The Bodyguard The Musical At Sheffield Lyceum Theatre Review

DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW

Reviewed by Catherine Brown

Fans of ‘The Bodyguard’ will be excited to hear that the musical production of the romantic thriller, based on the 1993 film starring Whitney Houston and Richard Gere, is currently playing at Sheffield Lyceum.

Frank Farmer (Adam Garcia) is a former secret service agent who has been asked to take on a job working as the bodyguard for Rachel Marron (Sidonie Smith), a successful performer who is being stalked. To begin with the characters battle as they are both used to having things their way. Rachel wants to put her music and love for her son Fletcher first, pushing back against the intrusion on her personal life. Frank just needs to do his job, with his requests to change routines not going down well.

However, over time the dynamic between the couple develops into a begrudging respect for each other. Frank sees how much Rachel adores her son and that she is missing out on a normal life. He also notices the hurt, vulnerability and unrecognised talent of Rachel’s sister Nikki, played brilliantly by Sasha Monique. The script is cleverly updated with modern references such as the use of mobile phones and social media. Fans of the original film will not be disappointed by the slight changes to the stage adaptation, which includes a trip to a karaoke bar.

Although there are many positive, upbeat moments within the show, these are also balanced with tense thriller-style situations, cleverly created using the backdrop screen to give an insight into the stalker’s behaviour. James-Lee Harris, playing the stalker, often looked menacing without uttering a word just by his unsettling stage presence. Without giving too much away, there are a number of moments where there were gasps and screams from the audience as visuals, sounds and pyrotechnics grabbed our attention. The clever use of freeze frames during ‘So emotional’ adds to the tension and hints at a risk of danger.

The vocals of all performers were strong, as was the energy and acrobatic skills of the ensemble and swing team. I was particularly impressed by the lifts during the high-energy ‘I’m every woman’. The most well-known song ‘I will always love you’ was spine-tingling, however my favourite song was the emotional ‘Greatest love of all’ which conveyed that essentially Rachel was just a mum wanting to put her son first. There were many other familiar songs which were all performed with passion including the impactful ‘Queen of the night’ which starts the show, ‘Run to you’ and ‘I wanna dance with somebody’ where audience members were encouraged to get up on their feet in the finale.

Rating: 5/5

The Bodyguard The Musical is at Sheffield Theatres Lyceum from 10th-14th February before continuing to tour the country. There are accessible performances taking place on Thursday 12th (audio described/ signed) and Saturday 14th matinee (captioned).
Tickets cost from £15. For more information or to book tickets visit The Bodyguard the Musical | Sheffield Theatres or call the box office on 0114 249 6000.
Sheffield Lyceum, Tudor Square, 55 Norfolk Street Sheffield S1 1DA

https://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/events/the-bodyguard-2026?