Shout

Here’s a show to really shout about. Every now and then the fringe hits you
with a burst of noisy energy and sheer talent that simply takes your breath
away.

And after All You Need is Love, the West End’s dismal Beatles revue,
Shout! proves that all you need is love for the material to actually
succeed when you’re doing a jukebox musical revue, trawling through a chosen
field – in this case, pop songs of the 1960s – to make something both
happy and happening.

The American director, Phillip George, admits in a programme note that the
idea for the show was born, as these things so often are, in a London gay
bar, the day that Dusty Springfield died and “You Don’t Have to Say You Love
Me” was played on the jukebox. That song, and more than 40 others – from
“Georgy Girl” and “Boom Bang-a-Bang!” to “You’re My World” and “Downtown” –
are strung together in an irresistible collage of melody and magic. After
Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent, the team most represented here are Bacharach
and David, with Carol King, Neil Diamond and Chris Andrews also contributing
songs.

As zippily staged by George with co-creator and choreographer David
Lowenstein, it is performed by a zesty five-girl ensemble of big talents
and bigger wigs. There’s nothing fake or imposed onto the material, just the
terrific voices of Sophie-Louise Dann, Lizzie Deane, Hilary O’Neil,
Catherine Porter and Gemma Wardle performing terrific songs.

The result is a total winner.

Mark Shenton