Review: JACKIE THE MUSICAL, New Alexandra Birmingham, May 2016

We took a trip back to Planet Seventies at the New Alexandra Theatre as Jackie the Musical swept into town. Based on the book by Mike James, Jackie the Musical follows a forty-something divorcee as she stumbles across her old collection of Jackie magazines and once more seeks their advice about fashion, boys and love.

From the minute the brilliant orchestra begin the overture, the audience, completely unprompted, are bopping along in their seats and singing to these instrumental versions of their favourite seventies hits. Jackie the Musical has certainly been devised with a particular generation in mind; when the title character bemoans the fact that she is now fifty-four, the largely female audience give a collective roar of camaraderie. As Jackie, played by Janet Dibley, begins to pull various issues of the famous magazine from a cardboard box, the audience cry out with spontaneous delight as they recognise old favourites and iconic front covers.

Elements of Jackie magazine are threaded ingeniously throughout the musical to great comic effect. The young Jackie (Daisy Steere) visits her future self to give make-up advice, dating rules and analyse the implications of having a large nose or small ears. Jackie's son, David, and his friend, Keith, enjoy one of the magazine's in-depth quizzes. Agony aunts Cathy and Claire are used to great effect, using song to answer that eternal question 'Does He Love Me?' There are also more subtle Jackie motifs throughout, in the speech bubbles held up by dancers and in the broken heart our protagonist tucks into her pocket.

These nostalgic references to Jackie magazine are perfectly married to the contemporary storyline by Arlene Phillips' choreography. Slick and sexy, the dances are full of Philips' trademark quick, flicking legs, pert posture and gorgeous gestures. The ensemble dash on and off stage with breath-taking speed; they perform remarkably quick scene changes and switch from 1970s pin-ups to modern day bar-goers completely seamlessly.

Janet Dibley gives a warm and relatable performance as the older Jackie. Her dry delivery is absolutely perfect and really emphasises the throwaway, sarcastic lines that make her character so charming and believable. Whilst her vocal performance is not the strongest in the cast, the audience root for Dibley from the outset, ready to laugh, love and cry with her.

Other excellent performances come from Daisy Steere as young Jackie, all wide-eyed innocence and an angelic voice, Lori Haley Fox as eccentric Jill (truly best friend of the century) and Michael Hamway as David and his amazing performance of 20th Century Boy.

The true magic of Jackie the Musical lies in the way it captures the spirit of a generation and allows the audience to re-live their youth. Rarely have I seen an audience so engaged with a musical; they laugh, reminisce, sing along and dance in aisles throughout the entire show. In the hands of this cast, the power of the 1970s - the glitz, the glamour, the big hair, the flares - is alive in 2016. I leave with The Osmonds' Crazy Horses in my head, strongly wishing that I had grown up in a time where teenage girls connected over Jackie magazine.

Photo: Pamela Raith