King’s Theatre, Edinburgh
Three stars
When the Bay City Rollers toured America for the first time at the height of 1970s Rollermania, Edinburgh’s tartan trewed boy band made quite a splash. When the fab five heralded the U.S. release of their early anthem, Saturday Night, by playing to an audience of 30 million people on live TV, it did not go unnoticed in more underground circles. The result, so it is said, saw Saturday Night’s opening football terrace chant translated by proto punks The Ramones into their own defining call to arms of ‘Hey! Ho! Let’s Go!’ on their song, Blitzkreig Bop. Both the Rollers and the Ramones also covered pop classics from the Jeff Barry/Ellie Greenwich/Phil Spector canon originally recorded by the Ronettes, so the umbilical links go even further.
While none of the above is mentioned in Danny McCahon's Bay City Rollers inspired jukebox musical, the band’s American trip becomes the drive behind the play’s second half. McCahon's focus is not on the group, however, but on the teenage fans who put pin-ups from Jackie magazine on their walls, sewed tartan patches onto their cut-off jeans and screamed their devotion to their teeny bopper idols until they were sick.
Two such Rollermaniacs are Jenny and Susan, who these days in McCahon's play meet on Croy station en route to reliving their youth at an epic tribute night. As the play rewinds on their back pages, we see the roots of the pair's everlasting love for the band that was briefly the biggest pop act in the world. They were the days of two-channel telly, teenagers communicating by phone box, and learning to snog the hard way in the hope of getting off respectively with Rollers singer Les McKeown or guitarist Stuart 'Woody' Wood.
Assorted rites of passage along the way include Susan's annoying big brother Alec's flirtation with all things kung fu and a day trip to Edinburgh where Jenny and Susan find kindred spirits aplenty. All this is driven along in this latest tour of Liz Carruthers' poptastic production by a set of musical numbers that go beyond the smash hits to dig up some lesser spotted Rollers album tracks.
These are delivered by Fiona Wood as Jenny and Chiara Sparkes as Susan with unabashed relish as they lead a big cast that includes a 70s wigged Liam Harkins as Alec and a mini troupe of dynamic dancers. A three-piece on-stage band is led by drummer Lauren Macdonald, with guitarist Tyler Collins and bass player Gregor John-Owen tapping into an authentic glam stomp.
It's a shame no production images of this latest cast of a show that's been doing the rounds for some time now could be supplied. They would look as great when delivering co-director Chris JS Wilson's retro styled ensemble choreography as the previous cast did. Especially on Karen Tennent’s groovy looking set, which has the air of some long lost TV pop variety show.
This isn't the first Bay City Rollers play to look back in languor at more innocent pop life. Catherine Johnson did something similar with her play, Shang-a-lang, which got her the gig to write Mamma Mia! so all hail the Rollers.
As the latest incarnation of the real life group look set to embark on their latest tour, it won't have escaped the notice of Roller veterans that after more than half a century, the current line-up have just advertised for a new lead vocalist. As with McCahon's play, this proves that Rollermania hasn’t bitten the dust, and that the continuum Rollers might just last forever. And for those who might fancy the lead singer's gig, hey ho. Let's go!
The Herald, October 29th 2026
ends
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