Boogie Nights

The chairman of STCo wrote in his programme notes that this production of “Boogie Nights” promised to take the audience back to the disco days of the 1970’s, and this company of talented performers certainly did not disappoint their audience as they performed hit after hit of disco classics.

STCo is never afraid of tackling something different and following on from their success with Sunshine on Leith, Boogie Nights was an excellent choice for this company. Under confident direction Brian Leach brought this juke box musical to life with the collaboration of some strong acting performances, powerful singing and a wonderful set which enhanced this slick, fast paced energetic show. Choreography for the first time was in the capable hands of Megan Crooks and what a fantastic job she did, this is a heavy dance production with over thirty musical numbers but Megan rose to the challenge and put to use her years of dancing skills and delivered some well-rehearsed dance sequences and routines which both challenged the cast, brought the songs to life and pleased the audience, well done Megan on a great job.

Having the four piece band on stage worked really well and they become an integral part of the action, well done to Johnny Winter as musical director who kept the rhythm flowing nicely and ensured that the band never overshadowed the vocal performances, this was also supported by Stage and Theatre Sound who ensured that technically the sound was at the right level and crystal clear throughout the performance, the lighting plot was provided by POSS Productions and created the different atmospheres a signature quality of the director Brian Leach. Well done also to Angela Crooks for wardrobe the costumes were fantastic and certainly added colour and authenticity to the individual characters. The show is set mostly in a disco club called Boogie Nights and follows the antics of Roddy O’Neill played by Mathew Clarke an out of work dreamer who’s ambition is to become a rock and roll singer, his father, his friends and their lives, loves and experiences growing up in the disco decade.

Mathew gave us a sterling performance and carried the story line throughout the show his egotistic personality and his acting style suited this cool character, Mathew has good stage presence and comic timing and he interacted well with the other principals and cast members. Vocally he managed his vast number of Musical numbers well I enjoyed “”Play that Funky Music” and “Sorry seems to be the Hardest Word” with Eamon and Debs. Playing his father Eamon, Derek Crooks had some of the more moving scenes arising from his fraught relationship with his son, to his obsession and death of his idol Elvis Presley. I loved this character and Derek played it to perfection especially in his string vest and Y fronts, musically I enjoyed both of his musical numbers. Ashlee Bentham played Roddy’s long suffering girlfriend Debs, Ashlee has great stage presence and it was evident that the chemistry between her and Mathew was central to the show, some of her scenes were extremely moving and emotional and she played these scenes with conviction. Vocally she delivered her musically numbers well I particularly enjoyed her two classic pop numbers Gloria Gaynor’s “I will Survive” and “the Carpenters “Yesterday Once More” which she carried off with considerable confidence.

Playing their best friends were Michael Brabbs as Terry and Cara Fowler as Trish, both of these actors are no strangers to the stage, they delivered great characterisation with some amazing comic timing. Cara has a beautiful voice I particularly enjoyed her number dressed as Princess Leia, “I lost me Heart to a Star Trooper”. Michael has a fantastic presence on stage and great vocals to accompany this personality, vocally very strong he puts a lot of emotion into his delivery, I loved his duet with Roddy” Bye Bye Baby” by the Bay City Rollers, loved the Chopper bike and his musical number in the cinema scene with the ensemble” Sugar Baby Love”

Daniel Dryden as Dean the DJ at the club brought the more serious and mature side to the groups friendship, I loved the wig and costume and enjoyed his contribution to the musical number “YMCA” which had the audience participating vocally including the movements and his duet with Deb’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart/ Yesterday Once More” which was well sang. The role of the night club owner and band leader, Spencer was played by Lee Jameson-Laffey he played this character with lots of swagger and arrogance and dominated the stage whenever his character was present; vocally Lee was strong and delivered his musical numbers with ease I enjoyed “You Sexy Thing”, “I Love You Just The Way You Are” and “Jammin”.

Sarah Ketchin played Spencer’s girlfriend and night club singer Lorraine,  again confident acting and stage presence with excellent vocals, I loved her musical number with the female cast “ Lady Marmalade” and her duets with Debs “ Enough is Enough” and closing the first act “Last Dance “ were well sang and showed off their vocals perfectly. In smaller cameo roles were Megan Crooks as Mandy, Gus the doorman played by Brian Leach, Baz the Bouncer played by Jason Waldock, Jorden Hildrew as the Cinema Manager, Sam Midwood as Milkey the barman and Margaret Sherrington as the barmaid.

No show is complete without the ensemble and these individual members were fundamental in the overall production of this show, their enthusiasm, singing and acting was infectious and as a member of the audience it was hard to take everything in - the colour, costumes and movement were well coordinated and brought the show to life, I loved the opening number “ Celebration” and “Blame it on the Boogie" Medley  other ensemble numbers which were well delivered were the TV Medley and the finale megamix well done to Alexandra Fisk, Chelsea Tune, Joe Patterson, Linda Fowler, Meggan Tansey, Owen Armstrong, Robyn Townshend and Samantha Howard.

The dance team were also very much at the forefront of the show and provided us with some terrific numbers of pace, performance, energy and choreographic quality; the dance team namely Becky Courtney, Laura Gales, Gabrielle Smith, Gemma Fowler, Milly Maddison, Helen Wilson, Phoebe Shore and featuring the chorographer Megan Crooks gave 100% from start to finish. The overall production was well received by the audience, an excellent evening’s entertainment from start to finish well done to everyone at Sunderland Theatre Company for another fantastic performance.

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