Save the Last Dance for me, a delightful romp down memory lane through great music and an innocent story of teenagers in love in the early 60s; it bowls you along and carries you with it on a roller-coaster ride of dance halls and damp seaside holidays spent cloaked in plastic raincoats. It’s a celebration of the songs of Pomus and Shuman coupled with a cute story of Jennifer and Marie, two teenage girls, on their first holiday without mum and dad braving the fleshpots of Lowestoft which luckily for them has a nearby US army base full of handsome American soldiers to add to the ice-creams and candy floss which would normally be the only entertainment on offer.
Most of the action takes place at the Army base dance hall and all the music is all played on stage by the multi-talented cast of singers, dancers and musicians. Elizabeth Carter plays Marie, the fresh and pretty seventeen year old, who has never been kissed and is longing for a first boyfriend. Elizabeth Carter is a fine choice for this, as she not only looks the part, can belt out a good tune, but is also equal to portraying the heart-fluttering romance required. Jennifer, her older, and much wiser sister, is played equally well by Verity Jones, who gives the necessary twist to some of the double-entendres dealt out and gets the audience laughing.
Kieran McGinn as Curtis, Marie’s southern suitor, is a gentleman in every respect but faces prejudice because of his colour (a reminder of how things have changed in some forty years) has a great voice, looks good in the uniform and gives the romance between him and Marie a gentle quality.
The whole cast burst with enthusiasm flinging themselves into energetic jiving with much swinging of petticoats, singing at full throttle in a vibrant interpretation of the Pomus and Shuman songbook (and if you never knew who wrote all these oh so familiar songs, you will now!). There were great performances from Jay Perry as Rufus, Lee Honey-Jones as Milton and I rather liked Alan Howell as Carlo the dopey but lovable Italian/Brummie ice-cream seller. In my view the best musical number was the ‘a cappella’ version of Sweets for my Sweet by the entire cast, beautifully harmonised and arranged. The American accents were as sustained and as good as the Luton ones were bad; but maybe an authentic Luton twang is harder to capture!
It’s fashionable to scoff at musicals of this genre but we really enjoyed this; if you want good old fashioned light entertainment with a dollop of the feel-good-factor nothing could be better, and make you go away with a gladder heart. We weren’t alone and at the end the whole company got the rapturous reception they deserved from the audience!
Jacquie Vowles