Greatest Days – Relighting The Fire

If you want to Relight the fire or be taken back (for good), then Greatest Days, the new musical based on the songs of Take That, might be the show for you.

Besides providing a sense of Deja-vu (the show ran a few years ago as The Band), the script, written by Tim Firth, is also amusing, emotional, and entertaining.

The musical follows the journey of five boy band-obsessed teenagers who the audience meets in the 1990s, reuniting twenty years later to see their heartthrobs one last time in Athens for what could be the Greatest Days of their lives - though things do not always go to plan!

The cast, including Kym Marsh as Rachel and her real-life daughter, Emilie Cunliffe, creates a strong bond between their characters before things all break down. Kitty Harris, daughter of ventriloquist Keith Harris, shined too as the young version of Heather with a confident and assured performance.

Special mention to Alan Stocks, who had various guises throughout the show, from a bus driver to a roadie; his comical lines delivered with perfect timing were one of the many highlights in this quick-moving musical.

While the Take That name is never actually mentioned throughout the show, the boy band who appear on stage sing and dance to over eighteen songs, with the dance routines replicated magnificently from the Take That videos that accompanied the various tracks. The five boys, including Dancing on Ice winner Regan Gascoigne, even performed a mini concert accompanied by a brilliant light show that took the audience back to one of Take That’s gigs in their heyday.

The scenery, however, seemed to be dumbed down from what had previously been used when the show ran as The Band, leaving the audience to use their imagination on the often stark and bare stage.

Whilst most of tonight’s audience could identify strongly with the five grown up women on stage, anyone else who has a penchant for Gary Barlow’s songs will not be disappointed with Greatest Days, providing a night out in Blackpool that, in the words of one of Take That’s songs, is one that you will Never Forget!