ALL OR NOTHING said its final farewell of a week-long stay in Manchester on Saturday, with a musical that appeals to advocates of the mod era.
While a sea of grey Paul Weller and Ronnie Wood inspired hair dos populate the audience, the show recaps the life and times of the band the Small Faces and focuses mainly on lead singer Steve Marriott.
Chris Simmons, formerly of the Bill, plays the role of an older Marriott. After the depiction of his own death earlier in the show, he speaks to the audience directly throughout the remainder, recapping the bands highs and lows from beyond the grave.
The younger Steve is played by Tim Edwards, who naturally brings the band to life – playing lead guitar and inducing the crowd to sing along to hits such as: Itchycoo Park, Lazy Sunday, and of course, All or Nothing. The rest of the performances from the live band members are brilliant and reflect a gig-like atmosphere as opposed to a musical.
The stellar band performances are capped off by an entertaining duet with Dami Ollukoya, who plays the role of legendary vocalist PP Arnold; who’s famed relationship with Marriott saw with him write the hit song ‘Afterglow’ for her, before ultimately deciding to keep it for the band.
It’s a shame that there isn’t more live music to counteract this very dialogue heavy musical, which in places seems a tad melodramatic. Simmons is a very talented actor and manages to piece in humour throughout – although it’s clear some audience members found his running monologue a bit tedious and would have preferred to see more of the band.
The show’s final scene between Simmons, Marriott, and his mother, played by the shows writer and producer Carole Harrison, felt ridiculously melodramatic. Having seen that Harrison had wrote the screenplay, I can only presume that this was added to show off her own acting chops. However, it failed to connect with the audience emotionally and felt like an odd end to the show.
However, before the curtain finally dropped, Harrison delivered a heartfelt speech thanking cast and crew before welcoming back the band with Tim Edwards in possession of Marriott’s final guitar. The crew then rose to their feet for the encore, which saw them sing their hearts out to the shows eponymous song title.
On the whole the show was fun in parts, but felt forcibly soppy at times. It did, however, succeed in bringing the mods back out in force, who certainly enjoyed singing along to some of The Small Faces’ classic tunes.
Recent Comments