King’s Theatre, Glasgow
Four stars
Pop trivia nerds will have long been aware that the roots of the title for the chartbusting series of smash hit compilation albums founded in 1983 that gives this new jukebox musical its title comes from a 1920s poster for Danish bacon. As recounted by Richard Branson, whose Virgin label kick-started the series, the poster depicted an image of a pig declaring “Now. That’s What I Call Music,” as it watched a chicken singing.
With a current tally of 119 releases and rising, the history of NOW is the history of mainstream British pop. As the branding of this record company backed show suggests, NOW also provided the soundtrack to the lives of several generations of glossy pop lovers.
So it goes with Gemma and April, the two women on the verge in writer Pippa Evans’ prime time dramady set around the aftermath of a school reunion. When they were just seventeen, Gemma and April were girls who just wanted to have fun, albeit with very different outlooks on life. By the time Gemma had become a nurse and settled down to domestic bliss with money obsessed Tim, April was already in Hollywood trying to become a film star.
Twenty years on, the Class of ‘89 join forces in their local Birmingham boozer, a life long favourite venue for eighteenths, engagements and wedding parties that forms the heart of Tom Rogers and Toots Butcher’s ever-changing set. While Gemma is there with her brother Frank and a bunch of former classmates they barely recognise, only April is missing. As past and present dovetail before April finally breezes in, there is clearly a lot of catching up to be done. Things may not quite work out as planned, but Gemma and April learn to survive together.
All this is brought to life with bright-eyed brio in Craig Revel Horwood’s slickly choreographed production, which fuses telly friendly routines and celebrity casting with a play for today that could easily stand up on its own. That would take much of the show’s fun away, however, especially when chirpy Scouse godmother of pop Sonia turns up to do a number before saving the day. Sonia is one of three pop idols doing different dates of the tour, with Toyah Willcox and T’Pau’s Carol Decker on board elsewhere. Her flamboyant arrival flanked by a troupe of dancing angels is a magnificent leap into the fantastical.
As Gemma and April, Eastenders favourite Nina Wadia and X Factor breakout star Sam Bailey are perfect foils for each other. As too are Nikita Johal and Maia Hawkins as their younger selves. The way the scenes are staged with older and younger versions of Gemma and April watching over each other are placed beautifully in a way that suggests the little girls within never fully go away.
The men in their lives down the ages leave much to be desired, with Callum Tempest’s Barney and Shakil Hussain’s Frank both geeks who finally get the girls of their dreams, while Chris Grahamson plays Tim as a full-on Alan Partridge-like throwback with extra-added snark. Gemma’s liberated parents played by Poppy Tierney and Christopher Glover, meanwhile, show how romance should be done.
While being saved by Sonia is as much of a treat as it no doubt will be when Toyah Willcox takes over in Edinburgh next week, one can’t help but wonder how it might work out if the likes of Robert Smith from The Cure, say, had turned up in Gemma’s bedroom instead.
The nearest we get to what used to be called alternative music is a version of the Specials’ Too Much Too Young sung by the younger versions of Gemma and April with a finger-jabbing attitude that recalls bratty 1990s duo Shampoo. What we get along the way is confirmation that the Police’s Every Breath You Take is a creepy anthem for schoolboy stalkers, a version of the Proclaimers’ 500 Miles that’s better than what Coldplay just did to Sunshine on Leith, and a unique take on Dead or Alive’s You Spin Me Round (Like a Record).
Beyond the show’s headline grabbing title and ebullient song and dance routines, Evans has written a big-hearted play with a common touch that is about teenage dreams, working class ambition, life long friendships, growing old disgracefully and the sort of everyday feminism you won’t find in a pamphlet. As Gemma, April and the gang get it together, with a potential 118 sequels to go, the NOW party is far from over.
The Herald, February 20th 2025
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