The Band

Set in Manchester in 1992, The Band, follows five teenage girls who bond over their number one love – The Band. The girls, who were once inseparable reunite after 25 years to see their heartthrobs one last time and try once more to fulfil their dream of actually meeting the band whose music became the soundtrack to their lives.

Using the music of Take That the show follows the 5 girls through their early lives and the heartbreak following the tragic death of one of them. 25 years later we meet them again on route to a reunion concert as we find out all that life has brought each of them in the intervening years with a few surprises along the way.

As the 5 young girls (Betsy, Mya, Sadie, Mollie & Freya) worked well together and created a very believable group of friends. With good stage presence and lovely voices, the girls each brought their own personality to the characters as the faced the challenges of teenage life.

As the older version (Heather, Kelly, Ellen & Angela) picked up the story and delivered strong assured performances. Like their younger versions the ladies worked well together once again recreating the friendships as if no time had passed. All had clearly worked hard to capture the individuality of the characters with some lovely poignant moments as well as a few laugh out loud ones too.

As the band (Theo, Robbie, Arthor, Angus & Archie) had it all – the looks, the moves and the voices. They had obviously worked hard to deliver with ease the well know hits from Take That looking at home on stage giving in performances they can be proud of.

The backing dancers of Lana, Emmie, Kira, Jessica & Emma were energetic with well choregraphed moves that enhanced each scene they were part of.

Many of the comedy moments in the show were provided by Hazel in the multiple versions of Dave – I counted 6 with Andrew as Jeff giving an engaging performance as Jeff.

Sadly, this is a show with limited ensemble involvement, but when they did appear as the screaming crowd of adoring fans, as tourists in Prague or in the mega mix finale they gave it their all and were clearly having fun.

Congratulations to Dalgety Players for delivering a most enjoyable production and well done on reaching 50 years.

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