The Band Review
Take That’s The Band Review
It was opening night and I was invited down by the wonderful Orchard Theatre to check out what all the fuss was about with the new, highly rated musical which is touring the UK. Yes, I’m talking about Take That’s much anticipated musical, The Band!
Now obviously I knew that Take That’s BBC show, ‘Let it Shine’ was responsible for bringing the boys together, who became ‘Five to Five’ and were going to be the stars of the show, representing Take That & singing their fabulous hits, but what I really expected was the story to be about Take That’s musical journey, but no, surprisingly, I couldn’t have been more wrong ... It’s about who I was many years ago, who my friends were, a group of teenage girls, their true friendship and the following of their love of being a boy band fan! ... It’s always great to go and see a show with no expectations, but what a surprise this turned out to be!
It was 2 ½ hours of a continuous rollercoaster, one minute I was laughing, then next I was finding it hard to fight back the tears. The story was about a group of friends who relied on each other, it was about families, it was about the sense of belonging and how music can take you away and change everything for the better. It was really emotional, you can’t help but totally fall in love the the characters, it was very well written and brilliantly portrayed.
Five to Five didn’t have any speaking parts, but they sang Take That’s songs brilliantly throughout the show, they were obviously a massive part of the story, and without giving too much away, it is really clever how they are a part of the storyline and continuously on stage without any words. They acted their characters through song and you could even tell which of Take That they were playing.
I don’t know one person that doesn’t love a bit of Take That and too right too! For this very reason I would lay money on every person loving this show, with songs like “A Million Love Songs”, “Back for Good”, “Relight My Fire”, “Greatest Day”, “Pray”, “Shine” How can you not love this show? My favourite part had to be when “Never Forget” was performed, I looked around the room and everyone was joining in, the music gave me goosebumps and you couldn’t help but fall in love with Take That all over again. … Five to Five, were fabulous!
Now I go to the theatre a lot and I have been to The orchard many times, we were sitting up on the balcony and I don’t know if that made a difference to the acoustics, but I have never heard the audience in The Orchard Theatre like it before, the cheering, the clapping and the laughter was phenomenal, it was so loud and the enjoyment was so plain to not only see, but to feel too.
I caught up with the very lovely AJ and Curtis from Five to Five, after the show and they even said how amazing the audience were and how much they enjoyed the performance, which clearly pleased AJ in particular, as he mentioned he came from Down South, so was really happy and grateful that Kent was so on board with the show … I later found out he is in fact originally from Kent!
I can’t see any man or woman going to see this show and not leave feeling all nostalgic with the memories that come flooding back. I really cannot see any man or woman going to see this show and not be totally blown away by it. The wonderful music, the fabulous actors, the brilliant storyline, the artistic set and the amazing Five to Five, you’ll definitely be dancing and if dancing is not your thing, then you’ll be definitely toe tapping … excitedly!
The Band is on right now at The Orchard Theatre until Saturday 9th February, tonight was a full house, so if you are even slightly considering going to see this show, you had better act fast. If there are even tickets still available, once word gets out how good this is you’ll have no chance!
To find out more, or to book tickets, please see The Orchard Theatre’s box office here and if you manage to get yourself a ticket ... Enjoy!!
Written by: Tim Firth & produced by Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Robbie Williams, Howard Donald & also David Pugh & Daffyd Rogers.
Directed by: Kim Gavin and Jack Ryder.
Starring: Five to Five, (AJ Bentley, Curtis T Johns, Nick Carsberg, Yazdan Oafouri, & Sario Soloman - Tonight Harry Fabulous Brown played as understudy) Rachel Lumberg, Alison Fitzjohn, Emily Joyce, Jayne McKenna, Faye Christall, Katy Clayton, Rachelle Diedericks, Sarah Kate Howarth, Lauren Jacobs, Andy Williams & Martin Miller.
