Jukebox musicals tend to be all about the feelgood factor. It’s ambitious, then, that David West Read – the writer of & Juliet – has chosen to use Roy Orbison’s songs to consider the experiences of death and grief.
We meet Kenna (Lena Hall), a singer-songwriter, just after she has received a life-altering – and potentially life-ending – diagnosis. As she confronts her own mortality, Kenna decides to memorialise herself ahead of time by throwing a party at Felices Sueños, a family-run Mexican restaurant specialising in tacos, margaritas and celebrations of the dead. With some help from the owners, and without revealing the true reason for the reunion, Kenna assembles her former bandmates Ramsey (Oliver Tompsett), Jane (Sian Reese-Williams) and Donovan (Noël Sullivan) for a “going away” party.
