Tonight's the Night - Review by Guy Conroy-Smith | British Youth Music Theatre

Tonight's the Night - Review by Guy Conroy-Smith

** (2 Stars)

Theatre Royal, Brighton - Monday 10 March, 2014

Tonight’s the Night proves to be largely disappointing mainly due to Ben Elton’s disappointing script; it's certainly not his best.

Caroline Jay Ranger, Director, introduces the protagonist, Stewart, as a ‘shy and sensitive guy’ yet I found it hard to believe Stewart was sensitive at all as the only evidence for this was that other characters claimed he was. It would have been nice to see Ranger show the audience why characters were the way they were rather than sticking to the script. The music gives a pleasant distraction to this issue; commendations go to Ben Heathcote’s performance as Stewart giving it everything he had, and the talented band, musically directed by Griff Johnson, which played brilliantly throughout the night.

A quaint Stewart struggles to find confidence to ask his crush, Mary (Jenna Lee-James), out and so he sells his soul to the devil in return for Rod Stewart’s. Interesting characters such as Stoner, Michael Mckell, portrayed Ronnie Wood’s intoxicated mind with a cockney accent, which seemed a little forced throughout, yet a few comedic moments set the audience off giggling whenever he stepped on stage. The storyline continued to form many plot faults leaving myself and many other audience members baffled after the first act.

Although the second act improves the show and lifts everyone’s spirits, although the song “Stay With You” became tiring as it was repeated over three times by the finale.

On the other hand it is obvious the cast love this show and the songs, which invites the audience to celebrate Rod’s best hits. Even though the characters regard Rod to be in the same league, if not better, than the messiah himself, “He’s a God.” The entire cast sing wonderfully, although some members may need to revise their more intense scenes such as Rocky (Andy Rees) and Baby Jane (Tiffany Graves). Their acting is a little too rich to understand what they are portraying.

As the cast finish the show with one of Rod’s most well-known hits “Sailing”, the audience swayed together wearing the paper sailing hats that were given out. Then it became clear that the show allows Rod Stewart fans to indulge in his best hits with good vocals and a talented band, taking that into account, perhaps the show was just not for me.

Tonight's the Night is currently on a UK Tour. Check out information here: https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/tonights-the-night/

Tonight's the Night