Club Tropicana – The Musical attempts to link a story of love lost and found to the songs of the 1980’s.
Photo Credit: Darren Bell
The opening scene of this new musical is set at a wedding, where a groom is left standing at the alter by his bride. The church congregation dances along to the songs ‘Don’t You Want Me Baby’ and ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’, while the bridal party comfort their friend. They decide not to waste the honeymoon trip and head off to the airport. As a result the groom and his mates, along with the bridal party, arrive separately at the Club Tropicana hotel with no knowledge of each other. The hotel staff are expecting a hotel inspector to arrive and the story unfolds around the staff and guests of the hotel.
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The Holiday Rep, played by Joe McElderry, pours his energy into his performance, getting the audience dancing from the start. The songs are familiar to those who remember the 1980’s including Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper, ‘Oops Upside Your Head’, ‘Fantastic Day’, ‘Addicted To Love’ and ‘She Drives Me Crazy’. The song lines are used to good effect for a laugh or to link together with the story. Classic ’80s pop songs are reproduced well, but are often a bit pastiche as they attempt to recreate the originals. Some of the songs are not as brilliant when shared between the cast but it does help to highlight the poignancy of the songs.
The show is frequently funny, and the hotel ‘Consuela’ (Kate Robins) raises a lot of the laughs. Occasionally, during our performance, the audience missed the jokes, but overall they went down well. The script seems to lurch from one gag or scene to the next, with a feeling of Hi-De-Hi or pantomime about it. The good humour and light heartedness of the whole production perhaps leaves the more poignant moments lacking an emotional depth, however the show overall was fun and entertaining.
The staging and outfits gave us an impression of an ’80s package holiday, with colourful exuberance. Despite its flaws, Club Tropicana is an enjoyable evening and a chance to hear some classic 1980’s hits.
Club Tropicana – The Musical is touring the country until August 2019.
