Just For One Day - Old Vic / Shaftesbury

Perhaps that was one of the changes that went in from last Thursday then, as certainly when I saw it then there was a fair bit of it in Act II, led by Tamara Tare’s character.

This got an easy 5 stars from me last night.

I was worried going in after reading some of the posts on here that I wouldn’t enjoy it but I was fully hooked once I got into the swing of it.

I think it did a very good job of telling the story to both a nostalgic audience but also a new modern audience - and acknowledged the issues that the Live Aid story had (white saviour complex, mainly) in a knowing but humorous way. I’m in my 30s and it never once felt preachy or cringe to me. In fact, I took the final scene to mean “1 person (Bob) made all this change in 1985. Look at all of the characters who were impacted by that 1 person. Just 1 person can make a difference - you need to make that first step.”. You could apply that logic to any situation. I think it’s a really inspiring way to link the story to a new generation - especially in a time where the Tories have been in power for over a decade, LGBTQ+ rights are under threat and climate change is about to kill our planet. Sound familiar?

Speaking of which, the only issue I had with the show is the use of Margaret Thatcher as comic relief. Thatcher’s policies are still having a major impact on people across the country. We all remember her and were impacted by her. To turn her into a posh caricature who sings, raps and dances didn’t sit quite right with me.

The music never felt shoehorned and I loved that it also flowed the natural running order of the concert. The band were super tight and every song was sang amazingly - without it ever feeling like a tribute show.

Craig Els’s portrayal of Bob Geldof was spot on, as was Joel Montague’s Harvey Goldsmith (once they gave him something to do in Act 2).

Overall, an incredible night at the theatre. This show must have a future planned after the Old Vic. I would go and see it again in a heartbeat.

Utter tosh. With a modern audience in mind, I still found it preachy and offensive. It did everything wrong in terms of storytelling.

But the superfan of this show will be along shortly to point out, “everyone had fun; isn’t that the point?!!”. Well, to that I say only this: bread and circuses.

And let's not forget Mel Brooks' hilarious Hitler.

But whereas Stalin and Hitler were roundly skewered in the lampooning, this show's Thatcher is such a light touch, it feels like we are being invited to warm to her. The skit felt like it might have been written for a Young Conservatives Xmas revue.

This is featured on the One Show 7pm BBC1 tonight if anybody is curious and wants to find out more.

I'm glad they are featuring it so that people who are following this thread on here can see just how bad it really isn't.

  Well that's me told. 

I'm far too long in the tooth to be irritated by the views of others.  Each to their own.

No feud here! Just a difference in opinion, we actually agree more often than not, we have the exact reverse positions on “Totoro”, but agree entirely about OFAH and LOTR. Don’t have to agree with everything someone says to respect their opinion and enjoy their posts. Healthy debate is normal - or at least, it used to be…

I must say, that this thread has totally removed any need for me to see it. I’m bored of it already. 😑

Absolutely intrigued to see this in a few weeks. Killer vocals and big production can usually make me forgive any plot shortcomings so rather hope and suspect this may be my kind of thing.

I enjoyed this - found it quite funny in places - right up until
the curtain call when the woman in front decided to hold her phone above her head to record it, at which point my annoyance seriously soured the experience. I did tell her after that I didn’t want to watch it through her phone screen but she was pretty unrepentant.

WTF 😡 can’t people watch things without getting their phone out any more?!

Anyway, it’s clearly intended to be an inspirational piece but I don’t think it quite works that way, with most of the charm coming from nostalgia. Nostalgia both for the innocence of the time when people really thought they could ‘Feed The World’ and for the music.

Characters are engaging enough and I think they were wise not to have impersonations of the original artists.