Greatest Days At New Victoria Theatre, Woking Review

Reviewed by Kelly Victoria

Yesterday, I had the absolute pleasure of being invited to the opening night of Greatest Days at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking.

Before attending, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this jukebox musical. I’d heard that it had been on the West End, formerly named as The Band and hadn’t been too successful. I’m a big Take That fan and knew that the show wasn’t about the band itself, so was intrigued to watch.

The show uses all of Take That’s greatest hits and is based on the perspective of a group of childhood friends, whose love of The Band, unites them. All of the greatest hits are featured, from Never Forget, right back to some of the earliest pop hits, like Do What You Like.

The show takes you through the journey of friendship, of a group of girls, who are boy band obsessed, from their childhood teenage years, right through to adulthood.

The band itself, are never called Take That and neither did they imitate them, in looks. So, I was unsure if they were supposed to be Take That, as they were just referred to as “the band”. But either way, they were fantastic and gave you all of the energy and dance moves that you’d expect from a ninety’s boy band – just with much better vocals.

The show starts with Rachel, played by Kym Marsh hanging out the washing and reminiscing back to her teenage years, being 16 again and boy band obsessed.

You’re taken back to five girls all chatting at the school lockers, living as 16 year old girls, in the nineties. Each girl has different things going on with their young lives. Rachel has a turbulent home life, with parents who fight and argue: Heather (Kitty Harris) is the wild child, who loves the boys. Zoe (Hannah Brown) is the geek of the gang, who loves learning and is always sensible. Claire (Mari Mcginlay) is a keen diver and in training for the Olympics. Lastly, the bubbly and vibrant Debbie (Mary Moore), who is best friends with Rachel and loves to dance, have fun, be positive and brings the friendship together.

The one thing that unites the gang of girls, is their obsession and love for The Band. So, they go behind their parents back and organise themselves concert tickets. The girls sneak off and have literally, “the greatest night of their lives”, whilst they are there. If you have ever attended a concert yourself, as a boy band fan, you will be taken right back. The girls screaming and going wild made me laugh and perfectly depicted, the feelings you have as a teenage girl in the audience at a concert.

The girls miss the last train home and find themselves on The Rock promising each other that in 25 years, wherever life takes them, they’ll all be back together with their concert wristbands and reunited.

However, the night takes a tragic and unexpected turn, as Debbie doesn’t make it home. She’s fatally killed by a car and passes away.

This obviously destroys the girl’s young lives and things are never the same for them. The friendship is unable to cope with the devastation, that they all felt at losing their best friend.

You’re then transported to 25 years’ time, where you’re taken to each of the girls as adults (played by older cast members). You’re reintroduced to the characters and learn how their lives, have developed during the course of the 25 years. The older cast reminded me somewhat of Donna and The Dynamos from Mama Mia, if that makes sense. They’re funny, witty and warm. As is often the case, their lives didn’t quite turn out, as their younger selves had planned.

Then one day, Rachel’s at home, listening to the radio and learns that she’s won tickets, to Athens, to visit The Band on their tour. But going with her partner and adult friends, just wouldn’t be the same. Having lost their friendship in such a devastating way, the only way that she wants to go on this trip, is with her childhood friends. So, on a whim, she sends them an email and invites them to join her on the trip.

The girls are all reunited at the airport and make it to Athens. However, whilst they’re teens no more, the girls get a bit carried away having fun and find themselves detained in a Greek jail. They make it out, but have missed The Band.

This brings the girls together and forces them to face the tragedy that happened all those years ago and how their lives haven’t panned out, as expected. They’re reminded that their friendship is beautiful, special and that Debbie would have never wanted their bond to be broken.

Rachel has never wanted to get married to her partner, due to not being able to have Debbie by her side as her bridesmaid. However, at the airport her boyfriend proposes and she gets married, with her three special friends by her side as bridesmaids. The friends are reunited for good.

Let me tell you, this storyline takes you on an emotional rollercoaster and explores the beauty and challenges of friendship, in the best possible way. I laughed, cried and was taken back, to all of the feels, that being a 16 year old gives you. It reminds you, never to take friendships for granted and how powerful and important they are. This show is the perfect mix of being heart-warming, reminiscent, fun and absolutely hilarious, all at the same time.

You’re probably asking where The Band features in all of this, well that’s exactly what they are. They come on and go off, dancing and singing, just as a band, throughout the show. They don’t really act, or form part of the storyline, they just come on performed a number in the style of a boy band, waited on stage and then go again. The Band, are also often used, as the voice within the girls’ heads. Whilst this is a little bizarre, it absolutely worked.

Special kudos has to be given to the cast who play the younger friends. For me, they just perfectly reflected, that feeling of being 16, carefree and optimistic, but with all of the challenges that turning into a young adult, throws at you. I was immediately taken back to that place, in my own life. Their energy was enthusiastic and I really did believe, that they were 16. Alongside this, they also dealt with the tragedy that the friendship endures beautifully and sympathetically.

This isn’t an all dancing and singing show, with jazz hands, but it is incredibly special, in its own way. The set and costumes are simple, but that doesn’t matter, it’s depicting real life. Each girl is represented by a different colour. This cleverly works, to allow you to understand which character they are, once the cast changes from younger to older.

Clapping and some singing is encouraged in parts of the show, when The Band perform some of their numbers. But it fits with the show and so was perfectly acceptable.

The only small critique I had, was that there was a lot of set moving on stage during a number of scenes, which was noisy and a little distracting sometimes.

The house was packed to the rafters and I can see why. Not only were there probably, lots of Take That fans in the audience, but likely some huge fans of the show.

The New Victoria Theatre in Woking, is home to the show from 5th to 10th June.

I’d absolutely recommend, you get tickets, it’s certainly a show that you’ll “never forget”.

For more information or to book tickets please visit Greatest Days Tickets | New Victoria Theatre, Woking in Woking | ATG Tickets.

Rating: 4/5