Monday, June 30

Happy Days, Theatre Royal

Cast your mind back almost 60 years to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1959.

Richie Cunningham and his friends are about to graduate from High School – and there’s the little matter of getting his love life on a firm footing too!

Solid performances from the boys’ new harmony group The Dial-Tones, along with duets from Marion and Joanie (Cheryl Baker and Emma Harrold) were among the first act highlights, as we learn in a straightforward plotline that Arnold’s Diner is under threat from developers. 

A fundraiser with the Fonz (Emmerdale’s Ben Freeman) as the star turn would bring in some money for a fighting fund. Alas, as the curtain falls on Act I, Fonzie has ridden off into the night to escape his responsibilities – which include former squeeze Pinky Tuscado, played by former Sugababe Heidi Range.

Great care had been taken with some superb scenery, clever scene changes and neat changes of pace - such as the Leopard Lodge scene, where Howard’s (James Paterson’s) comic secret society does its work – move the story along.

Deft little touches like Howard Cunningham’s cardigan and Big Al’s white hat for the diner brings the characters from the TV show to life in this brand new musical, enjoying only its second week for its stint in Nottingham.

But there was a nagging feeling at the interval that something was required to lift the show. The orchestra was a little too panto-esque to be big band, and with a little too much grimacing from Fonzie, no single character having the presence required to take over the stage - and the lack of a show-stopping number - we were ready for the party to start in Act II.

And yes, the musical numbers after the interval were bigger and more accomplished, the show had finally made its mind up to take things less seriously and the actors were hamming things up as they should. We saw Cheryl’s fine pair of pins, shared some ‘in’-jokes and enjoyed the creative theatre that brought the fundraiser to its inevitable conclusion.

There are over 20 new songs to enjoy – and therein may be exactly what’s holding the audience back; I’m not sure there’s a chart-topper in this musical.

But if you can free your mind of the 70s television show – and what the “real” Fonz looks and sounds like – and throw yourself into the 50s, you could get along and be able to say you were in at the start of something new.

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Nottingham is full of fun, according to the traditional football chant. It's full of a few other things, too, so while I welcome comments, don't bother adding anything that won't get published...