An Officer and a Gentleman
An Officer and a Gentleman
Milton Keynes Theatre (UK Tour)
(Review Complete)
"Should be up where it belongs, but didn't quite get there"
Milton Keynes theatre beckoned once more as we sat in the theatre for the start of the musical “An officer and a Gentleman”. Yet another film being turned in a musical. Is this now the trend?
Story:
Zack Mayo (Luke Baker) who has had a hard life and wants to become an Officer in the US navy. He undertakes a 12 week gruelling programme to fulfil his dream to become a Fighter pilot. He meets the son of an Admiral Sid Worley (Paul French). They are based where there is not a lot going on and the female locals see the way out of town to marry an US Pilot. The two main female characters are Lynnett Pomeroy (Sinead Long) and Paula Pokrifki (Georgia Lennon). The other main female character is Casey Seegar (Olivia Foster-Browne) who wants to be the first female fighter pilot.
Review:
So now you know the back story, which most of the audience knew as we had all seen the film in 1983. However, that’s where it should have stayed or at least been updated. There were some really out of date gender politics issues for me and my guest as the females could only see their way out if they got pregnant by an US Naval Officer. Even the female trainee could only achieve her goals with the help of her male colleagues. (When she was helped to climb a wall in training by fellow male trainees).
The acting was good on occasions and the short dialogue soon led into an 80s anthem. I do have to say that “Family man” was well performed by Paul and Luke. But I also have to say that the females singers whether directed to do so or decided themselves had too many annoying flicks in the voices. Which was such a shame as the songs would have sounded a lot better without the “Mariah Carey” touch.
The show was fragmented in places a sad song and scene suddenly is replaced with an upbeat tune that doesn’t give your brain a chance to process juts what happened and therefore I found myself drifting off.
The young cast were wonderfully talented and really put their heart and soul into it. There were some vocal highlights and some pretty big lows. There was a chemistry between Zack and Paula. But Paula’s Mum and Zacks dad were a little too young to be believed as their parents. Gunnery Sargeant Emil Foley (Jamal Crane Crawford) was a good strong character and a believable sargeant.
Zack did really well in one scene where he is doing really fast press ups while being confronted by the Emil and he didn’t even sweat a drop, but went straight into a powerful song.
There was a good use of staging for this production. The set was impressive with good use of a steel staircase and neon signs showing a F14 Jet and the local bar TJs (Only bar I guess in the town).
The ensemble were very good, although in act one of the ensemble has his arm broken and in the beginning of act two his arm is so good that he was able to dance with a female chorus member and do various lifts without any pain or issue with his previous broken arm. A miracle recovery!
The lighting design by Ben Cracknell is excellent especially the lighting in the fight scene. Sound was very good (Tom Marshall) and hair and makeup (Sam Cox) was true to its period set. well done the creative team.
The final song does not disappoint with Zack coming down a flight of stairs to whisked his love off her feet to carry her away to the life as a Pilots wife.
But for me and my female companion, she said she found the content slightly uncomfortable in the first act and I agreed, what with the gender politics and the flicks in the female voices became very annoying.
But if you want a fun night out and you are a fan of an Officer and Gentleman and can fill in the gaps left by this musical from the film and want to dance to a few 80s classic then do go along and see it. For me it was just too fragmented to keep my attention and I found myself drifting off, even with the cast coming out of character to get the audience to clap along to some of the upbeat songs didn't bring it back and coming out of character is a big no no.
Reviewer: Mark Bilsby.
We are Gifted tickets so that in return we may give an honest review. All comments are those of the reviewer and theirs alone.