Sunny Afternoon

4
The story of Ray Davies and The Kinks.
By Robert Iles - 7th Mar 2017

Sunny Afternoon ReviewA musical based on the Kinks from their earliest formation up to their major era of success. Written by Ray Davies we get both an honest and a highly musical story though at times I wasn't wholly sure what genre it was trying to achieve. At times dramatic and at times enjoyably daft it was, perhaps, reflecting the confusion that the 60s threw everyone into at the time - for me the second half worked better than the first but one might also say that about their careers! That said, the music is more than enough to carry off the whole evening and leave you smiling - which it did.

Ray Davies music is a major part of the soundtrack of life for anyone around at the time and the renditions in this show are excellent. I particularly enjoyed  "Days" - a very emotional song beautifully rendered here. Of course, for the iconic songs such as "You Really Got Me" the volume gets turned right up - which is just fine by me!

Ryan O'Donnell as Ray and Mark Newnham as David are excellent, full-on musical talent with great voices - Mark in particular carrying off the difficult job of being shot-away almsot the entire show but keeping the pace and characterisation going. The other cast members, main and chorus, plus the two on-stage musicians are also excellent with the whole show having enormous energy - ahh, that Pan's People retro dance!

Excellent and interesting set, really good lighting, lovely to see a floor covered in cables again, great sound system ...  

Great fun, great evening, great music!


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