The Band: Take That | Stage Review
*****
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, Tues 9 Jan.
After a successful sell-out opening night, it’s safe to assume The Band, written by Tim Firth and featuring songs by Take That, will have a fruitful and exciting time in Cardiff. Breaking a musical is difficult, but if you take into account that everyone in this audience grew up with Take That, there’s already an innate connection; throw in some of the UK’s most catchy tunes and you’ve sure as nailed it.
Five To Five are the name of the band who play Take That in The Band, made up of the five winners of the Let it Shine talent show presented by Gary Barlow. However, the storyline isn’t based on Take That at all. It’s based on five 16-year-old friends in 1992 for whom ‘the band’ is everything. 25 years on, they attempt to rekindle their friendship through the music of their adolescence. The storyline is clever, as the songs slide into the script with their cheese-factor, yes, but all the while putting a smile on everyone’s face.
The cast of 11 are all spot on at what they do. ‘The band’ sing and dance exceptionally well throughout, their harmonies not faulting once and their pitching excellent. The actresses all conveyed their characters superbly; you would be able to guess which type of friend each one of them was, although some of the younger actresses weren’t very strong vocally. Now this could be down to a quiet microphone, opening-night nerves, but even if the girls didn’t sing much for a UK touring cast, they should be nailing it. All in all, the performances were very strong. Rachel Lumberg, who played the lead of the friendship group in their older incarnations, deserves a mention, for playing a musical theatre character but making her relatable and real to all.
Designer Jon Bausor did a very smart job with the stage design; they managed to create around 15 difference scenes by making use of very few designs and pieces One scene saw the plane seats being folded down with ease onto the plane wing in front of us. Elsewhere, Five to Five posed as sea gods on a fountain in Prague, coming to life when they sang.
If they expected as much audience participation as there was, I would be surprised. Maybe it was because it’s Cardiff and we do like to get stuck into whatever we’re doing, but they had everyone singing along, swaying their arms, with no encouragement necessary. There was laughter or tears all the way through, though it wasn’t until the end that you heard both laughter AND tears.
After the finale, the requisite bowing and a Take That medley, one of the cast members says “I think we can do it 3 times better” – and on runs Mark Owen with a microphone in hand singing. The screams from the audience thundered with surprise. They increased further when Howard Donald and Gary Barlow joined in onstage, but by that point, half the room was in so much shock, all they could do was sing along. The night ended with the full cast and three members of Take That singing a medley with the whole audience singing. A cheese-infused musical that does exactly what it’s supposed to do.
photos Matt Crockett words HANNAH SILVEY
The Band is at Wales Millenium Centre, Cardiff until Sat Jan 20. Tickets from £19.50. Info: 029 2063 6464 / www.wmc.org.uk