Danny Horn, Oliver Hoare, Zakarie Stokes and Harry Curley in Sunny Afternoon at the New Wimbledon Theatre, London and Touring. Picture: Manuel Harlan
Sunny Afternoon was reviewed at the New Wimbledon Theatre where it continues until 29 November 2025. The tour continues until 30 May 2026.
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Well, Sunny Afternoon, ‘You Really Got Me’ – again! After almost ten years the Kinks musical is back in town, stopping off at Wimbledon on a marathon UK tour that winds up next May and introducing a new generation to the joys of ‘Waterloo Sunset’, ‘Lola’, ‘Dedicated Follower of Fashion’ and all the other Ray Davies hits, as well as reminding nostalgia buffs what amazing stuff he wrote back in the day.
Unlike most jukebox musicals which use pop hits as back-up to storyline, in Sunny Afternoon the songs and the volatile London group which sang them all the way from Muswell Hill to Madison Square Garden are the story. In that respect, very much like the even more successful Jersey Boys. Both are at the top end of the genre, though I find Sunny Afternoon more relatable because of its essential Englishness.
It is no coincidence that the title song clicked in the summer of 1966, right around the time England won the World Cup at Wembley. The euphoria of that remarkable, flag-waving day when the whole country for once was united in joy is wonderfully re-created on and off stage with cast members in among the audience and leading the chorus.
As John Betjeman did with his poetry, so did Davies with his elegiac, quirky, very individualistic lyrics, picking up phrases and thoughts from the people he met and situations he encountered, mostly in and around London.
‘Lola’, inspired by one of the various transvestites, transsexuals and drag queens he supposedly bumped into at a Soho club who “walks like a woman but talks like a man”, must have been controversial at the time and the BBC banned it, though not for its gender-swapping theme but because in its original form it mentioned a branded product (Coca-Cola)!
Ray Davies had to change it to “cherry cola” before getting the all clear and it went on to become one of their biggest hits in 1970. This showstopper is saved until the very end of the show for a pulsating finale that sees pretty well everyone on their feet, chanting the words, swaying and waving their arms about, most of them completely unaware of what the subject matter is.
From the moment the curtain rises on a bank-of-amplifiers set and the boys – the warring Davies brothers Ray and mad, wild electric guitarist Dave, drummer Mick Avory and bass guitarist Pete Quaife – as the Ravens in their pre-Kinks days livening up a local dinner-dance, I loved everything about this production. At two and three-quarter hours, it’s long but never for a moment does it outstay its welcome.
As Ray Davies is credited not only with music and lyrics but for the original story, it might be a bit loaded against brother Dave’s violence and general truculence, but Ray’s own mental problems are not brushed under the carpet and Joe Penhall, the book writer, and director Edward Hall, have ensured the right balance in a production that disturbs but never fails to please.
The four actors play their own instruments quite brilliantly with Guildford School of Acting graduate Zakarie Stokes as Avory making an electrifying pro debut with a stage-stealing, five-minute drum solo and the wild-eyed Oliver Hoare as Dave terrifying as he smashes up an amplifier to obtain the special sound effect that helped make the Kinks unique.
As Ray, Danny Horn does everything right, restless, introspective, a perfectionist riddled with guilt about leaving wife Rasa and child at home while he tours the States and angry about the leeches who are preventing him getting his hands on much of the money his genius has earned.
Not for nothing were they known as the bad boys of rock ‘n’ roll but the beauty of it is there’s plenty of humour to compensate for the violence, the drunken hissy-fits and the swinging of chandeliers.
The a cappella version of ‘Days’ when the boys are joined by their toffee-voiced managers is not only great fun but a masterpiece of choreography – props to choreographer Adam Cooper who gets credit too for the sharp ‘Dedicated Follower of Fashion’ routine when the group is being kitted out in green at the tailor’s. The stage is never less than colourful and that is down to set and costume designer Miriam Buether in a very strong team.
Harry Curley, as bass man Quaife who never really wanted fame and longed for the good old days in north London, nails a tricky part both vocally and instrumentally, while Lisa Wright, who plays Ray’s backing-singer wife and sings beautifully, was in the original 2016 UK tour cast as were Joseph Richardson and Victoria Anderson.
Richardson and Tam Williams were never going to underact as the posh, cricket-mad, out-of-their-depth group management team, while Ben Caplan and Phil Corbitt have striking cameos as chiselling concert promoters. Alasdair Craig, James Chisholm, Deryn Edwards, Jada Langley and Emily Whitby-Samways complete a flawless cast. And I had an absolute blast.
Jeremy Chapman
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