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This review is from 'Dreamboats and Petticoats's previous run at the Playhouse Theatre
Over a million people have swung their hips to producer Bill Kenwright's 'Dreamboats and Petticoats', since it opened at the Savoy Theatre in 2009. Lots of those hips will have been a little stiffer than they once were: this jukebox musical, set in Essex in the early '60s, is unashamedly aimed at the older generation. 'Dreamboats and Petticoats's current home, the Playhouse Theatre, teems with beaming silver-haired swayers, reliving their teenage years.
Director Bob Tomson's production, designed with joyful panache by Sean Cavanagh, throbs with innocent and infectious energy. Set in a popular youth club, posters of '60s idols wash the walls with colour. Disco lights flash constantly and the clean-cut cast leaps about in rainbow-coloured costumes.
Over 40 hits from the '60s are covered here, so there's only space for a super-light love story, between wannabe singers Bobby (Alexis Gerred) and Laura (Megan Jones). But it's the music that matters. This could have resulted in some lazy script writing, but Laurence Marks and Marice Gran's book is smart, slick and ever so slightly salacious.
Also, 'Dreamboats and Petticoats' doesn't drown in sentiment. This nostalgic musical medley might have been sickly sweet but silly comic cameos (such as a bass singing boxer), as well as some seriously rocking numbers, add a little spice. It is the anarchic, not romantic, songs that work best and when Elvis lookalike Norman (Bradley Clarkson) blasts out 'Great Pretender' this sweet show turns a little sexy.
The singing talent runs deep. Crooner Bobby and his rival, rocker Norman, are the undoubted stars but nearly everyone gets a number – and most of them nail it. Jessica Dyas is particularly flamboyant as small town flirt Sue and it's a cheeky pleasure to watch her and Norman wail and wiggle their way through 'Shakin All Over'.
But 'Dreamboats' really floats when the audience joins in. It is touching and telling that the numbers about adolescent angst, such as 'Teenager in Love', really get the crowd crooning. That this show can create such a spontaneous reaction, from a sometimes stiff West End audience, is all the testimony it needs.