A jukebox musical featuring the works of Take That might not ever be one for the cool kids; undoubtedly this is a bit broad, but it’s a splurge of feelgood from director Coky Giedroyc and screenwriter Tim Firth, adapting his own stage show, and it’s at least as enjoyable as the much-hyped Mamma Mia! movies.
Aisling Bea gives it loads as Rachel, a hardworking NHS nurse who in her teen years was a massive Take That stan (as no one used to say in 1993) along with her four best mates from school. She is astonished one day to be phoned up by the local radio station and told she’s won a luxury all-inclusive deal for her and some guests to fly to Athens and see Take That on a reunion tour. This brings Rachel to a state of orgasmic excitement combined with a nervous breakdown as she realises she must round up the now middle-aged women she hasn’t seen for 25 years and they’ll all have to measure the joys and bittersweet disappointments of their lives against a Take That soundtrack. And she has to confront a painful memory connected to the last time they saw the band live in Manchester.
