Paige Peddie, Joseph Vella and Joseph Peacock in Becoming Nancy at Birmingham Rep. Picture: Mark Senior
Becoming Nancy continues at the Birmingham Rep until 2 November 2024.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Ring the school bell, we have a new British musical to talk about. Becoming Nancy is adapted from the 2011 novel of the same name by Terry Ronald (who also has a co-credit for additional music and lyrics), and is currently playing at the Birmingham Rep. The show first hit the stage in 2019 in Atlanta to mixed reviews, but following some reworking, it’s back to share its coming-of-age story of coming out, acceptance and finding your spotlight.
Set in London’s East Dulwich in 1979, 16-year-old David Starr (played by Joseph Peacock) is bright with a promising future, and has his sights firmly set on playing Fagin in his school’s production of Lionel Bart’s Oliver! However, with the class lacking female cast members with the vocal range to pull off the role of Nancy, teacher Mr McClarnon (Stephen Ashfield) goes down the unconventional route and casts David in the role. Initially disappointed, David sees the casting as a chance to be centre stage like his idols Sting, Debbie Harry and Kate Bush, and begins to learn the role, bringing nervous discomfort from his mum (Rebecca Trehearn) and downright anger from his dad (Mathew Craig).
David meets school football captain Maxie Boswell (Joseph Vella), who’ll be playing Bill Sikes opposite him, and romance soon blossoms, inciting prejudice led by school bully Jason Lancaster (Seb Harwood), who is also leading an equally hateful racist campaign against David’s friend Frances (Paige Peddie). As opening night approaches, the characters explore who they really are and learn the importance of being your most authentic self.
Becoming Nancy isn’t the first show to tackle the themes it explores, and musical theatre fans will recognise elements from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Kinky Boots and Stiles and Drewe’s own Soho Cinders. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, they’re all great shows and there’s no such thing as too much representation.
Elliot Davis’ book treats the exploration with a soft touch, perhaps a little too broadly which sometimes comes off as clunky, and could dig more deeply to make its points more powerfully. The characters are all very sweet but do feel largely generic, with little to make them individually stand out, and the wider cast of peripheral roles are largely unused and could be trimmed down.
One of the biggest frustrations of the show is that it relies on cheap stereotypes to get laughs, using camp portrayals and cliched references to remind its audiences “this character is gay!” for an easy laugh. Musical theatre writing should be at the forefront of changing this kind of perception, not supporting it. But largely the story is told with such heart, positivity and the same kind of “puppy-dog” innocence that makes Heartstopper such a joy, and this approach mostly outweighs a lot of the shortcomings.
George Stiles (music) and Anthony Drewe (lyrics) are back on form again and Becoming Nancy is probably their strongest and most cohesive work in some time. While there are a few too many trite lyrics on display, the songs are catchy, instantly likeable and range from a Wildhorn-esque megaballad to some perky pop and a couple of all-out disco bangers that will live in your head for days. A six-track EP is already available and we can only hope that the full cast recording follows soon.
Choreography (by Jerry Mitchell, who also directs) is fantastic and brilliantly delivered with energy, and while the staging can sometimes be predictable, the choreography certainly makes up for it.
Peacock proves himself a true triple threat as David, giving an instantly likeable portrayal, dancing up a storm and hitting every big note that the score demands. He doesn’t look anywhere near 16 but his performance soon forgives that. He’s matched well by Vella, who gives his Maxie an abundance of energy and warmth that it’s no surprise Peacock’s David falls for him instantly. Craig conveys the struggles of a father accepting his son’s homosexuality well, and Daisy Greenwood’s turn as Abigail Henson brings a lot of fun.
Stealing the show are Genevieve Nicole, Trehearn and Ashfield and their bonkers portrayals of David’s 1970s icons, which inject huge amounts of personality and high-camp into the show (Nicole’s Kate Bush is worth the ticket price alone).
Trehearn also provides a standout moment as David’s mother singing about her child, turning the undeniable schmaltz-fest ‘About Six Inches From Your Heart’ into a showstopper and reminding us why she’s one of the West End’s finest voices.
Becoming Nancy will be one of those shows that critics will pick apart, but audiences won’t care and will take it to their hearts, bringing huge amounts of positivity and some toe-tapping tunes to brighten up these darkening evenings.
Like watching two Andrex puppies fall in love, you can try and dislike it, but the adorableness will win you over. Absolute feel-good entertainment guaranteed to make you smile, Becoming Nancy will hopefully help a new generation to find their authentic selves and their communities, and let their inner ‘Nancy’s’ fly free.
Rob Bartley
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