Saturday Night Fever Bill Kenwright Tour @ York Grand Opera House REVIEW

This weekend me and my dad went to see the new Bill Kenwright Productions tour of Saturday Night Fever in York. Now all I want to do is groove all day long! (We paid for our own tickets and all photos are taken from the website – don’t take photos during performances kids).

So, I feel I need to start this by saying that me and my dad are both HUGE fans of the music of the Bee Gees, which is why I got us tickets in the first place. If you are a fan of the Bee Gees, this is the closest you will get to seeing them live like you always wanted to (the singers were fantastic, trust me – but more on that later). Neither of us are overly familiar with the film, so I can’t comment on how well adapted it is and I’m afraid to say this review will end on a slightly sour note BUT believe me when I say this production is FANTASTIC. If you get a chance to go, GO.

So, this particular production is set in the late 70s (an era, honestly I wish I was born in) in Brooklyn, New York. It focuses on our main character, Tony Monero, who is, I’m guessing, around the age of 20? He works in a paint shop by day and parties hard at the weekends at his favourite club on Saturday nights. The production is basically broken up by scenes of the club which were epic dance numbers, to the point where I found myself feeling a bit put out when they were over! Tony has a group of “lads” mates and they all say some pretty problematic things about women, but from what I gather, it’s a lot more PC than the film. It’s very much “of its time” but to be fair, the women always put them in their place. It’s not as smutty as I thought it would be but equally, there are a LOT of Fbombs, so not a show for the under 16s. It’s a coming of age story and tackles a few issues including abuse, sexism and sexual assault, religion, teenage/young pregnancy, drugs and suicide. If any of these are triggers for you, you may wish to steer clear.

The staging was relatively simple with a big floor in the middle that changed to a disco floor for the club scenes and a few stair cases on wheels with drop down pieces of set to create the house and the paint shop. At times I did feel that the large cast were a bit restricted by the stage, though this of course could just be because of the Opera House and not the production itself. On the balcony above the stage was the live band and the guys playing the Bee Gees. I loved this addition and the music, other than Richard Winsor’s dancing, was the absolute star of the show. I cannot commend the band and the 3 singers enough and would have happily sat for 2 and a half hours just to watch them perform.

The plot was as dramatic as any teen novel and had it all. In order to thicken out the performance, some characters had their own monologues in the form of Bee Gees songs. I wasn’t a fan of these really, it just seemed like filler and I would have preferred to have the “Bee Gees” sing some of them. However, Kate Parr doing Stephanie’s solo was incredible, what a voice! And her duet with Richard was warm and real, though that was my fav Bee Gees song so I may be slightly biased. Richard Winsor is the real star, his dance and acting skills are second to none. For the most part, the acting is good but I could tell some of the performers were mainly trained in dance, though that is not necessarily a bad thing, given that dance is kind of the whole point of this thing. I am going to take a bit of time here to gush about how stunning Richard’s performance was. Though I haven’t seen the film, I’m familiar with Tony’s character and Richard captured it perfectly but also made him his own. With big shoes to fill, he did it with ease and you cannot take your eyes off him. (The shirtless scenes sat next to my dad was certainly a thing and the group of ladies at the front of the grand circle had a VERY good time.) In all seriousness though, his dancing talent, previously recognised by the God of choreography Matthew Bourne is one that shines off the stage brighter than the disco balls spinning above the stage. He IS Tony, he LOVES dancing and it SHOWS. He is supported by a highly competent cast (guy on the balcony, you were my fav) and every dancing number had me grooving in my seat. The best thing about the production was that everyone seemed like they were having the BEST time. The dancing numbers and music was so good, it’s easy to forgive the slight blindsiding of very serious issues and unnecessary solos. I would recommend this to everyone, GO GO GO.

Please note the section below has not effected my review of the performance…because I’m hoping that they were in house and not associated with the production.

Now, I have a gripe. I was at an audio described Saturday Matinee, right up in the gods in some of the cheapest seats (because my word the prices at the York Opera house, compared to other venues on the tour were ridiculous.) Regardless, I expect all crew and staff working on the production to hold the highest standards of professionalism. For example, I could not fault the usher, she was kind, assertive (WHY DO PEOPLE TAKE PHOTOS STOP IT) and really attentive.  So, a lot of the time, if you’re sat near the tech desk or lights that need to be manually operated (i.e if there’s no follow spot), to hear the odd cue call back. So “standing by…xx cue go” that kind of thing. Perfectly normal. I do not expect to hear talking, and laughing and especially not throughout the entire performance. It got so bad at one point my dad had to stand up to get the two spot operators to be quiet. It put a dampener on the day, particularly when they laughed during the most quiet and emotional scenes. There’s just no excuse for it. Grrr.

To conclude, this show is fresh and funky and is performed by a dedicated, stunning cast. Worth going for Richard Winsor and “The Bee Gees” alone. Please go, you won’t regret it.

★★★★

Have you seen this production or do you intend to in the future? Let me know down below!

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