Lena Hall in In Dreams at Leeds Playhouse. Picture: Pamela Raith
In Dreams continues at the Courtyard Theatre, Leeds Playhouse until 5 August 2023.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
A rollicking musical about imminent death is scarcely the most obvious premise for a feel-good show in these troubled times.
That this Damoclean fate hangs over the lead character in new musical In Dreams, Kenna (Lena Hall), one-time star vocalist in a long disbanded rockabilly and country group, does little to dispel first doubts.
But director Luke Sheppard’s diverse company cheerfully transcends ancient taboos to prove not only can it be done but done with an uplifting finale.
It’s also achieved by abundant use of Roy Orbison’s back catalogue, embedded in our memories as the long lament of love-lorn America in the sixties.
When Kenna arrives at a remote Mexican bar and restaurant, she could be the embodiment of all those laments. A call to her mobile suggests a darker reality.
But when family matriarch Ana Sofia (Alma Cuervo) learns that Kenna wants to pre-book her own memorial service, she forcefully proposes not the reclusive ceremony her visitor wants but a joyous celebration with friends. For Ana Sofia and family, dying should be celebrated in the spirit of Day of the Dead, the annual festival of communing with deceased loved ones.
Joining the chorus of encouragement are chef and sometime memorial service minister Tom (Leon Craig), together with Oscar and Nicole (Manuel Pacific and Gabriela García), the grandson and granddaughter-in-law of Ana Sofia.
For this world premiere director Sheppard has worked on the project with writer David West Read, writer and executive producer of the hit TV series Schitt’s Creek (reuniting the creatives after their success with & Juliet).
What the two have cleverly done is weave the Orbison canon into their drama while re-fashioning some of the original sentiment.
Oscar’s recounting of a childhood incident in which his kindness won his father’s approval, inspires a different take by the cast on the Travelling Wilburys song ‘Handle Me With Care.’ Most poignantly; ‘In Dreams’, becomes a moving paean by Oscar, not to some illusive lover, but to his grievously missed dead parents.
Reluctantly Kenna allows her hosts to summon old friends to her pre-mortality wake. That includes, unbeknown to her, ex-lover and bandmate Ramsey (Oliver Tompsett), as unwelcome as other bandmates and now married Jane (Sian Reese-Williams) and Donovan (Noel Sullivan) are welcome.
Affable, twice-divorced lawyer George (Richard Trinder) and gay speed cop Officer Lee (Mark Peachey) some how fetch up at the party too. It all takes place in or around the family eaterie, complete with jukebox, small bandstand and glowing ad signs for American beers.
The show bounds along, though momentum dips a little before the interval, only to revive triumphantly in the second half. Many of the glorious Orbison songs are shared by all of the compact cast.
But Hall’s final wrenching version of ‘Crying’ powerfully brings home the lost years between her and charming bad boy Ramsey. His passionate appeal to face the future together is resoundingly complemented by an ovation-winning company finale of ‘You Got it’.
Mike Mckay
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