Tonight's the night - It's was alright...
Tonight's The Night - Milton Keynes Theatre, 22nd April, 2014
I did see the show once in London back in 2004, few weeks before it closed after running just about a year. I must say I do have very little memories of seeing it.
I recall a fantastic Tim Howar as Stuart and an incredible Hannah Waddingham as Satan but I never felt the urge to see it more than once – until the day the cast of the 2014 UK tour was announced late last year:
Stuart - Ben Heathcote
Mary - Jenna Lee-James
Dee Dee - Jade Ewen
Satan/Baby Jane - Tiffany Graves
Rocky - Andy Rees
Stoner - Michael McKell
alternate Stuart - Craig Mather
Ensemble and other roles: Michelle Antrobus, Joshua Dever, Amy Diamond, Rosie Fletcher, Rosie Heath, Sinead Long, Tom Millen, Darryl Paul, Ricky Rojas, Spin, Lindsey Tierney
Having known Ben Heathcote for nearly ten years now being in Mamma Mia (my personal favourite guilty pleasure) for four years in total and being my absolute favourite Pepper but hadn’t seen him since 2010 I so wanted to go already just for him but also to see the wonderful Jenna Lee-James, Tiffany Graves etc again – the casting actually felt a bit like going back to the good old times when I was living in London, seeing way too many shows with several of the cast being “part” of that time.
Written by Ben Elton and featuring over 20 songs by Rod Stewart “Tonight’s The Night” tells the story of the shy, geeky, sensitive Detroit gas station mechanic Stuart (Stu) Clutterbuck, massively in love with his fellow employee Mary, who makes a Faustian pact with (the female) Satan swapping his soul with Rod Stewart’s so he can find the courage to ask out Mary at last
But as the story unfolds Stu turns into a rather macho wannabe rock star breaking out of Detroit leaving Mary behind and after meeting English rocker Stoner he's touring America with plenty of girls at his feet, but without his true love.
But of course after plenty of drama there is a happy ending...
The story is totally silly (for me though an improvement to the ridiculous story Ben Elton came up with for We Will Rock You), full of clichés about the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle and various cardboard characters and rather absurd with so many illogical holes and big question marks in the narrative (as what year is this story actually set in??), yes but somehow it is entertaining with the Rod Stewart songs satisfactorily waved into the story - even if some felt a bit too forced.
But the whole fulfils its purpose paying decent tribute to the long career of Rod Stewart and it can easily become another guilty pleasure especially when there is such a talent on stage.
And actually that was all what mattered that night for me seeing these amazing performers on stage, directed slickly by Caroline Jay Ranger, and having a very entertaining fun evening that I am glad I went up from London to Milton Keynes that one night
I was definitely impressed by Ben Heathcote as Stu. Yes, am totally biased but it was wonderful to see him in a lead role in which he can show off with such an ease it seemed a different side of his skills than what I was used to.
His transformation from the geek to charismatic hot rock star is believable and well portrayed and while he does not have the as unique raucous voice as Rod Stewart, which I though do not mind as I am not a fan at all of Rod Stewart's voice (sorry), he could nevertheless pull of the classic songs most well giving them his own touch and not just impersonating Rod Stewart.
While the overall book is rather bonkers it at least has some hilarious comedy one-liners for the Cockney speeaking character of "Mick Jagger meets Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow" Stoner, so funnily and impeccably delivered by Michael McKell having me, the rest of the audience and even occasionally his counterpart on the stage, in stitches and winning everyone over.
Jade Ewen was indisposed that night, but I did not mind seeing Rosie Heath who was a most perfect Dee Dee with a tremendous sassy but also subtle endearing performance and her rendition of "What Am I Gonna Do?" was my personal highlight of the evening being full of convincing tenderness and heartache in her voice - and she worked well with her love interest Andy Rees aka Rocky who convinced with his share in the heart-wrenching version of "I Don’t Want to Talk About".
