Greatest Days – Milton Keynes Theatre

Music and Lyrics: Take That

Writer: Tim Firth

Directors: Tim Firth and Stacey Haynes

The modern landscape of musical theatre is littered with jukebox musicals. Greatest Days offers up the back catalogue of 90s boyband Take That as the soundtrack to its story. While very much rooted in the trend of retrospectively fitting a collection of songs to an arbitrary story, there has for this show been a concerted effort to ensure that the story and not the music is at the heart of the production.

The narrative centres around Rachel across two timelines. Kym Marsh takes the role of older Rachel, while real-life daughter Emilie Cunliffe plays her younger self. Act One centres primarily around Rachel’s memories and so features the young cast heavily. Essentially, it follows the teen high school movie trope of five very different girls brought together by their obsession over a boyband. As they sit together on the rocks at the edge of town, they discuss their hopes and dreams for the future, but as they say goodbye for the evening disaster strikes and they are torn apart by tragedy.

On a whim, older Rachel enters and wins a competition to see The Band in Athens, inviting the friends that she hasn’t spoken to in 25 years to join her on the journey and so the fun begins.

The young cast, Emilie Cunliffe, Hannah Brown, Mari McGinlay, Kitty Harris, and Mary Moore, creates a feeling of genuine warmth on stage. Together, they encapsulate the high spirits of teenage hijinks and have several moments that are genuinely touching. Mary Moore shines as Debbie and leads an electrifying rendition of Relight My Fire. She has a natural talent for comedy but equally a juvenile charm that allows her speeches to land with innocence and really resonate with an audience. It is the bond of the young cast that the audience really buys into, probably because the meat of the storytelling falls within the first act and it is this group of actors that delivers the substance of the show. They are largely absent after the interval, appearing only as memories, but they do steal the show as part of an incredible eight-piece harmonising of Back for Good when the friends reunite and connect with their past selves.

The older cast features largely within the second act on their trip to Athens. Unfortunately, the narrative here feels rushed and stretched so that they never really get a chance hit their stride. Aside from one scene in a police station in which Claire (Jamie-Rose Monk) has the opportunity to finally add some depth to the story, the older cast is somewhat short-changed. Monk does manage to build some emotional tension only for it to be thrown away on some cheap fat jokes. Aside from an excellent rendition of Shine, the older cast is also short-changed on the big numbers. Kym Marsh is an excellent singer and actress, but unfortunately on press night there were some issues with her mic at the top of Shine and she could barely be heard. This was a real shame as visually this scene is stunning, and the acting is impeccable.

While The Band does feature heavily within the show, there has been no attempt to replicate Take That in any way. Rather, it is a generic five-piece group that perfectly follows the 90’s boyband formula. i.e. the matching outfits, syncopated gyrating and of course the quintessential clenched fist, closed eyes head shake combination. The Band forms the ensemble appearing only in concert or as imaginary figures within the girls’ heads, ever-present but never there. As there has been no attempt to humanise the band, they are somewhat two-dimensional – but that is the point. Played by Kalifa Burton, Jamie Corner, Archie Durrant, Regan Gascoigne and Alexanda O’Reilly, The Band gives you everything that you need from a boyband. They are fantastic singers and dancers and are entirely believable.

Aesthetically, this is a well-designed show. Rob Casey’s lighting is bold and punchy, and his choice of neon highlights and washes is beautiful. During the concert scenes the intensity of the light will have an audience believing that they are in Wembley Stadium. Probably because they aren’t used often within a musical, it’s fair to say that the blinders are used enthusiastically, particularly during the Act One closer, but this expands the auditorium space in the minds of the audience. The flashy lighting is, however, in stark contrast to the dull, clunky boxes of Lucy Osborne’s set.

With a clear mirroring of the narrative, where the lighting represents The Band and the sparkly hopes and dreams that they encapsulate for the girls, the set brings home the mundane reality. It is a simple rostrum with two sets of stairs and a central doorway, that has been decorated to look like concrete briezeblocks. While it is functional with blocks, doors, stairs and lockers, popping out and returning to position after use, some transitions such as the rocks at the edge of town, are slow and messy as they move into position. This results in distraction from some of the genuinely beautiful emotional scenes that are taking place. While the set does eventually get into position, a simpler design would have better impacted the show.

Greatest Days is an entertaining show with powerful and intense emotional moments but is let down by the book in the second act. While the acting is solid, and the storytelling is good, ultimately it is the music that is the draw for this show and it doesn’t disappoint.

Runs until 8 July 2023 and on tour