Joseph Peacock (left), Jamie Chatterton, Alex Lodge, Ryan Anderson and
Danny Natrass. Pictures: Pamela Raith
The Osmonds - A New Musical
The Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham
****
In the early seventies there were really
only two family Bands, The Jackson Five and The Osmonds. They both
dominated the pop scene for many years but whilst the Jacksons seemed
more focussed on the music, The Osmonds found a lot of their success in
TV light entertainment.
The musical written by Jay Osmond seems a long
time in coming and is a revealing and at times starkly honest account of
that time.
The group from Ogden, Utah were guided by their
military father and although the musical has a positive upbeat mood, it
doesn’t flinch from recounting their strict upbringing with them being
drilled like soldiers into family uniformity.
It was a household where individual personalities
were sacrificed to the overall success of the Osmonds name. “It doesn’t
matter who is out front as long as it’s an Osmond” seemed to be a phrase
that was repeated over and over.
Starting way back in the 1960s, the boys’ initial
rise to fame began as a quartet on the Andy Williams TV show. Their
instant appeal led to TV contacts with their regular appearances making
them household names. As they grew into young adults it would be clear
that their life in the spotlight would always be at the sacrifice of a
normal childhood.
Later the four Brothers, Alan, Wayne, Merrill and
Jay were joined by younger siblings Donny and Jimmy but it was the
addition of Marie that signalled the lucrative formulae of Donny and
Marie getting their own TV series, were tensions really started to rise.
By 1976, the band were no longer in the charts and the TV show saw them
head into massive financial investments in their own studio facilities
to capitalise on their TV success. However poor business management
skills would lead them to the brink of bankruptcy.
Georgia Lennon as Marie Osmand bringing a
new dynamic to the narrative
Jay Osmonds view is the core narrative element of
the musical and it neatly delivers the childhood traumas they faced, and
their consequences as adults. It’s a story that is uniquely told yet is
easily transferable to the stage even though it must have created some
painful issues for the family in accepting its critical view.
Aside from the drama though, there is pure
nostalgia that their music still creates. The Osmonds musical catalogue
is not exactly memorable, but the key singles were world class. Ballads
like Love me for a Reason and Let me In, had many of the
adoring Osmonds fans present in tears to hear them played and performed
live again so well.
The inclusion of Donny perfectly singing his teen
hit Puppy Love was nothing more than a delightful audience
performance singalong, with the boys milking every opportunity to get
them involved.
This is a large cast and a well-produced show
directed by Shaun Kerrison that includes a bunch of very talented
youngsters portraying the band as children. The adult cast Led by Alex
Lodge as Jay were all superb. With Ryan Anderson as Merrill, Jamie
Chatterton as Alan, Danny Nattrass as Wayne and Tristan Whinchup as the
teen idol Donny and, Georgia Lennon as Marie, all in fine voice.
Overall the quality of the vocal work and
harmonies was outstanding with the live unseen and offstage band doing
an excellent job of producing the authentic backing.
Bill Deamers’ choreography although original to
the era and energetic, seemed a little over the top and at times
interfered with the clarity of the live vocals.
This though is a show about nostalgia and its
appeal is definitely to those who grew up adoring this pop phenomenon.
Jay’s singular telling of the story is probably restricted in what he
can say, but there’s enough to suggest that being at the top was not as
endearing as it may have seemed. In the hands of an unbiased writer The
Osmonds could have generated a musical that had a greater wider appeal
than just that of its loyal surviving fan base.
However there are great songs, a lot of pure joy
and superb performances that top out the dark family revelations that
all go to make up this a well-balanced, retrospective view of this one
time family, global pop sensation.
To 29-10-22
Jeff
Grant
25-10-22
And they call
it puppy love . . .
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