Matthew Quinn and Abi Finley in Leader of the Pack – the Ellie Greenwich Musical at the Waterloo East Theatre, London
Leader of the Pack – the Ellie Greenwich Musical continues at the Waterloo East Theatre, London until 31 October.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Pigeonhole this production, at the compact but still quite charming Waterloo East Theatre, as just another jukebox musical and all those behind its creation and slick execution would have every right to feel seriously miffed. The term, of course, has become a veiled insult suggesting a lack of imagination and thin storyline, but those accusations can’t be levelled at this vibrant, funny, moving and rousing production.
Written by Gerald Armin and Peter Rowe, with Bryan Hodgson as musical director, its trump card, of course, is its fabulous soundtrack created and co-written by Ellie Greenwich, mostly at New York’s Brill Building, a pure hit making factory from 1958 to 1970. There, along with with staff writers such as Tony Powers and Jeff Barry, together with producers like Phil ‘Wall of Sound’ Spector (Perry Meadowcroft), she helped to pen such instantly memorable tunes such as ‘Then He Kissed Me’ and ’Da Doo Ron Ron’ (The Crystals), ‘Be My Baby’ and ‘Chapel of Love’ (The Ronettes) and the evergreen ‘River Deep – Mountain High’ (Ike and Tina Turner) – a song that has kept cruise ship singers employed across the decades.
Abi Finley’s performance as Greenwich is impeccably delivered – developing from a pom pom wielding, accordion playing cheerleader right through to the fully-fledged Queen of the Demos who co-wrote hit after hit, opened the doors for girl groups and took no bullshit from her powerful male colleagues, like the impressively corporate music mogul Jerry Leiber, bought convincingly to life by John Sandberg.
Obviously the show’s success hinges on the music and in Lottie-Daisy Francis, Melissa Park and especially the sublime vocals of Sophia Mackay, there’s a trio of voices to treasure as they don various girl group guises, crank up the volume and put real personality into each and every song. When, as pop creation Darlene Love, Mackay sings ‘Today I Met the Boy I’m Gonna Marry’, you are transported back in time in the most wonderfully evocative fashion.
The Greenwich back catalogue still sounds really fresh decades later, while anyone who thinks she just churned out ‘bubble gum tunes for lovesick teenagers’, are forgetting she also co-wrote the almost surreal ‘Remember (Walking in the Sand)’ and, of course, ‘Leader of the Pack’ (1964), an iconic anthem to doomed youth (and love) on a motorbike and surely one of the most original and unexpected hits of all time. The slightly throttled-back version here is a fitting, perfectly presented tribute by the Shangri-Las (Emma Fraser, Emma-Jane Morton and Isobel Bates).
The moment when the stroppy, moody Queens-based teenage group first turns up at the studios, only to dismiss Greenwich as a ‘Doris Day’ has-been, is wonderful, her caustic reaction showing that behind her love for cute lyrics and somewhat sugary sentiments, there was a tough lady you didn’t mess with.
Apart from music, the other true love in her life was co-writer husband, Jeff Barry, played perfectly by Matthew Quinn. When he finally leaves her, the pain is poured out in song, her rendition of ‘I Wish I Never Saw the Sunshine’ being among the finest moments. As Barry reflects on their marriage’s collapse: “we were great at making music [together] – not so great at making a life.”
The only dud note is the opening, somewhat baffling number, which does the production few favours so early on. That aside, this production, clearly a labour of love for artistic director (and theatre founder) Gerald Armin, who met Greenwich back in the early 1990s, demands and fully deserves a bigger London stage. My guess is that will come sooner rather than later.
Derek Smith
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