Cilla The Musical

★★★★☆    Mersey hard to beat

Edinburgh Playhouse: Tue 19 – Sat
Review by Martin Gray

Step inside the Playhouse, love, and see the triumphs and tragedies on the way to Cilla Black becoming an entertainment legend.

It’s a story you probably know, at least in broad strokes. Singing typist Priscilla White was a familiar face at the Cavern Club, where her friendship with the Beatles helped her win a contract with their manager, Brian Epstein.

Kara Lily Hayworth and the cast of Cilla The Musical. Pic: Matt Martin

From the Cavern she went on to conquer the British charts, the devoted ‘Our Bobby’ at her side, while her working class warmth helped cement her in the hearts of the public.

All of which is true. What’s less familiar are the details. The musical talents of husband Bobby Willis, for example, were never mentioned in all those magazine profiles of Cilla in the Seventies and Eighties. Likewise, just how close she and Bobby were to the tragic drama of Epstein’s demise. Such details are to the fore in this classy jukebox musical by Jeff Pope based on his 2014 TV mini-series.

We meet Cilla in the early Sixties when she’s hanging around the Cavern, dreaming of stardom. She has a voice, but her shyness makes her reluctant to have a crack at singing with the bands who play there. Finally finding the courage to step up – with an unasked for assist from new admirer Bobby – Cilla is on the road to stardom.

There are bumps along the way, the biggest of which is letting her ambition get in the way of her relationship.

emotional heart

This is more Bobby’s story than Cilla’s, he’s the emotional heart of the piece, the eye through which we see ‘the people’s diva’. So when she does, occasionally, prove to be a diva, it hurts.

Kara Lily Hayworth. Pic Matt Martin

In those central roles of Cilla and Bobby, Kara Lily Hayworth and Carl Au have a chemistry that electrifies in Bill Kenwright’s production.

They’re a believable couple, well-matched. Hayworth delivers such classics as Anyone Who Had a Heart, Alfie and Liverpool Lullaby with conviction, embodying the Liverpool songstress who died in 2015. Just once, during You’re My World, does Hayworth overdo it, giving it a little too much volume, but overall she’s vocally brilliant – and her accent is terrific.

Au’s Bobby, a man perhaps a little too much in love, is compelling. His mix of cockiness and gaucheness is massively likeable and his singing voice is lovely, especially on A Taste of Honey – mellifluous indeed.

Andrew Lancel has played Epstein previously on stage and that experience pays off in his tender portrayal of a good but tormented man. It’s hard not to laugh at the characters’ attitude towards his excuses for the bruises his awful choice in boyfriends left him with, but you’re not laughing at him.

suitably solid

The show also benefits from regular cameos by the Beatles – Joshua Gannon, Michael Hawkins, Alex Harford and Bill Caple look the part in their moptops, and sound superb. As Bobby’s stoic brother Kenny, Tom Christian is suitably solid, Paul Broughton and Pauline Fleming make a great double act as Cilla’s parents, and Tom Sowinski’s George Martin is an adorably posh puppy of a chap.

The ensemble is uniformly strong, while the band under musical director Scott Alder are a huge asset to the show, playing like angels while dressed in some really fab gear. The set’s great, too – a series of adaptable arches transforming into everything from the Cavern Club to the Ed Sullivan Show studio.

A nostalgia fest with a classic love story at its heart, Cilla: The Musical earned the standing ovation given it by the first night audience. Anyone who has a heart will love it.

Running time: two hours and 50 minutes (including one interval)
Edinburgh Playhouse, 18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA.
Tuesday 19 – Saturday 23 September 2017.
Evenings: 7.30pm, Matinees Weds, Thurs, Sat: 2.30pm
Tickets and booking details: http://www.atgtickets.com/shows/cilla/edinburgh-playhouse/

Tour Website: https://www.cillathemusical.com/
Cilla The Musical on Twitter: @CillaMusical

Tags: Alex Harford, Andrew Lancel, Bill Caple, Bill Kenwright, Carl Au, Cilla Black, Cilla The Musical, Jeff Pope, Joshua Gannon, Kara Lily Hayworth, Michael Hawkins, Paul Broughton, Pauline Fleming, Scott Alder, Tom Christian, Tom Sowinski