Osmondmania is back and boy those fans may be slightly older – but there’s no slowing down their love for the all clean American band.
It was fantastic to see so many people having fun and singing along at Festival Theatre Edinburgh’s showing of The Osmonds: A New Musical which runs until Saturday, 24th September 2022.
And it was great to see how much fun the actors were having with playful interactions with the audience and performing the band’s greatest hits with much aplomb!
The Osmonds were the band in the 1970s, selling one hundred million records, while keeping true to their family motto of good manners and clean living first.
Led like soldiers with their father George Virl Snr acting as their sergeant major, brothers Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Donny and Jimmy and sister Marie were plucked from the obscurity of Utah to become household names.
The musical tells the story of their up and down career which saw them make and lose millions, enjoy a young and screaming fan base and gave them the chance to travel the world and appear on television as they performed favourites such as Puppy Love and He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.
With Jay (Alex Lodge) acting as story teller and The Osmond’s greatest fan aka Wendy (Sophie Hirst) from Manchester, the show follows the band from their humble beginnings as the elder brothers started out as a barber’s quartet, with young actors playing the band from their early days of stardom. The mini Osmonds clearly enjoyed their roles and were given the biggest cheer at the end of the night.
The main roles of Alan (Alex Cardall), Wayne (Danny Nattrass), Merrill (Ryan Anderson), Donny (Joseph Peacock), Jimmy (Tristan Whincup), Marie (Georgia Lennon) and mum Olive (Nicola Bryan), were so well acted, it could have been the “real” musicians on stage.
The stage and costumes were a nod back to the 1970s with plenty of flares, colour and sequins and off set music was provided by director Will Joy and his team.
With so much gloom and doom about, it was great to sit back, relax and enjoy some good old fashioned innocent fun and upbeat music – George Osmond Snr would have been proud!
The Osmonds: A New Musical, runs until Saturday, 24th September at The Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, before heading to Brighton’s Theatre Royal from Tuesday, 27th September 2022. Tickets start from £15 and can be booked via www.capitaltheatres.com.
Author Bio:
Rebecca Hay is an experienced travel writer and member of The British Guild of Travel Writers. Follow her adventures with her family on Twitter and Instagram @emojiadventurer and on Facebook via EmojiAdventurers2.
Be the first to comment