Just For One Day - Old Vic / Shaftesbury

When is Press Night for this?

To use 'My Generation' as the baton-pass song, picked up by the young generation and campaigners of today, is undermined by its lyric: 
"Hope I die before I get old".

With environmental collapse, and nuclear threat, there's a chance of that, but I was surprised to find a feelgood show ending on an expression of nihilism. 

Really enjoyable. Some fantastic arrangements and vocals, it sounds wonderful and the cast are really great. I get the likeness to the Come From Away style storytelling and for the most part, it worked. The book could use some work for sure, but really its just a fun night out.

Lyrically it’s about as far away from being a campaigning song as possible:

Why don't you all f-fade away (Talkin' 'bout my generation)
And don't try to dig what we all s-s-say (Talkin' 'bout my generation)
I'm not trying to cause a big s-s-sensation (Talkin' 'bout my generation)
I'm just talkin' 'bout my g-g-g-generation.

I get that it’s meant to be a passing-of-the-baton moment but the song is not particularly associated with Live Aid because The Who were so unrehearsed and shambolic that their reunion was a major disappointment, and the satellite link was having technical problems during their set.

In the context of 'My Generation' the song's original apoplectic / catatonic stutter, "hope I die before I get old" could mean 'never be like you' or (more relevant to today) 'how will I live with the mess you've bequethed to us, and will worsen after you've gone'. But for me those only come across if sung in the twitching stutter lyrics shared in the thread. The steel string 'unplugged' feel doesn't bring that in the show. This is no time for kumbayas.

I love The Who. Thank goodness Roger Daltry didn't die before he got old, or he'd never have grown up to be an ardent Thatcher fan, and cheerleader for Brexit. Phew! Who knew. Despite that, I am still a massive fan of classic The Who, but recently stumbled across a more recent song 'Real Good Looking Boy' (2004) where Pete talks about seeing Elvis for the first time, and thinking he looked like him - 'A real good looking boy'. Then his mum tells him "Son, you're an ugly boy, you don't really look like him. In this long line there's been some real strange genes, you've got 'em all, with some extras thrown in". There's a sort of happy ending! I only go on about it because this has made me play it and it's reminded me of the absolute joy of story and character through song. Hope Des McAnuff doesn't muff the 'Tommy' revival, as the original was one of my favourite bits of staging ever.

I went in to this with low expectations but thanks to a solid first act found I really enjoyed and was moved by it. For reasons neatly highlighted by others in this thread the second half, when you get the show itself and a generational baton passing, looses energy rather than volume and becomes weaker. Your standard jukebox musical fare. In the first half the songs are integral within the plot and I found made the story better told. In the second half Bob’s moralising and the stuff about today’s young generation finding a voice reads like it has been scripted in Makaton.

All the performers, old and young, are brilliant. Especially Bob. They all earnestly deliver the clunkiest lines and sing like a dream. The choral pieces are probably the best to be found in Theatreland right now.

I’m not sure what they show is doing at The Old Vic. It is hard to see any evidence of Old Vic’ness up there on the stage and only a muted one line credit as an Old Vic production is claimed in the programme. The reality is that it is a Jamie Lloyd production conceived by his company as far back as 2020. Jamie is a fine producer of solid shows of which I would say this is now one and who is also now programming The Shaftesbury Theatre in the West End. It’s not hard to see how this will slot in there nicely and garner a good run. Along with a healthy tour. Everything up there on stage is economically and neatly packaged ready to go. However I would strongly recommend seeing it south of the river whilst the show is fresh and has credibility. It is not difficult to see what it could become once settled into a long run and in front of a less edified audience. Snobby I know but the irony of listening to a group in the row behind us scoffing crisps and booze in the middle of the famine newscast scene could not be ignored.

Great review!

I was in tonight (for the first time) too. I had read such mixed opinions on here I went in with a very open mind. I really enjoyed it. Once you get your head around what they are trying to do (re-tell the story of how Live Aid happened to a new generation) and just go with it, it's a really fun, enjoyable evening. I think the cast are fantastic. Some really talented West End performers (including Danielle Steers, Olly Dobson and some ex &Juliet cast), and Craige Els is wonderful as Bob Geldof. The voice (accent and intonation) is perfect, as are his mannerisms. It's a little political, but things referring back to the 80's often are. At least here it's done with some humour (re: Mrs T). The re-telling of the story didn't wow me, but the perfomances were really fabulous, with a great energy and fantastic singing. Nostalgic (yet contemporary) well sung and it seemed like it went down very well. I was glad they weren't trying to copy Freddie, Elton, Phil etc. 

I've seen this show six times now. Folk on this thread know my views on it (plus I clearly wouldn't return to see something I didn't like). My own bias aside, every single time without fail, the show has received an enthusiastic roar of approval from an appreciative audience (many of whom are perhaps less concerned about the script, construct etc. and simply want a great night out). I agree with the post advising to see it when it's fresh - it's really well performed right now, and any future cast will need the same work rate and freshness of this one.

The run is almost sold out now I think anyway?

What did they think?