Carnaby Street at the Hackney Empire

All I said was "I went to a really nice show last night" and it triggered an almighty sulking and moaning session, "I took you to see Alfie Boe at the Albert Hall and you don't take me anywhere". "But I arranged this with my mates ages ago".  On and on it went so, to get a bit of peace, I ended up going to see Carnaby Street twice in one week. Once with my mates and once again with the Boss. Not that I minded because this new musical is really rather good.

It's the World Premiere of Carnaby Street which sounds very grand until you realise that it's opening run was at the Hackney Empire rather than the Albert Hall or the West End. Those of you not familiar with London should note that the West End is the snooty bit and that the East End is the rough bit. Hackney's definitely East End. So am I.

The musical is set in London in the early 1960's, the famous "swinging sixties" and celebrates the West End fashion and music scene; the Marquee Club in Soho, Carnaby Street, the Beatles, Manfred Mann and a host of others. There's virtually no plot so I can't spoil it for you, it's just wall-to-wall powerhouse sixties pop music and packed with great hits "Twist and Shout", "Roll Over Beethoven", "Doo Wah Diddy", "Keep On Running", "You Really Got Me".

Here's the story. Jude comes from Liverpool and arrives in London with his girlfriend, Penny Lane (ouch!) armed with a guitar, some songs and dreams of fame and fortune. He meets Jack Spratt (ouch again!) who manages a band and gets Jude a gig. 

Then... who  cares,  just go and see it will you? You won't regret it, there's a bit of a story but mainly it's the fun, the dancing and the music that matter and, as a bonus, you get to do the twist in public for the first time in years. The house was packed when we went and it was great to see all the grey haired grannies twisting in the aisles. Fab!

The writer, Carl Leighton-Pope uses the storyline as corny introductions for the songs and each one is more painful than the last. For example, we have the hero, Jude rushing to catch a flight, queue music, "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" It's so gaspingly bad it's good.

I was a little bit disappointed that there no Rolling Stones numbers in the show; I believe that they wanted to perform "Let's Spend the Night Together" but the rights owners either refused them or demanded an astronomical sum. Shame, if you see the show you will know exactly where that song fits in.

Equally disappointing was the absence of Beatles hits, which for me define the music of the swinging sixties. There were a few covers but nothing from the maestros Lennon and McCartney. Again, probably an issue with rights. Three of the show's characters are Lily, Jude and Penny Lane, I wonder which Beatles hits they would have inspired?

Musically speaking the only jarring note was "Born to be Wild", the 1968 Steppenwolf classic and a bit late for the early sixties but when one of your characters is a dyed-in-the-wool rocker called Wild Thing it's difficult to see what else would do. 

The excellent young cast deliver the goods with bags of energy and enthusiasm and appear to be having a whale of a time doing so. I wonder if they had heard of even half of these old hits before rehearsals? It doesn't matter because they've brought them all back to life again.

There's a very welcome appearance of Tom Jones in the second act which was spectacularly popular with the audience.

Finally, the show wraps up with the entire cast on stage performing a knock-out medley of hits which for sheer fun I would rate as being on par with the madness at the end of the stage version of Mamma Mia.

Shout and clap loud enough and they'll come back and do it all over again for an encore. Hooray!

Coming Your Way?

Carnaby Street is off on tour round the UK at the moment, I would love to see it return to the London stage and, hopefully, for a much longer run. If you enjoy the Blues Brothers, Austin Powers or Mamma Mia then I think you'll love this one.

22-27 April	Rhyl Pavilion Theatre
29 April - 4 May	Hastings White Rock Theatre
7-11 May	Windsor Royal Theatre
14-18 May	Tunbridge Wells Assembly Hall Theatre
20-25 May	Manchester Opera House
27 May - 1 June	Lowestoft Marina Theatre
3-8 June	Birmingham Alexandra Theatre
10-15 June	St Albans Alban Arena
25-29 June	Bournemouth Pavilion

Ready Steady Go

All this talk of the early sixties takes me back, I was only a young lad at school at the time but I do remember there being a vague sense of excitement about the place and, of course, the music.

The most exciting TV show was on Friday evening; Ready, Steady, Go! All in glorious black and white but we didn't know any better. It started with some wild, young things revving their Vespa scooters at the traffic lights, that was Ready! Then cut to the riders decked out in trendy gear, that was Steady! And then they shot off at high speed on the Go! The theme music was Manfred Mann's "5-4-3-2-1" and then cut to the party at the television studios and the delicious excitement of the opening line, "The weekend starts here!"

