Review: SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, Palace Theatre Manchester - UK tour

Photo credit: Paul Coltas

A new production of Saturday Night Fever, the disco dancing classic, has set off on a UK tour to get audiences across the nation in the groove for a Saturday night on any night of the week.

Based on the 1977 film of the same title, Saturday Night Fever is produced and directed by Bill Kenwright and brings us some of the most loved tunes from the 70s.  The show isn’t the most integrated musical as there are very few songs that are performed by the characters within the show themselves; the majority of the songs are sung by the show’s very own Bee Gees, played by AJ Jenks, Drew Ferry and Oliver Thomson, who are all fabulous and have nailed the signature vocal style of the Bee Gees.  The trio are situated upstage on a raised platform above the main performance space whenever they are onstage, which feels a shame that they aren’t more involved.  One musical moment in the show which seems a little out of place is when the character DJ Monty sings, as it appears that the performer playing the DJ is lip syncing along to the live vocals of one of the Bee Gees.

Throughout the show, the energy level of the production fluctuates frequently, which seems to be due to the script having small scenes scattered across the story that feel quite random and out of place, as well as the stage going to black out or an almost blacked out lighting state for most of the scene changes.  By having so many blackouts, the show feels very stop-start and it disrupts the flow of the performance, and it also manages to make scenes feel less energised than they really are since the blackouts make it feel like it resets the energy each time, rather than letting it flow from scene to scene more naturally.  That being said, the high energy atmosphere of all the scenes at the disco with most of the company up on the dance floor are incredible and is exactly what this show should be.

Bill Deamer’s choreography sometimes seems a little repetitive, but it encapsulates the very essence of the 70s disco era and looks incredibly effective when all the cast are dancing in unison.  Embellishing the scenes on the dance floor is a giant mirror upstage, which is angled so that the whole audience can see the classic 70s illuminated dance floor, and the dazzling lighting design by Nick Richings captures the cheesiness and the grooviness of disco we all know and love.

Each member of the cast perform excellently, particularly in the dance numbers, but Jack Wilcox playing leading man Tony Manero really carries the show.  Wilcox is a superb dancer, and he really embodies the character of Tony, complete with the perfect strut.  One musical number in the show simply has Tony getting changed into the iconic white disco suit as the only action onstage whilst the Bee Gees and other company members sing, but even in something as simple and changing clothes, Wilcox has the audience mesmerised by the way he commands stage presence.

Whilst it may not be the smoothest or most consistent show, Saturday Night Fever still makes for a good night out to enjoy a trip back in time to experience the dance and music of the 1970s.  Whatever your thoughts on the show, you should be dancing at the curtain call with the full company led by Tony Manero and lose yourself to the groove of the high energy disco scene.

*** Three stars

Reviewed by: Jess Dalloway

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