MUSICHALLYOUTH
BRINGING a magazine to life on stage may seem like the naffest show in town but in fact this is a magical trip down a musical memory lane.
Jackie the Musical centres on a woman with the same name who is going through a bitter divorce from her cheating husband.
She is trying to move on and seeks the advice of her own 17-year-old self as well as the agony aunt columns in old copies of the magazines she finds in her attic.
Janet Dibley plays Jackie, a woman gingerly on the hunt for a new love but with all the angst of a teenager.
The wonderful Daisy Steere brings her younger, gushier, innocent self to life. And she gives her advice – straight from the magazine – including what the size of a man’s nose and ears reveals. She even includes the sage guidance on there being two types of men — “those who are married and those who are not and you can only go for the nots.”
The writing is delightful – from the acid barbs of the grown-up Jackie to the childish scene with the ensemble standing in boxes dressed in their flared trousers and floppy, felt hats looked like it was taken straight out of the magazine’s fashion pages. And when they began to dance the styles were akin to a slightly jazzed-up version of Pan’s People.
But for most it was the songs which transported the audience back to the halcyon days of long, hot summers of the 70s when you lay around reading the personality quizzes out of the magazine.
The eclectic hits of David Cassidy, Donny Osmond, Donna Summer, T-Rex and Mud were the soundtrack for the era and they – among many other instantly recognisable songs – featured throughout the two acts.
The predominantly female crowd acted as a conglomerate best friend – booing the cheaters, cheering when the women came out on top and singing along, though sometimes painfully out of tune, with gusto.
It was female solidarity at its best and the perfect antidote to the depressing state of our modern world. VIVIENNE AITKEN