NEVER
FORGET, which it quite clearly says in all the advertising, is “THE
HIT MUSICAL WITH THE SONGS OF TAKE THAT”.
Never
Forget is the story of Ash Sherwood, a struggling singer-songwriter with
dreams of making it big. But when mounting debts threaten the future of
his mum’s pub, Ash, along with his Fiancee Chloe Turner realises that
he needs to make something happen, and quickly. This leads to him trying
out for a Take That tribute band and entering the Battle of the Tribute
Bands competition. There is the also the customary sub plot of boy meets
girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl again, wedding, the end.
From
the opening number in act one, Could
it be Magic set the scene and introduced the main characters; Ash,
played by Mark Willshire & Chloe, played by Aimie Atkinson. What
followed was an introduction to the rest of the main characters and more
Take That hits featuring Pray
& Never Forget building into a great number Take That & Party which featured some brilliant dancing and
great choreography.
Moving
through the story line, the scene changes were swift and seamless with
some very ingenious staging. More hits followed and the first act
concluded with a very impressive Back
For Good using some clever rain technology and again, fantastic dancing
and ambitious choreography.
Act
two was more of the same, more hits, more great dancing, with the story
line developing into the realms of betrayal, and loyalty to ones friends
and family.
The
main characters were all very strong, and were very well portrayed by
Mark Willshire, (Gary) Adam C Booth (Robbie) Tony Bradley (Howard)
Philip Olivier (Mark) & Scott Garnham (Jason), in supporting roles
Shaun Williamson (Barry from Eastenders) was brilliant as the dodgy
manager who was a cross between Arthur Daily and John Prescott, and Kay
Murphy was superb as the villain, Annie Borrowman.
 Highlights
of the second act were the very sultry Once
You’ve tasted Love which was set in a night club of some dubious
quality and featured Ash being seduced by the baddie, Annie Borrowman.
This was accompanied by another great performance by the ensemble. The
roof raising Relight My Fire
was tremendous with a great vocal performance by Aimie Atkinson as Chloe
singing the Lulu part.
The
finale was as predictable as they come, even down to bringing on a squad
of cute kids to sing the intro to Never
Forget, but that didn’t stop the audience getting up on their feet
and doing the Take That version of the “Radio Ga Ga” hand claps! The
audience lapped it up and wanted more. After the bows, the entire cast
launched into a medley of numbers from the show and closed with the band
playing them out.
If
you want a great, fun night out at the Theatre, hear songs that are
familiar to you, and forget your day to day troubles, then “NEVER
FORGET” provides exactly that. If this show comes to a town near you,
I recommend that you go and see it.
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