The Commitments Review

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Do you like good music? That sweet soul music? Yeah? Yeah?  Well if so you’ll be wanting to roll down to The Regent Theatre to catch the world’s hardest working band, in the form of Roddy Doyle’s fictional Dublin working class soul heroes – The Commitments.

The musical with soul, directed by Jamie Lloyd and adpated for the stage by Doyle himself from both his bestselling book and movie, certainly does feature the hardest working band – that’s a given!  The entire cast of actor-musicians worked their tailfeathers off to win over an opening night capacity crowd at The Regent, who were already getting a bit tetchy following a 25 minute technical delay in getting the show started.

But win them round they did, and by the adrenaline fueled finale the entire theatre was on its feet having being convinced by the exceptional cast that they had all had a great time.  I too was on my feet by the end.

But I have to say it took a long time to get going, and leading up to that frenetic final twenty minutes this show does struggle to decide whether it’s a play with music, or a full on jukebox musical.

The songs, as iconic and as brilliantly performed as they are, do not tend to move the story along as they usually tend to do in a musical.  In fact only one ‘half spoken – half sung’ version of ‘Mr Pitiful’ attempts to connect to the narrative.

What’s it about?

The show attempts to tell the story about the creation, rise and ultimate fall of an eighties Dublin pub/club soul band, masterminded by local ‘jack-the-lad’ Jimmy Rabbite.

To be frank the plot is exceptionally thin and the sheer pace at which each micro scene is played out makes it very difficult to emotionally connect with any of the plotlines or characters.  In the end any poignancy that existed in both the book and the movie is lost and the narrative kind of collapses as the show moves into its roof-blowing finale.

Stage design for the tour is almost identical, but a smaller version, to the one used in the West End, and very evocative of the the downtrodden working class Northside of Dublin in the eighties.  Sound was spot on, and the lighting for this tour is quite terrific, and there is so much of it that it must surely need a trailer all of its own to be toured around the country.

The shining light of this show though is the cast, who in between making sure microphone cables don’t get tangled, and bar stools and tables don’t go flying as they strut their stuff on them, perform over 20 legendary sweet sexy sounding soul tracks that all just sound pretty fantastic to be honest.

Who’s in it?

This is very much an ensemble piece, and every one of the cast is incredible.  But it would be a crime not to single out Brian Gilligan as ‘Deco’ the obnoxious lead singer of the band.

Brian has been with the show since its inception back in 2013 at The Palace Theatre in London’s West End, although not initally playing this principal role.  So he’s had time to develop that part to the point at which he can nail it the way he does.  Oh, and he also offered to ‘Ride’ the entire audience at the end of the show.  Most of us made our excuses and left en masse at that point.

The Commitments plays the Regent Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent until Saturday 19 November 2016.

SHARE THIS SHOW WITH A TWEET

[bctt tweet=”Ladies and Gentleman – the world’s hardest working band Roddy Doyles The @CommitmentsTour are at @RegandVic – https://www.staffordshiretheatre.com/the-commitments-at-regent-theatre-stoke-review/” via=”no”][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1458774858440{background-color: #e8e8e8 !important;}”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1458950926278{padding-right: 40px !important;padding-left: 40px !important;}”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_custom_heading text=”DATES, TIMES and BOOKING” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1458775149096{padding-top: 10px !important;}”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner css=”.vc_custom_1458775554849{margin-bottom: 30px !important;}” offset=”vc_col-lg-6 vc_col-md-12″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1479173271824{padding-right: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”]

WHERE

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BOX OFFICE

[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”BOOK ONLINE NOW” style=”flat” shape=”square” color=”juicy-pink” size=”lg” i_type=”openiconic” i_icon_openiconic=”vc-oi vc-oi-star” link=”url:http%3A%2F%2Fwww.atgtickets.com%2Fshows%2Fthe-commitments%2Fregent-theatre%2F%23buy-now||target:%20_blank” add_icon=”true” css=”.vc_custom_1479173033025{margin-top: -15px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1458950587230{padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”]Note that this online booking button will take you to the theatres own secure online booking centre. 

If you need help please contact the venue box office on the number provided above.  Enjoy the show.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1459461196945{background-color: #c1c1c1 !important;}”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1458950926278{padding-right: 40px !important;padding-left: 40px !important;}”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_custom_heading text=”DISCOUNTS and OFFERS” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1459461038926{padding-top: 10px !important;}”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1459492277543{padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”]

Very few available.  The only ongoing options are the following:

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZBvB6reWpk” title=”VIDEO TRAILER – (UK TOUR)”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1458774858440{background-color: #e8e8e8 !important;}”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1459159851723{padding-right: 40px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;padding-left: 40px !important;}”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_custom_heading text=”SEEN THIS SHOW? SUBMIT YOUR REVIEW” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1458936183375{padding-top: 10px !important;}”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][vc_column offset=”vc_col-lg-12″][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1459162231179{padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;padding-left: 30px !important;}”][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1459162663301{padding-bottom: 20px !important;}” offset=”vc_col-md-12″][vc_column_text]We love to hear what people think about Staffordshire Theatre – so why not share your feedback about this show and help others to decide if they’d like to see it.  All reviews can be anonymous.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″ offset=”vc_col-md-12″][vc_btn title=”SUBMIT A REVIEW” style=”flat” shape=”square” color=”juicy-pink” align=”left” i_type=”openiconic” i_icon_openiconic=”vc-oi vc-oi-user” link=”url:%23||” add_icon=”true”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1458934303194{padding-bottom: 20px !important;background-color: #e8e8e8 !important;}”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1458950862541{padding-right: 40px !important;padding-left: 40px !important;}”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner css=”.vc_custom_1458930987263{padding-right: 20px !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”JOIN THE FREE STAFFORDSHIRE THEATRE NEWSLETTER” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1458928183290{padding-top: 10px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1458935765352{padding-right: 20px !important;}”]With stories, news, offers, features, and even competitions and fun quizzes ALL about theatre in Staffordshire.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″ offset=”vc_col-lg-6 vc_col-md-12″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1459165350582{padding-right: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”]

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