Music, dancing fans dressed a la mode, live performances, miming and all mixed in with roving TV cameras. But best of all was the magnificent Cathy McGowan. She wasn't long out of her teens but she carried the show by stumbling through it and inspired a generation. Dressed in all the latest gear she spoke a strange slang language which we all copied to the despair of our parents; everything was either "in" or "out" or the highest praise of all, "fab".

So inspired by all this nostalgia we declared a sixties week at the office, dug out our "Music to Watch Girls By" CDs volumns 1,2 and 3 and decked out the kitchen as the RSG studio.

What do you think? Groovy, huh? Maybe even a wee bit fab? However, like all our stupid crazes it didn't last long and after a few choruses with Petula Clark and Gerry and the Pacemakers we got bored with it and got back to the present. Black and White telly indeed! Music on vinyl, no iPods, no iPads, no internet. No can do.

Here's the Boss as Keith Fordyce, RSG presenter, sixies pop presenters usually sported the suit and tie ensemble and here's me as Cathy McGowan, the Queen of the Mods. No change there then. I don't think that I have really mastered this Photoshop thing, a rather inept use of layers I'd say. I might need to go on one of those Photoshop courses so that I can learn do this sort of thing properly.

Maybe there's a bit of dodging and burning required to get the skin tones uniform but overall I'd say that I make quite a striking Cathy McGowan, although not one that you'd want to meet on a dark night. The Boss is a little unhappy with his Keith Fordyce look and feels that I should have done a lot better. I don't really see the problem and the stick-on mask effect gives him, in my opinion, a sort of Phantom of the Opera appearance, which I thought he'd like.

I shall close my pean to Ready, Steady, Go with a tragic thought; we did not have video recorders in those days so if you wanted to watch the show you had to be there when it was broadcast on Friday evening. But surely if you had any sort of life then you wouldn't be at home on a Friday night watching telly; you'd be out with your fab, swinging and groovy chums. Wouldn't you?

Songs

This is the list of the songs as they are performed on stage and is not quite the same as the published soundtrack for Carnaby Street. Many of the songs are cover versions of older ones and I have tried to identify the ones that we would have heard on Ready Steady Go on a Friday night. No doubt you will tell me where I have made a mistake.

For example, I think most people would agree that "Roll Over Beethoven" has to be Chuck Berry but at the time it was the Beatle's recording that we loved. Both Cilla Black and Dionne Warwick recorded "Anyone Who Had a Heart" but in our hearts it is Cilla's. 

The Beatles and the Tremeloes had their version of "Twist and Shout" out at much the same time but, to me, this song is forever the Beatles with that amazing, raucous John Lennon vocal, recorded when he was suffering from a very bad cold. This is the first record that I can remember owning.

There are also a few contemporary songs, written by James Hall for the show.

Title	By
I Wish I Was There	James Hall. Cast
Bend Me Shape Me	Amen Corner
How Do You Do It?	Gerry and the Pacemakers
I’m In With the In Crowd	Doby Gray
Mustang Sally	Wilson Pickett
Doo Wah Diddy	Manfred Mann
Roll Over Beethoven	Chuck Berry or The Beatles
Go Now	The Moody Blues
Son of a Preacher Man	Dusty Springfield
Soho Shuffle	James Hall. Cast
In the Middle of Nowhere	Dusty Springfield
5-4-3-2-1	Manfred Mann
I Only Wanna be With You	Dusty Springfield
Poison Ivy	The Dave Clark Five
Yeh Yeh	Georgie Fame and The Blue Flames
I Can’t Control Myself	The Troggs
Funny How Love Can Be	The Ivy League
Summertime Blues	Eddie Cochran
Sweets for My Sweet	The Searchers
Don’t Throw Your Love Away	The Searchers
Twist and Shout	The Beatles
Shout	Lulu (and the Luvvers)
Money (That’s What I Want)	The Beatles
I Like It	Gerry and the Pacemakers
Born to be Wild	Steppenwolf
Don’t Let the Sun	Gerry and the Pacemakers
Keep On Running	The Spencer Davis Group
Anyone Who Had a Heart	Cilla Black
Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood	The Animals
Transistor Radio	James Hall. Cast
Green Green Grass of Home	Tom Jones
Do You Love Me	Brian Poole and the Tremeloes
I Just Don’t Know What to do	Dusty Springfield
Three Steps to Heaven	Eddie Cochran
Sealed With a Kiss	Brian Hyland
We Gotta Get Out of This Place	The Animals
You’ve Got Your Troubles	The Fortunes
She’s Out of This World	James Hall. Cast
I Know a Place	Petula Clark
Downtown	Petula Clark