Dreamboats and Petticoats
Opera House, Manchester
20 to 25^th April.


It was the year the E-type Jaguar made its sensational appearance. It was the year the contraceptive pill was "born" and it was also the year when a host of young stars put the pop with a capital P into pop music.
Who can forget songs like Three Steps to Heaven, Bobby's Girl, Da Do Ron Ron and Poetry in Motion?
And I'm glad to report that all these fantastic and truly nostalgic numbers are back and being blasted out in the new musical Dreamboats and Petticoats.
I saw it - and believe me, I had the time of my life. The stuff of nightly standing ovations.
This is the ultimate British rock 'n' roll musical and suddenly we pop addicts with a few years on the clock were young again as we tapped our feet to Happy Sweet Sixteen, Dream Lover, Let's Twist Again…and a hundred more pop tunes that have truly stood the test of time.
Set in 1961, the musical is woven around a bevy of teenagers discovering love's young dream. Sadly, the Beatles had yet to make it big.
It didn't matter one jot as X-Factor finalist and Manchester-born Scott Brunton played the shy lad with a big heart and a fabulous voice, and former Emmerdale star Ben Freeman was wild and funny as the slick young buck who chases anything in a frock. Top marks too for Daisy Wood-Davies and AJ Dean, and the other young actors and singers who all worked hard to give a fantastic package of a show.
Most of the actors also played musical instruments, but never let this aspect get in the way of their portrayals or the story in general.
      Geoffrey Shryhane