Bee Gees tribute show has fever

Saturday Night Fever, the enormously successful film and soundtrack released in 1977, is credited with mainstreaming disco music.

Forty years on, Saturday Night Fever largely survives as a jukebox stage musical, first performed in 1998.

But, as with many such musicals, matching the plot line with the inherent energy in the music becomes problematic.

Even though many of the darker themes of the film have been sanitised for the stage, the mix of Bee Gees’ music and the plot line is not always an comfortable.

This said, considerable effort had been made in the casting of this production, with expert specialty dancers leading the company through the familiar routines. In the John Travolta role of Tony Manero, Tainui Kuru gave his all to the score of generational anthems, as did Kali Kopae (Stephanie) and Tizane Mcevoy (Annette), supported by an outstanding company of singers and dancers.

Sound problems that seemed to affect the production occasionally were probably due to the inherent difficulties of touring such a technical production, but they were responsible for the occasional missed vocal line. This detracted from the overall excellence in this area.

There is no doubt the music and dance was most acclaimed by the audience, but even the obligatory finale medley seemed too short. Judicious script editing may have helped highlight those unforgettable melodies and provide greater satisfaction for contemporary audiences.