voice and
perfect characterisation. A strong cast, with no weak links include Lori
Hayley Fox as best friend Jill, Graham Bickley as ex husband John,
Nicholas Bailey as Jackie’s love interest Max, Tricia Adele-Turner as
John’s yoga loving fiancée and Bob Harms who gives his all as bartender
Frankie. The choreography by Arlene Phillips, reminiscent
of Pans People, was delivered with flair precision and bucket loads of
energy. It also provided the effortless set changes which kept the
pace fast and seamless. Totally on point guys and gals! Costuming (Jim Shortall) was an accurate
and happy walk down fashion memory lane with cool tank tops, hot pants,
platform shoes and carpet sweeping flares, straight from the cover of
Jackie. Man, that gear was groovy. The quizzes, the
fashion tips and the Cathy and Claire problem page are featured in this
fun, vibrant, energetic, glitter ball of a musical. The favourite
hits of the time are belted out by the cast and ensemble, supported by
the superb on stage band. These include
Tiger Feet, I Love to Boogie, Sad Sweet
Dreamer, Crazy Horses, Hold Me Close, 20th
Century boy and
Puppy Love to
name but a few. This was sing along heaven! Yes, we all knew the
lyrics, and we were happy to join in with the cast for the rousing
finale. Love, life, humour, relationship issues and
Marmite. It's all served up by the strong cast in this full on
production which is guaranteed to deliver a huge helping of feel good
escapism. To 19-03-16 Rosemary Manjunath /Elizabeth Smith 16-03-16
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