I’ll tell you what, that Gary Barlow can really sing. Every time the pop star performs a snippet of one of Take That’s greatest hits, this strange hybrid of a show lights up. His singing is still properly powerful – authentic, emotional and intriguingly enigmatic – and it’s a thrill to experience it at such close quarters. If only this one-man show had explored the places that Barlow’s music takes him. Instead, this is effectively a shrunken pop concert turned inside out, with the stage patter stretched to breaking point and the songs stripped right back. Could it be magic? No.
Barlow created the show alongside Calendar Girls writer Tim Firth and the script feels far too sentimental and, despite a number of self-deprecating skits, just a little bit smug. As Barlow recounts his relatively straightforward path to success, from playing at the local labour clubs in Cheshire to fairly quickly being discovered and hitting the road with Take That, there are very few surprises or gritty details. There’s little tension either. This is effectively the Take That story – and we all know that turned out pretty well.
Even the moments of pathos and sadness end up feeling neatly packaged. Barlow’s feud with Robbie Williams turns into a running joke but you get the feeling there’s something much feistier and uglier lurking beneath Barlow’s sneaky swipes at the one band member who chose to step away. Barlow also talks about family tragedy, depression, dope and his struggle with bulimia, but it’s all very self-contained and controlled – as if Barlow is performing a sanitised version of himself, tidily flawed but not entirely truthful.
Designer Es Devlin and lighting designer Bruno Poet – both heavy hitters in the world of theatre and music – have been given relatively little to do in a show that feels like a dressed-up conversation rather than something genuinely dramatic. The only real drama happens when Barlow sinks gratefully on to his piano stool (he looks like he’s coming home whenever he gets near a Yamaha) and begins to sing. Gary and his piano. Now that’s a love story I’d love to see.
