Picture: Darren Bell
Club Tropicana continues at New Wimbledon Theatre, London until 27 April 2019, then tours until 10 August.
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
When a musical has its world premiere in Bromley, you can be pretty sure it won’t be Shakespeare (no disrespect to Bromley) and Club Tropicana is almost what it says on the tin, “a hilarious new feel-good show”.
Well, “hilarious” might be stretching it a bit but the Wimbledon branch of the Joe McElderry fan club, if there is one, laughed and giggled at every innuendo and mention of anything below the navel however forced the joke.
Producer Mark Goucher hits the nail on the head in his programme note when he says “we are not trying to win any prizes but to give you a good night out”.
And thanks to robust performances from a ticket-selling cast featuring the 2009 X Factor winner McElderry and former Sugababe Amelle Berrabah, the 20-plus hits of the 1980s are undoubtedly well sung.
And what great songs the 80s gave us! ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’, ‘Don’t It Make Your Brown Eyes Blue’, ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’, ‘Making Your Mind Up’, ‘I Could Be So Good For You’ and ‘Take On Me’ are just half a dozen that have stood the test of time. Surprisingly the show’s title song, Wham’s 1983 hit, doesn’t make an appearance.
The big bonus is having the versatile Kate Robbins on the team, playing Consuela, the hotel maid and cleaner. Her impressions of Margaret Thatcher, Cilla Black and Dolly Parton, her big voice and general fooling around are the best part of the show. She’s a funny lady.
McElderry’s outrageously camp walk as the hotel’s entertainment host Garry elicited a predictable titter or two but we could have done with more singing from him.
The story, by Michael Gyngell, tells of bride-to-be Lorraine (Karina Hind) and jilted groom Olly (Cellen Chugg Jones) getting cold feet on their wedding day and separately booking a holiday in the sun to get over it. And wouldn’t you know, they check in at the same hotel, Club Tropicana.
Hotel staff Serena (Berrabah) and Robert (Neil McDermott) do their best to cheer everybody up and the arrival of posh Christine (Emily Tierney) who may or not be a hotel-of-the-year inspector checking out the Tropicana keeps everyone on their toes. In any case, Tropicana’s chances of winning are torpedoed by a ruthless rival hotel.
It’s all padded shoulders, wild hair and crazy outfits, a sort of Love Island meets Benidorm, played at high speed with co-directors Samuel Holmes and Nick Winston never taking their collective feet off the pedal. Winston doubles up as choreographer of dance routines from an ensemble of mixed ability.
Other name parts are played by the big-voiced Rebecca Mendoza, Rory Phelan, Tara Verloop and Kane Verrall, and the band of five get seriously stuck into the vast array of pop songs.
At just two hours with interval, it mercifully doesn’t outstay its welcome and it’s not hard to imagine audiences across the country warming to its sunny disposition. There are 18 more tour stops on its journey to August.
The jury’s out as to whether it is West End worthy but if you’re looking for something sunny and good-hearted in these gloomy Brexit times, this is a pleasant enough way to spend an evening.
Jeremy Chapman
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