It was my
first time, I admit it. And I was unprepared for the power of a story which left
us all in danger of leaving the theatre as emotional wrecks.
And not
just me. By the end of the final number, a thundering reprise of Tell Me It's
Not True, Maureen Nolan needed three curtain calls before the tears were finally
wiped from her eyes.
If you've
ever been touched by tales of Peter Pan, Two Little Boys or even Puff The Magic
Dragon, you'll know how important it is to enjoy your childhood and resist
growing up for as long as you can.
In this
musical, separated-at-birth twins Mickey (Sean Jones) and Eddie (Mark
Hutchinson) somehow keep bumping into each other without knowing their true
identities – and become firm friends from school through to adulthood and all of
the challenges that brings.
Embracing
the Prince and The Pauper theme, one of these lads ends up having it all, while
the other has nothing and manages to lose even that.
Maureen (as
their mother, Mrs Johnstone), and the narrator Warwick Evans, kept the tempo and
the story ticking along at pace, so that even though we didn't leave the theatre
until after 10.30pm, the show never felt like a long haul. Warwick's ability as
a performance poet, passing vital elements of the narrative as the spoken word
blended neatly with his musical skill, helping every life event for the cast
move seamlessly from one to the next.
The love
interest for Mickey – and then Eddie – came in the perfect shape of Olivia
Sloyan as Linda. She had each milestone off to a tee, and we particularly
enjoyed her part in the schoolday pastiches, the moments when she tries to woo
Mickey, and her powerful performances later on, dealing with ex-con Mickey, by
then her husband, who's struggling to live a family life while up to his
eyeballs in anti-depressants.
So there,
in a nutshell, is the plot. Of course no man could fail to notice Linda, and
when Eddie is drawn to her as he tries to help get her and Mickey's lives back
on track, tragedy strikes.
This is a
full-scale modern musical celebrating its 28th anniversary, which
still stands aside from many of the traditional theatre-fillers. Catchy reprises
of Marilyn Monroe, Shoes Upon the Table and Tell Me It's Not True ensure the
inevitable standing ovation.
