Musical Theatre Review
Review - The Band, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin By Lisa Reynolds On 9th November, I went along to see The Band at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre with my sister, Sharon. The musical includes many of Take That’s hits, and is written by Tim Firth (Kinky Boots, Calendar Girls) and directed by Kim Gavin (Mobo Awards, Children in Need Rocks the Albert Hall) and former EastEnders actor, Jack Ryder (Act of Memory, Calendar Girls). It is produced by Dafydd Rogers and David Pugh, and co-produced by Take That members, Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Mark Owen, and Robbie Williams. Before the performance, there are graphics of Ceefax, showing an overview of some news stories from 1993, and the top 40 chart from that year, when Take That’s ‘Pray’ was number one, which was a nice touch, drawing the audience into the time-period surrounding the early part of the musical, and opens with Rachel ready to watch the band on Top of the Pops. The story follows a group of five teenage girls who are obsessed with a boy-band. In the early part of 2017, the five lads who played the boy-band were chosen on BBC’s Let It Shine, where Gary Barlow was one of the judges on the panel. The winning band was Five To Five. The parts of the teenage girls, and their adult counterparts, were cast off-camera. The show centres around the changes they go through in their lives over a time period, and how music is often a soundtrack to our lives, and our memories, both good and bad. Early on, one of the girls, Debbie, played by Rachelle Diedericks, in her first professional production, wins a competition for herself and her four friends; Rachel played by Faye Christall, Heather played by Katy Clayton, Claire played by Sarah Kate Howarth, and Zoe played by Lauren Jacobs, to go and see the band in concert.
38 EILE Magazine
