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The Rod Stewart Musical, Tonight's the Night, is meant to be a vehicle for the fabulous (and huge) back catalogue of Rod Stewart songs - it should appeal to the same vast audience that love him. But this is an ill conceived evening with little to recommend it. The story of a someone Woody Allen-esque character making a pact with the devil to take on the soul of Rod Stewart and win his girl is as thin and weak as the acting and serves only to get in the way.
Ben Heathcote does a good job of "being Rod", when he is allowed to be, and his voice captures the right level of edge - but far too often the remainder of the cast either join in, or take over, the songs and add their own flourishes, twiddles and noise so that they are barely recognisable. Their voices may be good but they do not suit these songs and the audience is there to hear the Rod Stewart sound ...
The choreography is poor and at times owes more to St Vitus than anything else leaving you wondering how many sprains and pulled muscles the poor cast will end up with.
Frankly, I could barely be bothered to clap and I certainly wasn't going to stand at the end for the MegaMix.... I hate them at the best of times, tacked on to the end of a show for no real reason ...
Tonight definitely was not the night for me ... your mileage may vary!
