Picture: Alex Brenner
Footballers’ Wives: The Musical continues at Music Hall at Assembly Rooms until 24 August 2025.
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
What a show – high camp knockout! Great score, performances and a concise book. It may not be highbrow, but the height of the talent involved is spectacular.
Inspired by the raunchy TV series, the setting is 2000 and Tanya Turner (Ceili O’Connor) is back and feistier than ever. O’Connor radiates confidence and power – both in her character and her mighty performance. She is wife to footballer Jason Turner (Matt Beveridge), captain of the team, making Tanya default captain of the WAGs (wives and girlfriends).
The others in the cast are clear to read as characters and each have their own plot to reveal. India Chadwick is wonderfully wide-eyed as Chardonnay Lane, the airhead model turned WAG. There’s a fabulous wedding scene for her marriage to Kyle (Tom Bowen) who lets the audience ‘in’ with his tongue-in-cheek delivery.
Then there’s the newbie couple with Leesa Tulley playing Donna to Oliver Evans as Ian. The new exotic singleton, Leonardo Vieira is the oh-so god-like Salvo and flirts outrageously through song and dance. The absolute charmer! The fourth couple are Ty-Reece Stewart with Emma Jane Fearnley adding to the glamour and glorious vocals. Fearnley also delights as Magda.
All the performances are top rate. The songs are terrifically catchy with Bond-like luscious orchestrations. Congratulations, Kath Gotts for the music and lyrics, alongside Maureen Chadwick’s exemplary book. This is a perfect example of reducing a show’s run time for Fringe conditions, but this show could easily run in two acts.
Anthony Banks’ direction dovetails perfectly with the precise, crisp choreography from Arlene Phillips and Richard Roe.
Special mentions to Matt Rixon as the creepy Frank Laslett and Gillian Kirkpatrick’s twisted Nurse Dunkley.
Hilarious, quality stuff!
Fiona Orr
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