Theatre Review: Carnaby Street - King's Theatre, Glasgow ✭✭✭
The newest jukebox musical on the block Carnaby Street
brought swinging sixties into Glasgow this week. With an audience ready for a
trip down memory lane the story begins clean and fresh before descending into
sex, drugs and rock n roll but without the edge.
The story follows Jude as he travels from Liverpool to
Carnaby Street in search of fame and fortune in the big city. As is often the
case with jukebox musicals the book comes second to shoe-horning in the hits of
the era but with hits a plenty to keep a nostalgic audience happy a few gaps in
the plot are bound to escape unnoticed especially when they finish with a
superb sixties medley finale.
Aimie Atkinson [Penny] was the absolute star of the show, and her first solo number "go now" generated a lot of approval from the crowd. Paul Hazel as Lilly was absolutely fabulous (Lilly is a cross-dressing stylist) and was really good at getting the audience laughing and added some much needed energy to the stage.
Aimie Atkinson [Penny] was the absolute star of the show, and her first solo number "go now" generated a lot of approval from the crowd. Paul Hazel as Lilly was absolutely fabulous (Lilly is a cross-dressing stylist) and was really good at getting the audience laughing and added some much needed energy to the stage.
Mark Pearce connected
well with the audience as Wild Thing bringing a husky/growly voice which particularly
caught the audience’s attention in the opening number, at which point the rest
of the cast were all "clean, nice and happy". Al (Gregory Clarke) appeared
throughout the show shouting newspaper headlines, reminding the crowd of
various (in)famous people and happenings of the day, generating a lot of
chuckles from the audience - the ones old enough to get all the references were
chuckling the loudest!
If you're craving some sixties reminiscing then Carnaby
Street will leave you tapping your feet and humming Twist and Shout on the way
out just don’t expect too much from the storyline. Yeah baby!
Carnaby Street is at the King's Theatre until 9th November.
