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.
