BWW Reviews: LOVE ME TENDER, King's Theatre, Glasgow, August 3 2015

Love Me Tender is set in a small town in America in the 1950's where the mayor has banned the playing of loud music (sound familiar?). Enter Chad, the guitar-wielding motorbike riding rebel to show the locals a good time. The concept is nothing ground breaking but Love Me Tender is actually hugely enjoyable.

It would be easy to say that it is hard to go wrong with a back catalogue like Elvis's. However, I have seen enough jukebox musicals with strong material to know that good music isn't alway enough! Thankfully in the case of Love Me Tender, there is a terrific cast, excellent choreography and brilliant sets to go along with it. Some of the songs have been cut drastically to fit more into the show and the ones that run full length have been altered slightly. I really appreciated this though as it prevented the dreaded audience singalong!

The cast really are incredible and there was nobody who I felt under performed. Mica Paris has been billed as the star of the show and her vocals were stunning. Aretha Ayeh who plays her daughter in the show also sang beautifully and the pair were fantastic together.

Ben Lewis was well suited for the role of Chad, the musician looking to shake things up in the town. I feel that a different casting could easily lead to the character becoming cheesy and insufferable, but Lewis manages to make him quite appealing. His accent is bang on and his vocals fit the part perfectly.

There have been several similar jukebox musicals touring the UK over the last couple of years but Love Me Tender manages to outshine them all. Love Me Tender clearly has its sights set on a West End run and I think it has all the necessary requirements to succeed.

Love Me Tender is touring the UK until September.

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