As a very big fan of The Kinks, I was looking forward to Sunny Afternoon, a musical based on their music. What surprised me was how as an audience member, you get really absorbed into the ups and downs of the wild rock n roll lifestyle The Kinks led! It is quite apparent that Ray Davies wrote this and it is definitely written from his tongue in cheek perspective. There is some very clever and ironic humour which the audience appreciated as they did with the less subtle visual characterisation of his brother Dave! What is also impressive is the top notch performances by all the actors and how the songs are cleverly entwined with the story. As well as all the more well known numbers, such as ‘Where Have All the Good Times Gone’ and ‘Dedicated Follower of Fashion’, two performance highlights for me were ‘Dead End Street’; which I thought was an amazing visual and musical performance, and particularly enjoyed the trombones; and naturally, the brilliant ‘You Really Got Me’. There is also an element of British 60’s nostalgia in the show, which the audience appreciated. The choreography and props are fantastic. The sibling rivalry which genuinely existed between Ray (played by Ryan O’Donnell) and Dave (played by Mark Newnham) was cleverly written into the show and Dave performed some particularly wild antics on stage including swinging from a chandelier! The show is very wild and raucous with its profanities and rock music, but the audience embraced this and enjoyed the wild ride ‘The Kinks’ took us on.
By the end, the atmosphere was electric with the majority of folks up on their feet (myself included) clapping and dancing away to ‘Waterloo Sunset’ and ‘Lola’. At 2 hours 50 minutes, this show doesn’t skimp on anything and is an absolute must for Kinks fans! Karen Hill
1 Comment
GLORIA HILL
19/4/2017 14:27:44
Very well written Karen,
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Author:
|