The Drifters Girl - Newcastle TR / Garrick / U.K. Tour

Just received from The Mayflower:

We're excited to announce the cast for The Drifters Girl, which is opening it's UK tour at our theatre in one month!

Carly Mercedes Dyer, former star of SIX the Musical and who delighted audiences with her performances as Erma in Anything Goes, will play music industry change-maker, Faye Treadwell.

Carly will star alongside Ashford Campbell (who hit UK screens in ITV’s The X Factor as a member of The Risk and now continues his journey with The Drifters Girl having performed as part of the West End company), Miles Anthony Daley (Tina Turner: The Musical, Aldwych Theatre; Choir of Man, Arts Theatre), Tarik Frimpong (The Wiz, Hope Mill Theatre; Aladdin, Prince Edward Theatre) and Dalton Harris (who won The X Factor in 2018).

Good for Carly leading a UK tour - great career progression.

Shame she won't get to play Persephone in Hadestown as a result.

Saw it in Manchester tonight...I'm guessing the female lead was an understudy...She was terrible...Many audience members could not hide their "amusement" with her poor vocals. I've seen thousands shows and this performance was not good. Spoiled an otherwise good show, nice slick staging, good vocals from the guys.

Yesterday evening was Loren Anderson’s debut, probably unplanned and little rehearsed this early in the tour. It’s a shame if she wasn’t able to perform at her best, but I’m sure a few performances in and she’ll be splendid.

Ticket for sale for Friday night on the noticeboard

Went to see it yesterday at the Manchester Opera House, and really enjoyed! Loren Anderson was on for Faye, great acting, but I don't think her voice is powerful enough for the role. The guys were all absolutely fantastic, and could not fault their storytelling ability considering the number of roles they play. Tarik was the star for me, and was great seeing him perform, as haven't seen him since he was in the Wiz at the Hope Mill. If it's playing near you I would 100% recommend it, it is a great show!

After the lukewarm response to the The Drifters Girl, I did not want to commit to full-price tickets. I thought this would be a good time to try out the £10 slip seats in the circle of the Curve, Leicester.

Verdict on the seats:

There is a good reason why these seats are only £10. The architect has seen fit to drop a vertical panel immediately in front of your knees, so your knees press against it and there is nowhere for your feet to go. A continuous horizontal rig juts out in front and partially obscures part of the stage. (There's no obvious reason why this could not have been angled lower and out of view.) The seats in each of the two slip rows are angled slightly but not enough to actual face the stage. There is a single speaker in a rig above the stage that is pointed at these seats, so you hear sound from this mixed in with reverberated sound from speakers pointing elsewhere. The effect is compressed, muddy and lacking any punch or volume.

Verdict on The Drifters Girl:

There is no set apart from a rear screen and some black, vertical flats coming in from the wings. Well, apart from the odd desk and chair that is wheeled on. Immediately there were Jamie Lloyd vibes, but with the addition of costumes.

The book is so dull as to wonder why anyone thought this story worth telling. Had Faye Treadwell, the person running this manufactured band that has featured 40-odd singers over the years, been male, it certainly would not have seen the light of day, at least in this form. The real story here may well be less about how a black woman battled against prejudice and other black managers while trying to run a successful business, and more about how black singers were exploited.

The creators are so unsure of their material that they feel the need to open with a greatest-hits Drifters medley to warm up the audience.

The singing style frequently dips into modern melisma, something I dislike and which is not especially evident in the original Drifters or Ben E King recordings.

I thought the acting and singing from Carly Mercedes Dyer (so good in previous shows) as Faye was sub-par, until I realised that she had been replaced by Loren Anderson. Also covering was Ethan Davis for Dalton Harris.

The acting from the cast seems to channel pantomime rather than authenticity. In particular, there are times when male cast members appear with Playboy ears, and it's not clear if they are playing overly camp gay men or women. Whichever it is, the portrayal oversteps into gross parody, and becomes mildly offensive rather than comical as I suspect was intended.

A scene where a band member kisses his male lover is inserted so abruptly and quickly and without feeling, that it feels gratuitous and salacious and designed to shock; a potential poignant moment, lost.

The saving grace of a show like this is the enormous back catalogue of popular Drifters hits, but we are lucky if we get more than a verse and a chorus of each, and, from where I sat, the sound was underpowered.

Disappointing and unimpressive: two stars.
(But the audience in the stalls -- largely an older crowd -- seemed to enjoy it and gave a standing ovation.)

Act 1: 19:34-20:33
Act 2: 20:58-21:57

Daniel Haswell (Ain’t Too Proud) is now in the show

I say this and then 3/4 have been off at various points over the last ten days. However it did lead to Tre making his Clyde debut last week which I heard was fab, he’s now done 2 of his 3 tracks.

Wishing them all speedy recoveries!