Cilla (UK Tour)
New Victoria Theatre
Reviewed on Tuesday 21st March 2018 by Melanie Mitchell
★★★★
Cilla The Musical, intertwines the story of the rise from teenage typist to number one singing star, with the evolving love story between her and her future husband Bobby Willis.
In the 1950’s Liverpool was becoming increasingly well known, worldwide, for its unique style of music known as the Mersey beat. It was in the clubs around Merseyside that the young Cilla White worked as a coat check girl, often performing on stage along side the likes of Gerry and the Pacemakers and most notably the Beatles. When Brian Epstein discovers the 20-year-old Cilla at the Blue Angel Jazz Club, her meteoric rise to fame begins.
The set design is superb, cleverly changing from the tiny flat in which Cilla lives with her family to the Clubs and streets of Liverpool. You really get the feeling for the area at the time and that you are part of the audience in the now legendary Cavern club.
The lighting changes throughout, reflecting the mood of each scene, especially in the second half when Cilla is an international star with her own UK TV show. My only criticism was that from where I was sitting at times it was quite blindingly bright.
Kara Lily Hayworth is simply superb as the young Cilla. She absolutely brings the character to life, showing not only Cilla’s humour and confidence but also her naivety of the industry at the time. Her Liverpudlian accent is excellent and if you closed your eyes you would of thought Cilla was in the room. Kara’s singing voice is absolutely faultless, perhaps a bit sweeter and dare I say more professional than our Cilla’s was. However, this is probably down to her classical training background.
Carl Au, plays Bobby Willis, Cilla’s long-time boyfriend who goes on to become her manager and Husband. Carl is totally believable in the part and has an extremely good singing voice.
The part of Brian Epstein is played by Andrew Lancel, an extremely talented performer who you may know from Coronation Street and The Bill. You may not know that he also has an excellent singing voice as well. He plays the tortured Epstein brilliantly, giving a sadness and poignancy to the role that I hadn’t expected.
The whole company give a sparkling, lively and energetic performance, especially when playing the various groups such as The Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers. However, the standout group performance for me was the casts portrayal of the Momma’s and the Poppa’s rendition of California Dreaming.
Cilla The Musical is showing at the New Victoria Theatre until 24th March 2018. Get a ticket if you still can, not only will you see some fabulous performances and hear some wonderful singing, you are guaranteed to have a most enjoyable evening and a Lorra Lorra fun!
photo credit: Matt Martin
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