Review: The Drifters' Girl, at the Garrick Theatre, London

This was not how this Wednesday was originally planning... So the plan was myself and Jem, one of my theatre tribe members, were supposed to be seeing Bonnie & Clyde, which has had pretty good reviews etc... Until... they cancelled the matinee we were supposed to be going to... 

Merde... ok, Plan B it is. 

So after looking on Today Tix, and then double checking the Box Office to see if they had a cheaper deal (which they DID! £20 quid each, YES!!), we chose The Drifters Girl instead. And WHAT a fun choice! 

You may have heard of The Drifters, and of their songs; but you will likely not have heard of their Manager, Faye Treadwell; along with her husband, she worked her socks off to ensure The Drifters were one of the biggest groups at the time. One of the first women, let alone women of colour, to be hold such a prominent position in the music business. 

This new show started in Newcastle last Summer before transferring to the Garrick Theatre, and has come away with 2 Olivier nominations: Best Actress in a Musical for Beverley Knight, and for Mastercard Best New Musical (they lost to Jessie Buckley in Cabaret, and Back to the Future respectfully).

Possibly the biggest draw (beside the songs) is the cast, headlined by Beverley Knight. She was sadly not on for this performance, but we DID have Vanessa Ela Young covering Faye. She may only be making her professional debut covering this role, but judging by a voice that has almost as much soul as Knight's, and a true commanding presence when she's on stage, I feel she is one to watch. 

The rest of the cast is full of stagey favourites, two of the Drifters being played by Oliver award-winning actors: Matt Henry and Adam J Bernard (winning in past years for Kinky Boots and for Dreamgirls respectfully). Rounding the Drifters out were Tosh Wanogho-Maud, and Tarinn Callender (Hamilton) - my personal favourite of the Drifters perhaps as his deep voice stood out the most among them all. 

What differs between this and other jukebox musicals perhaps, is that this uber-talented foursome not only play the many members of The Drifters themselves, but also a whole slew of other characters. 

For example in one montage when they're touring the UK, checking in hotel to hotel, we go from going to a Birmingham accent, to a posh one to a Scouse one in no time at all. There was a running gag of Wanogho-Maud playing the flirty waitress at the bar. We even got a Bruce Forsyth "cameo" while introducing the Drifters at the Palladium that made the whole theatre smile from ear to ear! 

Between this and Come From Away playing in London at the moment, just shows that a small cast changing parts like this can work just as well as the standard "everyone gets 1 character", or that you don't always need a huge ensemble cast to tell a great story. 

Plus, it fits well with the concept that The Drifters were not like other bands like The Four Seasons in that there were x amount of concrete members that lasted x amount of time. No, The Drifters is often compared into the show to the New York Yankees - you can have people come in and out, but the team is still the Yankees!

The final person in the cast is a young girl who plays Faye Treadwell's daughter, observing the story of The Drifters, played at our performance by Shaniya Tsoto. She's more of an observer, but does have her moments, particularly in her writing to her mother. 

This is one show that has prompted me to download the newly-released cast album stat. Because there are some TUNES in this! 

From Stand By Me, to Kissing in the Back Row of the Movies, many of The Drifters hits you know and love are in this, and you cannot resist tapping your toes to not just themselves, but also with these uber-talented guys singing them. 

You know what, while reflecting on this, I think The Drifter's Girl is a little bit underrated. 

It's loads of fun, it has loads of soul, and it tells a really inspiring story of a woman who deserves her spotlight being one of the leading female figures in the music industry. 

I would definitely recommend this to fans of The Drifters music, or music from that era; but also those interested in stories telling black history, and women's history. 

If you particularly want to see Beverley, I think she's leaving in June, as she will be moving on to play Deloris in Sister Act; but I can promise you that if she's not on, whether that be with a cover, or who they'll replace her with, you're still going to have a good time.