Sex, Chips and Rock ‘n’ Roll

Published Thursday 7 July 2005 at 11:00 by Natalie Anglesey

Musicals made in Manchester are sadly a rarity these days and staging one in the round provides endless challenges for any director. It is to Jonathan Moore’s credit that he presents a slick, well-crafted production, out of a complex piece first written, by Debbie Horsfield, as a television series.

Now rewritten as a musical, with an original score composed by Hereward Kaye, formerly with the Flying Pickets, the ballads are pleasant enough although some of the lyrics possess an almost pantomimic rhyming couplet quality. It’s the high octane band numbers which prove the best.

Conor Murphy’s circular rotating set works for both the Northern town of Eccles and London in the Swinging Sixties. But the choreography has an opening number of stereotypical Lowry figures, with umbrellas, which had strong echoes of A Simple Man. A hedonistic London club scene and a rave with six girls breaking chairs were also rather far-fetched.

However, the cast were first rate, with disarming Emma Williams as the gentle Ellie carrying the bulk of the musical numbers extremely well while Elaine Glover, as her twin sister Arden, also rises to the challenge. Tracie Bennett is particularly good as their mother while charismatic Dean Stobbart, as wannabe rock-star Dallas, is exactly right as the object of their affections.

This feel-good show brought a terrific audience reaction and, let’s face it, there’s a lot worse on the West End stage, where hopefully it may find a home.