Get Down Tonight: The KC and the Sunshine Band Musical – Charing Cross Theatre

Picture: Danny Kaan

Get Down Tonight: The KC and the Sunshine Band Musical continues at the Charing Cross Theatre, London until 15 November 2025.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

A really fun, funky fusion of vibrant songs teamed with consistently impressive choreography, this little gem of a musical clearly feels no need to adopt a more traditional slow-burner approach. Given the great back catalogue of 1970s chart-topping machine KC and the Sunshine Band, there’s absolutely no need to hang around in cranking up the tempo and this show hits the ground running, immediately instilling a wonderful feel-good factor – from the first number to the last.

Developed out of the show Who Do Ya Love?, performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last year, based on the book by JF Lawton, this is basically a traditional jukebox musical, but one that has been very carefully thought through, fine-tuned (literally) and honed to create an almost flawless production.

In achieving that, director/choreographer Lisa Stevens deserves huge credit while the producers should be applauded for keeping it lean and musically mean, with a running time at just over 80 minutes, no interval. That takes creative bravery, real focus and a pool of talent.

Ross Harmon as Harry (Wayne Casey), the creative driving force behind the group, shines brighter than a disco mirror ball and when paired vocally with Gina, played impeccably by Annabelle Terry, the effect is gloriously infectious, as is the ensemble’s enthusiasm for the project. Among a young cast keeping up the high energy levels, Finley Oliver impresses in his first professional role alongside his outstanding colleagues.

It would be too easy to say that with such classic tunes as ‘Give It Up’, ‘Shake Your Booty’ and, of course, ‘Get Down Tonight’, plus many more, it was always going to be easier to produce a hit show than a dud, but it’s the musical tightness and tight-knit cast which puts this on a higher level.

Success never comes without personal pain and sacrifice and we learn about the personal and professional struggles of Casey, including his sexual identity, and these add a poignant theme to the production. Through the gloom of the Vietnam war and political turmoil, his music shone like a beacon of hope and liberation not just for the disco-loving generation but personally for him and his close circle of friends. Soul mates who loved life and found a bond in some marvellous music which still sounds fresh in 2025.

When the band takes the tempo down, there’s some genuinely moving numbers, like when Terry sings ‘Are You in His Arms Tonight?’ – a solo musical masterclass; while as Dee, the superb, charismatic Paige Fenlon delivers a complete, consistently fabulous vocal performance. Then there’s Adam Taylor, as Orly (Orlando), the returning, emotionally scarred Vietnam veteran, his characterisation an irresistible blend of shirt-off sweaty physicality, vocal strength and bundles of personality.

Many classic vinyl records from past decades have endured because they are musically tight, packed with iconic lyrics and also quite short. It’s no accident that Get Down Tonight mirrors that approach and pulls it off with truly impressive creative brevity – to quote Harry Wayne Casey, when it comes to musicals, ‘That’s the Way I Like It’.

Derek Smith