The Commitments At Blackpool Opera House Review

Reviewed by Cath Joyce

Following a record breaking run in London and a successful tour The Commitments is back on the road and last night we went to see it at the world famous Blackpool Opera House.

Based on the 1987 book written by Roddy Doyle, The Commitments was initially made into a film and is now an incredibly successful musical. Set in Dublin in the mid 1980’s it tells the story of Jimmy Rabbitte (played by James Killeen), who dreams of starting the finest soul band Dublin has ever seen. After placing an advert for band members he auditions a number of unsuitable people, before finally settling on a group of working class lads to become members of his new band who he calls “The Commitments.” Set to a soundtrack of 60’s soul classics including Mustang Sally, River Deep, Mountain High and I Heard it Through the Grapevine it is a real feel good musical.

The line up of the band is completed with the addition of Joey “The Lips”, an experienced but ageing trumpeter and three local girls as the backing singers. The lead singer of the band is Deco (played fantastically by James Deegan) who is a great singer but is always late, scruffy and doesn’t take the band quite as seriously as he could.

After their first gig at the local bingo hall and with a few other performances, Jimmy thinks he has a chance of making it big and securing a recording contract. Cracks are starting to show however and jealousies over the girls and Deco’s increasingly difficult behaviour soon tears the group apart.
The musical is directed by Andrew Linnie and stars Coronation Street legend Nigel Pivaro as Jimmy’s Da but for us the real stars of the show were the musicians and singers. They’re incredibly talented, not only can they act but they are also talented musicians with strong voices which filled the theatre. The three girls, Imelda (Ciara Mackey), Bernie (Sarah Gardiner) and Natalie (Eve Kitchingman) had fantastic voices and I loved the 80’s themed costumes. There is plenty of comedy in the show, both with the dialogue and acting and we especially enjoyed watching the auditions for the band which had the audience in stitches.

The set, designed by Tim Blazdell was excellent, filling the whole stage and was easily transformed from the house scenes to both street,bar and stage scenes by very simple changes to the the scenery.
If you’re looking for a great night out, with fantastic performances from talented musicians then this is the show for you. Perhaps the story is a little weak, but this is more than made up for with the music. Countless soul and blues hits feature in the set, including much of the music from the film and the whole audience were on their feet and joining in for a 15 minute encore with even more high energy hits. It was a fantastic show and we really enjoyed our night out.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Tickets cost from £20.20

The Commitments is at Blackpool Opera House until Saturday May 6th
For more information or to book tickets visit https://store.wintergardensblackpool.co.uk/webshop/webticket/eventlist?production=66 or call the box office on 0844 770 0593