That’ll Be The Day Christmas at the Assembly Hall Theatre Review
That’ll Be The Day Christmas
Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells
17 November 2016
Reviewed by Louise Watts
Combine top hits at Christmas from the 1950’s – 1980’s, add a bit of era appropriate comedy, mix with a little panto and bind together with a sprinkling of cheese and what do you have? An absolutely fantastic, highly entertaining, Christmassy night out!
My friend and I went to see That’ll Be The Day Christmas show last evening. On arrival, the first thing we noted was that approximately 90% of the audience were aged over 60 years, did this bother us? No, not at all because these older people sure know how to have a good time!!
The show is a spin off from the very successful That’ll Be The Day show featuring songs from the 50’s and onwards. This evening was their Christmas special featuring songs from the same eras from artists such as Boney M, The Blues Brothers, The Beatles and Queen to name but a few. As well as this there are popular Christmas songs which we all know and love (regardless of our ages!) and songs that were top of the charts at Christmas.
I was surprised by the length of the show. The first act was 1 hour 30 mins and the second act was 1 hour. So, including the interval the whole show was 3 hours long. Was this too long I hear you asking? Absolutely not, we thoroughly enjoyed every minute.
The vocals were incredible and perfectly polished. The musicians were multi-talented and highly skilled. They seemed to have many strings to their bow (so to speak) and many of them sang and played or played more than one instrument. It was sometimes difficult to follow who was who as they swapped between playing and singing. This is by no means a criticism though and shows how adaptable and versatile all the musicians were.
I had 2 favourite parts to the evening. Firstly, was the panto of A Christmas Carol with Alf Garnett playing Ebeneezer Scrooge. I don’t want to give too much away other than to say it had me (and the rest of the fully packed out audience) in absolute stitches. Secondly, was their tribute to David Bowie. The singer did not have a spot light on him and the video screen behind him played footage of Bowie as he sang. The singers voice was incredible and it really was a fitting, respectful tribute to David Bowie.
The costumes were fantastic. They really looked like the artists they were playing. I was stunned by how many changes there were and how they all kept up but it worked! Somehow, the producers have managed to combine comedy, singing, panto and a little bit of cheesiness all in the right mix and have produced a theatrical dream suitable for all ages. The audience couldn’t help but sing along and everyone was on their feet at the end for the Christmas song medley.
As if that wasn’t good enough they are set to release a charity single in the Spring to raise funds for “Make a Wish.” They played the single live for us on stage and you could feel the fact that everyone was moved by it. I hope the single does very well and raises a substantial amount of money for that well deserving charity.
I feel that I could write all day about the show as it was so jam packed with wonderful things, but I would like to keep some bits a secret so as not to ruin it for you if you go to see it. It was lovely to see the Assembly Hall Theatre packed out and buzzing from the volume of people there having a wonderful time. It is such a beautiful, happy place with pleasant staff and a wonderful atmosphere that you couldn’t have picked a better venue in my opinion.
Rating: 5/5 
That’ll Be The Day Christmas is currently on tour, for more information and tour dates visit www.thatllbetheday.com.
For other shows at the Assembly Hall Theatre in Tunbridge Wells visit www.assemblyhalltheatre.co.uk.
Assembly Hall Theatre, Crescent Rd, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 2LU | 01892 530613
