Now That's What I Call A Musical (touring) ★ ★ ★

Back in 1983, Virgin Records created a revolution in the music industry. Although compilation albums existed before, they often were limited to a small handful of hits and the rest was filler. What Richard Branson’s company did was take some of the biggest records in the charts, 30 hit singles in the first release, and put them into one collection called Now That’s What I Call Music! The first double vinyl / double cassette released in November sold one million copies by Christmas.

Fast forward over 40 years, and there’s something genius in marketing a show called Now That’s What I Call A Musical as it instantly conjures up a tempting evening of Eighties musical nostalgia. And to that end, the show delivers – gathering together some of the most popular 80s songs (not currently in other musicals) and creating a jukebox musical that however is less revolutionary than the album series it is named after.

The show centres on two best friends growing up in Birmingham in 1989. The younger Gemma and April (Nikita Johal and Maia Hawkins) are excited about what life has ahead of them. They have big dreams: Gemma wants a big family, April wants to be a Hollywood filmstar. At the same time, the production switches to a school reunion in 2009 where not only the girls have lost touch with each other, but their big hopes have failed to materialise. A feeling that ticket holders for this show may soon find themselves identifying with…

As the older Gemma, Nina Wadia has to carry a lot of the show. A wonderfully versatile actor, she can turn her hand to anything. She is warm and funny, can do a hilariously convincing drunk turn, she can deliver poignancy and pathos but she has to do a lot of heavy lifting to turn the script’s sows ear into a dramatic silk purse. Sam Bailey, as older April, is mostly absent until after the interval. Similarly, she has decent acting chops to match those soaring vocals for which she is known. Both Wadia and Bailey create an onstage chemistry where it is believable that they are indeed friends reunited.

The trouble is despite the cast’s best efforts, Pippa Evans‘ script for Now That’s What I Call A Musical is far from a hit. To call it patchy would be like saying dalmations are relatively spotty. Songs aren’t so much shoehorned in but are metaphorically hammered in to any gaps with a mallet. As Gemma’s parents talk of their enduring love, Soft Cell’s Tainted Love is lobbed in making no sense lyrically. At the start, as the cast gathers in a pub for a school reunion, the ensemble sings Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Relax with baffling inconguity. DJ Mike Read would have conniptions!

The dialogue in places asks too much of the clearly talented cast. Who could make “let’s put the bedspread on” seem natural? No-one expects deep psychological insights from these kind of shows, but at least a show like Mamma Mia! has its tongue firmly in its cheek and gives a knowing wink to its adoring audience throughout.

Now That’s What I Call A Musical frequently gives the impression it has no idea what it’s doing. Swapping between the two time periods necessitates constant set shifts. Sadly Tom Rogers and Toots Butcher‘s sets look ugly regardless of the decade. And impractical. There’s one point where a scene is over so quickly, Gemma’s Mum hadn’t finished unpacking the kitchen set. Ironically, the script has everything but the kitchen sink: a male stripper, making a joke around the subject of suicide, a cartoonish bit of domestic violence and are we actually being asked to laugh at someone’s weight in 2025? To paraphase the Bon Jovi hit, you give jukebox musicals a bad name.

What works well in the show are the songs. How could they not when the show serves up hit after hit? St Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion), Toni Basil‘s exuberant Hey Mickey! and a beautiful slowed-tempo, stripped back take on Tears for Fears’ Everybody Wants To Rule The World are welcome additions to the show’s more obvious big hitters.

Occasionally there are moments when the show departs from the predictable and is immeasurably better for it. An unexpected full dance routine reimagining The Buggles’ Video Called The Radio Star, complete with space-style catsuits and TV sets on heads, is bonkers but also shows some of that classic Craig Revel-Horwood choreographic flair and unalloyed camp!

Similarly, in another foray into the surreal, NTWICAM has a bona-fide 80s popstar as part of each show, making a cameo appearance in the guise of a Grease-like Teen Angel to visit the despondent Gemma. At the Grand Opera House, we hit paydirt with the special guest. Wafted in by backing dancers carrying de rigeur palm leaves, the York stage was graced by the ageless Sinitta! Doling out camp advice, the X Factor icon understood the assignment and delivered comedy gold! Not sure if anyone was expecting her rendition of So Macho to be a highlight of the evening, and yet there she was serving giddy nostalgia by the bucketload!

These unexpected joyous moments of froth and imagination give a glimpse of what this jukebox musical could have been. Shorn of the leaden script, if they had been bolder in their creative choices throughout, Now That’s What I Call A Musical might have been a chart topper of a show. As it stands, despite a talented ensemble and some terrific work from the leads, now that’s what we call a disappointment.