By William Mills
At Theatre Royal, Brighton, running until Sat 15 March 2014
Rod Stewart Musical
Comedian Ben Elton
has written a musical masterpiece based on the songs of Scottish rock legend Rod Stewart which are interwoven perfectly with the script.
Satan (played by Tiffany Graves) makes a Faustian pact with love sick Stu (Ben Heathcote) to transform into his life into rock and roll legend Rod Stewart forever drinking and womanising on tour but leaving true love Mary(Jenna Lee-James) waiting patiently for his return to reality…..
Sugababe Jade Ewen
gave a brilliant performance as Dee Dee. A really top singer, who came 5th representing the UK at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, stood out from the rest. She partners Rocky (Andy Rees) who also gave a stellar performance.
Maggie May
‘Maggie May’ opened the second half after the interval with Stu and Baby Jane (also Tiffany Graves) in a huge bed in centre stage.
Sailing
By now the audience had totally warmed to the show and many were wearing the thoughtfully distributed sailors’ paper hats jumping to their feet for ‘Sailing’. By the end virtually everyone was on their feet swaying to the music.
Stoner (Michael McKell of TV’s Doctors) gave a highly amusing performance tempting Stu with one more party to get drunk at… his humour had the audience roaring with laughter.
Finally Stu just wants to be himself and be with his sweetheart, but this doesn’t stop him having a grand finale with all the cast dancing to the best of Rod Stewart…
All in all a fabulous evening, loved by the full house.
