Review: I Should Be So Lucky at Leeds Grand Theatre

Writer and director Debbie Isitt is no stranger to feel good festive entertainment, with four Nativity! films under her belt.

I Should Be So Lucky, her latest musical comedy, this time based on a string of memorable 80s hits by Stock Aitken Waterman, provides two-and-a-half hours of similarly good-natured, slightly unruly fun for those seeking to leave the world’s troubles at the theatre door over the Christmas period.

The plot revolves around Ella (Lucie-Mae Sumner) and Nathan (Billy Roberts), a young couple who at the start of the show are about to marry, only for the groom to jilt his bride at the altar after being warned by his grandfather about a family secret that will be exposed if they tie the knot.

To console a heartbroken Ella, her mother (Melissa Jacques), nana (Jemma Churchill), and friends Bonnie (Kayla Carter), Britney (Jessica Daley) and Michael (Elliot Broadfoot) persuade her to go to her intended honeymoon destination – the Lovers Paradise hotel and spa in Turkey – with them instead, leaving behind her father (Gary Davis) in England.

Meanwhile Nathan is filled with remorse, so he and his best man Ash (Giovanni Spanò) decide to fly out to the resort to try to win back Ella – but first he has contend with Ella’s hostile family and friends and a handsome Turkish rival in Nadeem (Kade Ferraiolo).

Isitt’s script ladles on plenty of farcical Brits abroad goings-on, mildly dodgy Mediterranean accents and the occasional risqué joke, Stock Aitken Waterman’s songs such as Too Many Broken Hearts, Together Forever, Respectable, Better The Devil You Know, You Spin Me Round, Never Gonna Give You Up and I Heard a Rumour are skilfully arranged by George Dyer, and there’s some excellent choreography in the group numbers by Strictly Come Dancing’s creative director Jason Gilkison.

Sumner gives a perky performance as Ella, and there are standout moments of comedy from Spanò in mullet-haired disguise in a Turkish nightclub, and Jamie Chapman camping it up as Spencer, the manager of Lovers Paradise.

The production’s real ace up its sleeve is Kylie Minogue, who turns up in twinkly digital form at critical junctures as Ella’s alter-ego, urging her to uncover her inner diva and pop princess.

The show’s second act, however, does try to cram in too many plot developments, with a sequence of duets intended to resolve the romantic entanglements of minor characters. While they’re certainly diverting and give the likes of Carter, Daley, Broadfoot and Churchill a chance to shine, they do detract from the main love story between Ella and Nathan, which sometimes seems to lose its way in amongst them. A subplot involving passports going missing also feels superfluous.

It’s something one suspects will be tweaked at some point in the future, but even in its present form, I Should Be So Lucky is a likeable piece of escapism.

At Leeds Grand Theatre until December 30, then at Sheffield Lyceum from January 16-20 and Hull New Theatre from February 19-24. https://soluckymusical.com/