Reader Reviews
Radio Times (The Watermill Theatre, Newbury)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | at last : a show that lives up to the accolades extracted from reviews. It was even better than I'd been lead to believe. - alan harvey | 22 Oct 12 |
| What a talented cast. Loved every minute. I do hope Radio Times goes on tour so as I can see it again and eventually ends up in the west end. - ils | 15 Sep 11 |
| What a lovely, funny, charming, energetic pile of fun this show is. I was certainly not expecting such a good time, having been persuaded to take my aged mum, but i really loved the show and the clever talented attractive cast giving 150%. This funny little show has enough energy and pzazz to light up any theatre. And there is even a tap dancing camel!Who could ask for anything more?I had a blast. Thank you and well done to everyone involved, and can i take "Jeeps" home with me please? - cleverchryssie | 01 Sep 11 |
| I saw this show last night. As a regular at the Watermill i expected a show of the highest quality. But this exceeded my expectations - i think its the funniest, quickest, and slickest show I have seen there. The pace never stops, and I didn't want it to end. My wife was in tears of delight. What a great cast. Gary Wilmot, as ever, a brilliant star - and Anna Jane Casey is magnificent. Andrew C Wadsworth had me in stitches throughout - a great comedy performance. But my personal favourite was Christian Edward's beautifully delicate and funny portrayal of Jeeps the sound man. I can't wait to go again, i have never been to see two performances of the same show - but I definetly will to this! I really hope the show goes to London - it is exactly what is needed in todays hard times. Thanks so much - Jon Crouch | 20 Aug 11 |
| You’d be forgiven for thinking the proscenium arch which helps create the Criterion Theatre in the blitz was a permanent feature of this theatre. This Noel (Me & My Girl) Gay show, set onstage and backstage at a wartime radio show, is so ‘at home’ here in Tom Rogers design. I was never that keen on Me & My Girl (too twee for my taste) and the most recent outing of this show in the West End was mediocre fare. The Watermill has become such a trusted musicals friend of late, that this didn’t put me off (as it didn’t Copacabana last year) and how right I was. Director Caroline Leslie’s first musical for the Watermill is as good as any that have gone before in their illustrious recent history. The radio show has a new producer, keen to enforce the rules about what can and can’t be broadcast. The MC / comic / scriptwriter regularly flouts them with his sauciness and double entendres. The ventriloquist doesn’t turn up, which means the producer has to become performer. The guest star is a Hollywood hearthrob, old flame of the MC’s girlfriend, whose arrival threatens that relationship. Oh so simple but with a very funny book by Abi Grant and some fine tunes. As always here, the actors double-up as musicians, so we get lady saxophonists and an eleven piece ukulele band; the musical standards under MD Paul Herbert are outstanding. The Grosvenor Girls give us those classic forties harmonies and look gorgeous in liberty print frocks and period hairdos and we have Amy the forces sweetheart. There’s a comic number, Ali Baba’s Camel, with everyone dressed in arab robes and fez’s and the song Run Rabbit Run! The smile never left my face. Many of the lines are corny beyond belief and the double entendres are often familiar, but when they are delivered by Gary Wilmot they are absolutely delicious. He’s the archetypal music hall entertainer who has exceptional comic timing and bucketloads of charm. His hapless sidekick Wilfred is played to perfection by Julian Littman. Andrew C. Wadsworth morphs brilliantly from ‘Can’t Do ‘grump to a stage-struck and unlikely star. Anna-Jane Casey (for it is she!) is of course as fine a romantic lead as you could wish for and her chemistry with Wilmot is key to the show’s success. This is my ninth Watermill musical and the fifth consecutive one at their lovely home base. It has now become as much of a summer fixture as the Proms, the Globe and the Open Air Theatre. As the show’s best tune says – they’re publishing the sun. - Gareth James | 17 Aug 11 |
| This is a show of the highest quality; I cannot wait to see it again in town, it is produced to such a high standard and is the funniest show since The Producers. I laughed until i wanted them to stop. Does anyone know of any transfer plans? please post if you hear any rumours. - MRowrowrow | 16 Aug 11 |
| I saw this show last night too! It must be one of the funniest things I have ever seen. The woman next to me was literally weeping with laughter! I've booked again. I hope this show goes into town so my drama students can watch! - Casey Ball | 16 Aug 11 |
