Review: Now That’s What I Call a Musical (Touring)

Tuesday, 18th March 2025 at the Grand Opera House, York

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It’s 1989 and a school reunion is taking place, with two BFFs parted by years and circumstances waiting for their own long overdue reunion. With past and present running side by side, Now That’s What I Call a Musical takes both the characters and the audience on a funny, heartwarming and sometimes whacky ride, heaping on nostalgia by the bucketload as we go.

This show boasts a fabulous cast. Nikita Johal and Maia Hawkins carry the first act with real charisma as likeable BFF duo Gemma and April  and they are genuinely great fun to watch. The pair have great chemistry and possess that triple threat of musical theatre (including a solid relationship with both comedy and drama), topping it all off with powerful voices and some beautiful harmonies. 

Carrying most of Act 2 then, is the older version of the pair, with Nina Wadia magnifying the comic foundations laid by Johal so well and Sam Bailey picking up on the ballsy charm of April, rooted so firmly in Hawkins’ performance. Wadia is powerful in moments of heartbreak and genuinely hilarious at times – she can certainly take the crown for Best Stage Drunk I’ve seen in recent years. 

Now, I have to speak my truth here as a fan of powerhouse voices in musical theatre: Bailey is given a criminally lacking amount of stage time. But when she is there, she’s brilliant – and steals the stage, rafters and chimney off the theatre as she launches into her one full moment of glory: “Sisters Are Doing it for Themselves”. I kept waiting for Bailey’s phenomenal talent to get the airtime it deserved but found myself disappointed; most songs belong to other characters, and while the cast do well with what they have (and Johal and Hawkins are definitely in Bailey’s league), it boggles my mind that her role in this musical wasn’t expanded somehow as soon as she was cast.

Supporting characters are top notch though, from Poppy Tierney and Christopher Glover’s portrayal of “marriage goals” as Gemma’s besotted, playful parents to the comic relief provided time and again in minor parts played beautifully by Lauren Hendricks and Phil Sealey. Meanwhile, Callum Tempest gives a hilarious rendition of “I’ll be watching you” as the unrequited Barney and Chris Grahamson nails a risible performance of “Gold” as the oderous husband of Gemma.

And the music? Within seconds of the curtain going up, the show envelops us in a hit parade of toe-tapping classics (musical supervision and vocal arrangements: Mark Crossland) – a heady mix of real bops that we all know  like “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”, “Kiss Me” and “You Spin Me Round”, and poppy tunes  given the classic ballad make-under for the gentler moments – nicely done here with “Heart of Glass”. 

But songs are also a hinge point for comedy – with a gaudy vision of metallic costuming from Tom Rogers and Toots Butcher bringing “Video killed the Radio Star” and “Gold” to life in joyful silliness. And the show offers musical guest stars as a kind of fleeting Fairy Godmother role along the way too – a very energised Sinitta at this performance.

Craig Revel Horwood is director and choreographer here, and it shows; the segues between scenes often take on a balletic slow-motion haze and the choreography is generous in the amount of styles it embraces. Book from Pippa Evans is clever and laughs are plenty – though there are definitely times when corners feel cut, with some dramatic narrative moments teetering on awkward as they haven’t been given sufficient build-up (the hospital element, for instance; not a comment on Bailey’s performance, but certainly a structural weakness). BUT when the writing is good, it’s pretty shiny, and the nostalgia prompted through advert, movie, celeb and grub references is pretty golden.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one (despite the Bailey neglect…), so I’d say it’s a good shout for anyone with a love of nostalgic hits, good fun, and just enough woe to carry along a worthwhile story.

Now That’s What I Call a Musical is at the Grand Opera House, York until March 22nd 2025 – more information and tickets can be found here.