James Hameed and Sally Cheng in The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 ¾ – The Musical at the Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch. Picture: Mark Sepple
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 ¾ – The Musical continues at the Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch until 21 May 2022.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Written by Jake Brunger (book and lyrics) with lyrics by Pippa Cleary (music and lyrics), this show is based on the original book by Sue Townsend, part of the hugely popular Adrian Mole series which began in the 1980s. For those of us who remember growing up with the books, it’s like catching up with an old friend.
Playing Adrian, James Hameed does a great job of tackling a lot of teenage topics. There’s his affections for a girl called Pandora (Sally Cheng) and conflicts with friends and family, including his father and mother (played by Steve Simmonds and Sioned Saunders).
The night is packed with magical musical numbers and, as is often seen at the Queen’s Theatre, all of the actors do a fantastic job of both portraying their characters and accompanying themselves on various musical instruments. The score is clever and there are a huge variety of compositions. I didn’t find myself humming the songs after the show but several had me laughing uncontrollably. It really is one of the funniest musicals I have seen for a long time.
There are some odd moments, for example the dream sequence does go on a bit too long, but overall Douglas Rintoul’s production is definitely worth going to see. I loved it so much that I’m genuinely considering making a return visit.
Andy Wilkin
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