An Officer and a Gentleman – Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield

Book: Douglas Day Stewart and Sharleen Cooper Cohen

Director: Nikolai Foster

What’s the best part of a musical as an audience member? It would seem blatantly obvious that ‘the music’ is going to be a common answer to that question. So why does An Officer and a Gentleman not realise this?

Bringing the film to stage as a jukebox musical sounds like a genius idea. It’s got all the expected fodder, a famous (if very much of its era gender politics wise) will they/won’t they love story with some iconic scenes, plus it’s set in the 80s, which gives it a whole catalogue of fantastic hits to choose from when picking the song list. Apparently, writer Douglas Day Stewart always wanted it to be a musical as well. In this loosely semi-autobiographical story, trainee Naval Officers Zack Mayo (Luke Baker) and Sid Worley (Paul French) arrive in the back end of America for their 12-week training course, a brutal slog with only brief periods of recreation designed to weed out the best from the rest. On their first weekend off they meet Paula (Georgia Lennon) and Lynette (Sinead Long), two factory girls dreaming of a better life. Between training montages and nights at the local dive bar, love, determination, and heartbreak combine to push these four and their families – both found and biological – towards a future which may contain the high of flying jets or the low of a life wasted box packing.

At least, it must be assumed that’s what is going on. Unfortunately, it’s hard to hear. Every song is well picked to appeal to the audience and for the most part integrated well into its point in the story, but for some reason everyone sings by swallowing the words or only annunciating half of them (or they may just be being drowned out by the loud music). The dialogue is rushed or barked at an off-putting volume with little room for nuance (or in the case of Lennon, mumbled to the point of obscurity). While the lead couples have buckets of chemistry (especially Baker and Lennon), it’s hard to care about them because the plot and dialogue is so flimsy. And the one really interesting sub plot, the story of Casey Seegar (Olivia Foster-Browne, who is too good for this show) fighting to be the first female jet pilot and butting heads with Mayo, gets just a couple of brief mentions before all suddenly being resolved because he helps her climb a wall (yes, the woman aiming to show that she can break through the glass ceiling is literally carried by all the men in her class to get her there. It’s not a great staging choice). There is clearly a ton of talent on the stage, and every actor is belting their heart out, but either the direction, the musical arrangement or simply the microphones have failed them at every turn. And they all look bored by it.

Luckily, the show is redeemed by its staging. The costumes by Michael Taylor manage to be both realistic and beautifully coordinated, and that’s not just the naval dress whites – the factory girls all have a matching style and a colour pallet, but each has their own interpretation and look which tells the audience immediately about their personalities, and the wigs in the opening are so realistic that you’d genuinely believe the cadets all shave their heads quickly between scenes. The choreography by Joanna Goodwin instantly centres each scene, be it the work out inspired In the Navy Now on the base, or the call to arms of This is a Man’s World in the factory, or the dream sequence of the pink and black Material Girl (although please stop ending every group number in a flat line staring out at the crowd). The cavalcade of neon and heavily 80s inspired, almost laser looking lighting from Ben Cracknell makes the whole show look like a club night fever dream and hides a multitude of sins in two lacklustre fight sequences. The firefighting simulation is especially well done here.

If you’re a fan of the movie, you’ll have a good night, even if it’s just waiting to see the famous and oft-parodied final scene. If you’re not a fan of the movie, you’ll find things to appreciate too. But for a film which lends itself so well to a musical adaptation, it’s just a shame that An Officer and a Gentleman feels like it should have spent a few more weeks back in basic training before being allowed to soar into theatres.

Runs until Saturday 22 June 2024