Our House The Musical UK Tour | Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
Our House The Musical UK Tour.
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
★★★★
There's nothing like a musical that brings you to your feet and is a feel-good night out at the theatre. Combining the music of well-known English Ska Band, Madness with the storyline of a young, working-class lad trying to find his way. This new UK Touring production comes with a great cast, some faces you will recognise but also recognises exciting talent emerging with professional theatre debuts.
Playwright Tim Firth and director Matthew Warchus have devised a storyline that combines a storyline that is easy to follow, effectively being able to accomplish a parallel of two stories whilst also maintaining a well thought out conclusion at the end. The show actually has a Guinness Record under its belt for the highest number of quick changes an actor has to make. Its fluidity is uncanny, the choreography from Fabian Aloise is slick and even has some of the memorable movements from Madness music videos gone by which gives it a great nod to the iconic soundtrack intertwined in the production.
Leading the cast was Jason Kajdi as Joe Casey who at 16 years old becomes involved in petty crime and finds his life split into two sections. Watching him portray two very different sides to his character through the production as well as take on the task of a lot of quick changes is admirable to watch. He oozed the energy and confidence needed to take on the leading man. His chemistry with on-stage love interest Sarah (Sophie Matthew) was beautiful. Sophie shows that she has a lot of flare and natural talent ability, particularly shining in her solo of N.W.5.
George Sampson plays bad boy Reecey in the musical, making his musical theatre debut George shows that there is more to him than just his Dance talent. He completely steals the show during Baggy Trousers where we see him take on the task of combining all of his talents, as well as throwing in some of his dance moves for good measure!
The musical is definitely packed full of humour, especially from the characters of Emmo (Billy Roberts), Lewis (Will Haswell), Angie (Jessica Niles) and Billie (Etisyai Philip) who help to bring another ingredient to make it a great musical.
I'll be honest that whilst the cast wasn't probably the most vocally powerful I've seen, collectively they probably have some of the best acting and dance talent on the touring circuit at the moment. The set was simplistic but worked well transitioning between the different times in Joe Casey's life.
If you fancy singing along to popular hit songs such as Must Be Love, Our House and Baggy Trousers then this is a trip to the theatre you must get in the diary! It was a musical full of fun, love and remembering the importance of those loved ones around us.
*I was gifted this ticket in exchange for a review, but all words and opinions are my own.