Tiffany Graves in her double role as Satan and Baby Jane was also such a treat - so slinky, so diabolic as the Satan and so edgy, so exaggerated as the ageing rock promoter Baby Jane who has seen it all.
But as the story unfolds Stu turns into a rather macho wannabe rock star breaking out of Detroit leaving Mary behind and after meeting English rocker Stoner he's touring America with plenty of girls at his feet, but without his true love.
But of course after plenty of drama there is a happy ending...The story is totally silly (for me though an improvement to the ridiculous story Ben Elton came up with for We Will Rock You), full of clichés about the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle and various cardboard characters and rather absurd with so many illogical holes and big question marks in the narrative (as what year is this story actually set in??), yes but somehow it is entertaining with the Rod Stewart songs satisfactorily waved into the story - even if some felt a bit too forced.
But the whole fulfils its purpose paying decent tribute to the long career of Rod Stewart and it can easily become another guilty pleasure especially when there is such a talent on stage.
And actually that was all what mattered that night for me seeing these amazing performers on stage, directed slickly by Caroline Jay Ranger, and having a very entertaining fun evening that I am glad I went up from London to Milton Keynes that one night
I was definitely impressed by Ben Heathcote as Stu. Yes, am totally biased but it was wonderful to see him in a lead role in which he can show off with such an ease it seemed a different side of his skills than what I was used to.His transformation from the geek to charismatic hot rock star is believable and well portrayed and while he does not have the as unique raucous voice as Rod Stewart, which I though do not mind as I am not a fan at all of Rod Stewart's voice (sorry), he could nevertheless pull of the classic songs most well giving them his own touch and not just impersonating Rod Stewart.
While the overall book is rather bonkers it at least has some hilarious comedy one-liners for the Cockney speeaking character of "Mick Jagger meets Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow" Stoner, so funnily and impeccably delivered by Michael McKell having me, the rest of the audience and even occasionally his counterpart on the stage, in stitches and winning everyone over.
Jade Ewen was indisposed that night, but I did not mind seeing Rosie Heath who was a most perfect Dee Dee with a tremendous sassy but also subtle endearing performance and her rendition of "What Am I Gonna Do?" was my personal highlight of the evening being full of convincing tenderness and heartache in her voice - and she worked well with her love interest Andy Rees aka Rocky who convinced with his share in the heart-wrenching version of "I Don’t Want to Talk About".Tiffany Graves in her double role as Satan and Baby Jane was also such a treat - so slinky, so diabolic as the Satan and so edgy, so exaggerated as the ageing rock promoter Baby Jane who has seen it all.
Out of the three leading ladies Jenna Lee-James was actually the weakest for me. Yes, she looks gorgeous, can sing beautifully and belt with power and and emotional conviction, having seen her though in We Will Rock You I do not know how often, especially her facial impressions reminded me too often of the parts she played in that show. Still it was great to see her back on stage.The rest of the ensemble can also convince in the smaller roles and in the ensemble numbers performing the well choreographed tight and freshly feeling dance routines (by Denise Ranger) with a lot of enthusiasm and power.
The set was for a touring production very good (by Andrew Howe-Davies) with a garage quickly changing into a bar into a bedroom into a stage etc with some bright light design bringing in some decent concert vibe and feeling to the show especially at the final.
Supporting well is the band, half hidden most of the stage above the stage even if occasionally the sound drowns the vocals and the band being a tiny bit too loud for my own taste.
The show of course ends with some kind of Rod Stewart mega-mix getting the audience to jump on their feet, wear the silly sailor paper hats distributed before the show (for "Sailing" obviously) and wave their arms.Overall it was a surprisingly fun and feel good night out that even I could not help myself humming Rod Stewart songs on my way back to London as even with all the issues I have with the musical the actual performances totally made up for it.
I will just never ever get this image of Ben Heathcote wearing these special pants out of my head again... ;-)
Pictures taken (largely) from the official website
