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Foot-tappin' tale of Teenagers in Love
Dreamboats and Petticoats Malvern Festival Theatre **** HAVING recently
reviewed three of the more traditional plays at the Malvern Festival
Theatre, it was a welcome pleasure to witness this marvellous upbeat,
vibrant and altogether spectacular performance,
Dreamboats and Petticoats.
A musical inspired purely from the bestselling
album of the ultimate rock and roll party numbers. Written in 2008 by
Laurence Marks and Mark Grain, these two experienced writers were
clearly motivated by the freshness and innocence of the music and the
era. The story is traditional - boy meets girl,
boy falls for girl, is jilted by girl, is inevitably heartbroken, but do
not despair - it's not for too long as soon he falls for another girl
and so the story goes on…with a few added twists. It's adorable if not a little predictable but the
story line is not what we are going for. This is a marvellous
excuse for a good old fashioned visit down memory lane, where teenagers
really did meet at local youth clubs, play table tennis, write songs,
fall in love and bop (in that order so it seems!). The scenes are well crafted gently taking us back
to the early 60s with a touch of nostalgia cleverly delivered by
courtesy of music director Keith Strachan.
It would be hard pushed to single out one shining
star from this hugely talented ensemble. Literally every member of the
cast seems to have strong vocals, good acting skills and great dancing
abilities and one would hope this could be a launch pad for some great
careers ahead. However, I would like to mention David Ribi whose
beautiful voice and fantastic enthusiasm were captivating as the lead
boy Bobby. Also a mention for the two saxophonist girls; Emily
O'Keeffe and Francesca Loren, both displaying multi-talented singing,
dancing, acting and playing skills – and often all at the same time. Set, costume and lighting were all things bright
and beautiful, from fair ground to pier to dance hall and it was fun to
see the live band on stage getting involved with the cast. A
neatly polished performance all round and credit is due to the director
Bob Tomson. The people of Malvern absolutely loved it!
Starting off with a quiet humming to Only The Lonely, moving on to a
gentle clapping to Only sixteen and by the time the band were leading up
to a roaring finish with Lets Twist Again and At the Hop, the
entire audience were up and out of their seats, dancing in full swing. The show finished with a flourish that sent us
all out of the theatre rocking - so do get a ticket if you can, it will
be a sell out for a certain generation I am sure. To 10-12-11 Johanna Brand
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