Under the Mersey Moon at Floral Pavilion, New Brighton Review
Written by Roby for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Back by public demand after a sold-out debut performance, ‘Under The Mersey Moon’ returns to the Floral Pavillion for another showing, this time on its main stage. Whilst the show has a lot of heart and a nice soundtrack, it doesn’t seem to have quite reached its ‘full moon’ phase yet.
Written by Jimmy Rae and Pete Davies, the show follows a boy called Danny (Sam Heller) who travels to Nashville after being inspired by a secret of his grandfather’s. Whilst the plot of the story is nicely thought out and works well, the writing often lacks naturalness, and therefore, the acting feels forced. At times, characters refer to themselves in the third person, which can be quite cringeworthy. Some bits of writing just don’t work - for example, one scene takes place where two women are having a conversation in a house, with one woman upstairs and one woman downstairs. I’m not sure why this couldn’t have just taken place in the same room, as it did not advance the plot whatsoever.
Rae and Davies’ music, however, is great with many toe-tapping tunes throughout the show. Both my Dad and I left the theatre singing the title track, “Under The Mersey Moon”. I also loved “Just In Time”, which was a really beautiful song. It’s a shame most of the numbers throughout the show are solos, as the small sections of harmony within some of the group numbers and duets are really lovely.
Similarly to the writing, Brian McCann’s direction has potential but is not always consistent. For example, in different scenes in the same location the positioning of the front door can change, or characters will ‘go upstairs’ by walking out the front door. The acting also feels quite stiff at times, and we rarely see scenes of genuineness. There are also many scene changes throughout the show - all which are executed brilliantly but often take the audience out of the action and disrupt the pacing of the play.
The show, however, holds great potential and was very well received by the audience, with many giving it a standing ovation. Unfortunately, I felt as though it could still do with some fine tuning - some scenes felt dragged out, whereas others felt rushed, and as mentioned, there were a few inconsistencies.
Guest stars Billy Butler and Lesley Butler are standouts of the production. Lesley knows how to entertain an audience and is a scene stealer, particularly at the funeral wake where her character is rather tipsy! Billy is a perfect Grandad Harry, who clearly has a natural stage presence. He brings a powerful warmth and charm to the stage that we don’t see in any other characters. Adam Johnson’s performance as Young Harry is also strong. He delivers some of the best vocals of the night, alongside being a very talented guitarist.
The ending of the show was rather predictable but fit the play nicely and was executed well. I didn’t, however, like the use of projection during the final number, which was a slideshow of AI-generated images and every stock image of Liverpool that Google could find. Whilst it looked okay, I think the star cloth and moon silhouette were more than enough.
Packed with toe-tapping country tunes, a strong cast, and some nice writing, ‘Under The Mersey Moon’ has a great crescent of potential. It’s well received by its audience members, but unfortunately for me the moon was not shining so brightly.
Played until 15 February
★★★
