Review: GREATEST DAYS, King's Theatre
Greatest Days runs at the King's Theatre until Saturday 26 August
Greatest Days is the official Take That musical that originally toured as The Band in 2018. Now a major motion picture, the show has rebranded as Greatest Days for another UK tour.
While this is the Take That musical, it's not the story of the band. They're merely the soundtrack to the lives of these characters. The show starts off with a group of five sixteen-year-old girls who are obsessed with 'the boys' they've seen on Top of the Pops. No matter what is going on in their home lives, the boys bring them joy and their shared love of the band brings them closer together. The most important night for Rachel, Debbie, Claire, Heather and Zoe is when Debbie wins tickets for the group to see them in concert in Manchester. They have the time of their lives and promise to never lose touch. Sadly, a tragedy prevents this from being the case.
Fast forward twenty-five years and Rachel (Jennifer Ellison) has entered a competition on the radio. Sitting with her long-term partner, she hears that she's won four tickets to Athens to see the boys on their reunion tour. Jeff gets excited and starts planning the trip- suggesting they just 'skip' the concert. Rachel debates what to do but eventually goes with her gut and emails three of the girls from school.
Having seen the characters as teenagers you get to see how differently their lives have ended up from the way they set out. One thing I found really disappointing is that they chose to keep in the fat jokes that were heavily criticised during the original run. When they reintroduce the girls as adults later in the show, the butt of the joke is that one has gained weight since her friends last saw her. There are fat jokes aplenty throughout and though they go down well with the audience, it just seems completely unnecessary.
There's no denying that Greatest Days is an absolute cheese-fest, but it works. The boys pop up in the girls' bedrooms, in the school playground- wherever they are listening to music or imagining their idols and it is comical the way they just appear mid-scene. The songs are great, all the hits are crammed in and the scenes where they create a concert atmosphere are electric.
The cast is strong and the storytelling is excellent. It's a real treat to see what is essentially a jukebox musical with a strong narrative. It's emotional and funny and although a personal tie to the boybands of your youth might help, it is not essential. Greatest Days is a burst of pure joy.
Photo credit: Alastair Muir
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