REVIEW | The Commitments UK Tour
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| Photo credit: Ellie Kurttz |
★ ★ ★ ★
The Commitments, based on the book by Roddy Doyle and directed by Andrew Linnie (former Commitment member from the London West End Run) brought me many surprises. I had not seen the show in its last tour or when it was in London and I hadn’t even seen the 1990s film of the same name but I really enjoyed my evening at the theatre.
The underdog story of a group of “nobodies”, oddities and misfits, who under the caring and passionate arm of their manager, self-professed music fan Jimmy, played brilliantly by James Killeen in this production to become one of “the hardest working bands in Dublin”. The story is humorous but heartfelt. It’s a show of great soul music, with 20 soul classics including Mustang Sally, Try a Little Tenderness and I Heard it Through the Grapevine to name a few. It will leave you dancing in your seats and a warm feeling in your soul.
The Commitments in the show are played by an excellent team, each playing their own instruments live on stage, from guitar and bass to saxophone and trumpet. Each character has their moments in the plot, from the middle-aged horn player (Jimmy the Lips played by Stuart Reid) who makes his way through the backing singers to the saxophone player (Dean played by Conor Litten) who strikes fear in the band with his new love of jazz.
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| Photo credit: Ellie Kurttz |
Vocals of the band come from the “backing singers” The Commitmentettes Imelda, Natalie and Bernie (Ciara Mackey, Eve Kitchingman and Sarah Gardiner respectively) and the “lead singer” Deco. The girls have amazing vocals singularly and together, the harmonies they create are stunning. I’m so grateful they get their time to shine throughout the show like Deco, played in our performance excellently by alternate James Deegan, leads the band brilliantly with his powerful, soulful voice…even if he isn’t their favourite person in the band at times.
The rest of the cast blends brilliantly with the band, the ensemble is small but mighty and performs many roles and tasks throughout the show. Nigel Pivaro plays Jimmy’s Da and brings his own version of dad humour to the role, being supportive to his son and the band from his armchair and finally Mickah, the band’s security played spectacularly by Ronnie Yorke had me laughing probably more than it should have with his hard man character, complete with a bald head and bright red Doc Martins, ready to take out anyone at any moment.
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| Photo credit: Ellie Kurttz |
I had a great time watching the show, the set was brilliantly designed by Tim Blazdell with lighting design by Jason Taylor and sound by Rory Madden, which truly came into their element in the finale of the show where it becomes more of a concert.
This show has the lot..a great and talented cast, fantastic music and a good amount of laughs. If I had one negative it would be that the ending to the story is very sudden after a lot of great storytelling, it is suddenly over. But maybe that is just the thing, I enjoyed it so much I didn’t want to end.