Our House (Plymouth)

Disappointing.

Our House has such promise – Madness music and lyrics, an exuberant cast, a Blood Brothers-type storyline, a Tim Frith (Calendar Girls, Kinky Boots) script and the Olivier Award for Best Musical – yet the evening misses the mark.

The touring New Wolsey Theatre production touts some good performances particularly from Daniella Bowen (Dr Doolittle, Scrooge) as Sarah, Sean Needham (Return to the Forbidden Planet) as Dad and Rebecca Bainbridge (Mamma Mia, Tonight’s the Night) as Kath and sterling back up (particularly some sassy performances from Sarah’s posse), so the problem is not in the delivery. It just falls flat.

The pace is slow and the sound, although crisped up after a dire blended opening, still blurred too much to distinguish voice from the live music. Such a shame when the Nutty Boys’ ska/pop sax-heavy hits should have everyone seat-dancing but, with much to watch and some tedious sequences – such as the trite umbrella dance – having a good time is kept at arm’s length.

Joe Casey (enthusiastic hoofer, Eurovision: Your Country Needs You 2010 runner-up and amazing quick-change artiste Alexis Gerred) is an ordinary 16-year-old North Londoner who has to make a split second decision which will change his life. With shades of Sliding Doors, the two possible stories are played out in black and white – literally – as good Joe is dressed in white Chav uniform and bad Joe in black, while colour-coded doors to the side of the stage revolve to remind us in case of his absence on stage or general lack of attention.

School days, musical condoms, gondolas on the Nile, Vegas, HM Prison, Camden Market, Legal Aid offices and more move the dual stories through good and bad fortune to a common fiery end. And all on a crowded set which at times includes some eight musicians as well as the actors.

Mark Walters’ set is an Ikea delight with storage a premium – boxes slide under risers, blocks break into steps and stack – but overall it is cramped, and that is in Plymouth which is one of the largest stages on the tour. Ben Cracknell’s lighting is somewhat 80s and at times off point, with ends of a line-up plunged into shadow while Will Dukes’s projections add interest with the Escher-like staircases particularly apt.

Musical director Dai Watts needs to get the sound quality right, which will lift the production, otherwise a clever idea and often well executed but just too far off the pace to excite.

– Karen Bussell