Now That’s What I Call a Musical Review by Nina Jervis-Green

February 12, 2025

Thanks to Nina Jervis-Green from www.ninathewriter.com for this review.

You’d expect a musical created in celebration of the iconic Now That’s What I Call Music albums (don’t pretend you didn’t have a favourite) to be packed with hits. You’d be right: the bangers are joyfully unrelenting throughout. From Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Walking on Sunshine to Hey Mickey, they’re all here.

We open at a 2009 school reunion, held in a Birmingham pub with disco lights and karaoke. The ‘Class of ‘89’ are reminiscing about the good old days, in a mixture of real-time and flashback scenes that centre around best friends Gemma and April. They’ve got big dreams, but will they fulfil them?

Teenage hopes and honeyed friendships transition to the painful realities and compromises of adulthood, with 80’s pop songs and childhood cultural references shoehorned in throughout. Written by Pippa Evans and choreographed by Craig Revel Horwood, there are constant laughs, plenty of upbeat energy, and swish dance moves – some of which you’ll recognise from Strictly. The fantastic, movable set features giant cassette tapes, a video store, and a retro cocktail bar. It’s nostalgia-by-numbers, designed for friends and fizz.

Casting is spot-on. Nina Wadia’s comic timing (she’s a hilarious drunk) and Sam Bailey’s incredible vocals are a wonderful combination – though Bailey doesn’t properly appear until the second half of the show, which feels like a waste. They play the older Gemma and April to perfection, as do Nikita Johal and Maia Hawkins in the younger roles. You’d never guess that Hawkins is making her professional performance debut. She’s confident and accomplished, with an amazing singing voice.

The rest of the cast are brilliantly over-the-top, with some genuinely funny moments – particularly from Luke Latchman/Shakil Hussain as younger and older versions of Gemma’s geeky, tech-obsessed brother Frank, and Kieran Cooper/Chris Grahamson as her Gordon Gekko-esque husband Tim.

Sonia (yes, that Sonia) appears in a guest role, emulating Grease’s iconic Teen Angel in white sequins and feathers. She belts out her Eurovision hit Better the Devil You Know – a song young Gemma and April love – in response to older Gemma pondering her marriage and the future that lies ahead… though confusingly, that song wasn’t released until 1993 and as a piece of marital advice it makes no sense whatsoever.

Just like the show’s namesake albums, there are a few duds. I’m not sure we need quite so much story build-up as there is in the first half, which feels overly long: strange scenes include Gemma’s parents singing Tainted Love in the family kitchen for no particular reason.

Infertility is introduced later in the show, but in a lazy, unexamined way that feels like it was added just to create drama and pathos. Hugely exaggerated Birmingham accents grate after a while. Some moments, including a bizarre rendering of The Specials’ Too Much Too Young, feel like they’ve been plucked straight from a fever dream.

That said, those waiting to sing and dance along with the cast will get their moment of glory, in a glittering, show stopping finale with more cheese than a Christmas selection box. It’ll leave you aching to dig out those old Now! albums and replay your favourites, inspiring warm memories that are perfect for these chilly February evenings.