Dreamcoats and Petticoats Sheffield Review
Dreamcoats & Petticoats
Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield
14 – 18 January 2014
Reviewed by Jenny Seymour
Written by Maurice Gran and Laurence Marks, famous for creating TV sitcom Birds of a Feather, Dreamboats and Petticoats is set in 1961 and features music from the “golden era” of music – the 1950s and early 1960s rock and roll. It tells the story of Norman and Bobby, young musicians who compete with each other to win fame in a song writing competition, as well as the eyes of girls Sue and Laura. Will they find fame, romance and love?
However, the story is almost a sideline to the great music the show includes – classic tracks from Roy Orbison, The Shadows, Chuck Berry and many more.
When we arrived, me and my friend actually looked 20 years younger than the average member of the audience. However, this isn’t a show just for the over 50s. It was great fun.
I thought the sets were really good and all of the music is played live on stage by the cast. At one point there was a girl dancing, singing and playing the bass saxophone – very well done!
The music was by far the best part of the show – it was really good quality and there were some great performances by the principals – I particularly liked Ray (the brother and best friend), Norman (the Rock and Roll lead singer of the band) and Laura (the goody-two shoes turned heroine when she writes the winning song for the contest). There were times when the lead vocals were a bit drowned out by the rest of the cast and band live on stage, but this didn’t detract from the show.
Memorable bits for me were Ray singing Donna where have you gone… only to find she’d just gone to the toilet! And singing at the fairground with some real live dodgem cars! There are two acapella numbers as well, which were fabulous!
Some of the band members were unlikely principal actors, but they were clearly chosen for their musical ability – which was superb. I thought the casting was really well done and they were great considering for many this is their professional musical debut.
I thought the show was quite long (2½ hours with a 15 minute interval) – but the interval clearly got the audience going, as when they returned everyone was joining in and by the end it was impossible not to sing along. The last 15 minutes was a singalong to some classic 60s tracks and got everyone woken up and some even danced in the aisles!
Overall, great fun and a great night out with great singing.
Please note – the theatre only has an arrangement with the Q Park car park (you get 1 hour free parking) so bear this in mind when parking, as the car park next to the Crucible is quite expensive!
There was also a bit of a queue for the Q-Park when leaving as everyone parks there for the theatre.
I would have to rate it 5/5 just for getting everyone up to boogie at the end!
Rating: 5/5 
Tickets cost from £20 to £29 (plus transaction fee).
For more information or to book tickets click here.
