Saturday Night Fever at the Blackpool Opera House Review

Reviewed by Catherine Joyce

Saturday Night Fever was released as a film in 1977 and made John Travolta a household name. The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack featuring disco songs by the Bee Gees is one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time and we were really looking forward to seeing the stage show at Blackpool Opera House.

The show has been brought to stage by Bill Kenwright and the current UK tour is running until the 1st December. With Casualty star Richard Windsor in the lead role it tells the story of Tony Manero, a working class man from Brooklyn who works in a hardware store all week but dreams only of hanging out with his friends at the local disco, 2001 Odyssey. With a dance competition coming up and a chance of winning $1000 he must find a dance partner. After rejecting neighbourhood girl Annette he settles on new girl Stephanie Mangano who agrees to be his partner as long as their relationship stays platonic.

Whilst music played an important part of the 1977 film this production is much more of a musical, featuring a live band on the stage together with a Bee Gees tribute taking over the vocal duties. Members of the cast do take the lead in a few numbers during the night but mostly leave the singing to the talented trio. Many of the Bee Gees greatest hits were included such as Stayin’ Alive, How Deep Is Your Love, Night Fever, Tragedy and More Than a Woman amongst others.

The set is very impressive with an overhead gantry for the band and singers, moving steel platforms and a variety of backdrops for the different scenes in the story. A projected image of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge also helped set the scene. Above the audience, disco balls were used to transform the theatre into a swinging New York disco for the big dance numbers and the atmosphere in the theatre was amazing, especially in the second half, with some of the audience joining in with the dancing!

The cast were all dressed with authentic 70’s styles and of course for the finale to the dance competition the famous white three piece suit was taken out of the wardrobe and put on, much to the delight of many in the audience.

Whilst the singing and brilliantly choreographed set dance numbers were fantastic, the show still lacked when it came to the storyline. Both the film and the musical cover some quite gritty subjects including pregnancy, domestic violence, rape and suicide; this production just didn’t quite work. Yes, they were in there but they were just not convincing enough. We enjoyed our night out, especially the big dance numbers where the whole cast took to the stage, but left the theatre feeling that it could have been better.

Many children were in the audience but please note this show contains adult themes and bad language. In our opinion it would only be suitable for older children.

If you are a disco fan then this show is well worth seeing, it is showing in Blackpool until the end of the week and then continues on its tour of the UK until December.

Rating: 4/5

Tickets cost from £20.50 (booking fees may apply).

Saturday Night Fever is at the Blackpool Opera from 30 October to 3 November 2018, for more information or to book tickets visit www.wintergardensblackpool.co.uk or call the box office on 0844 856 1111.

Winter Gardens & Opera House Theatre, 97 Church Street, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY1 1HL