A million years ago back in the heady days of 1966, everyone was happy – the England football team was crowned World Cup kings at the same time as The Kinks’ Sunny Afternoon went to number one in the charts.
Well, maybe not everyone was happy; being in the same band, pop-star brothers Ray and Dave Davies (Danny Horn and Oliver Hoare) were constantly at each other’s throats and when they weren’t (quite literally) scrapping one another, they were up against marauding, duplicitous or incompetent managers and officious unions reps.
‘the fabulous cast won’t mind me saying that the true stars of the show are the songs’
The musical Sunny Afternoon, currently showing at Oxford’s New Theatre tells the fascinating tale of the rise, fall and rise again of The Kinks, as four working-class lads from London’s Muswell Hill enjoy almost instant success, fall apart after a disastrous US tour and are banned from returning for a number of years – why? You guessed it: fighting – only to find fame and recognition there many years later, selling out Madison Square Garden no less.
I’m sure that the fabulous cast wouldn’t mind me saying that the true stars of the show are the songs. A refreshing combination of big hits and deep dives tell this joyful, sad, touching, uplifting and sometimes violent tale.
I have never known a ‘juke-box’ musical to combine story and songs so seamlessly. The cast excel, as not only can they act but also sing and play their hearts out, sometimes in arrangements faithful to the originals; sometimes in intriguingly different versions to the ones we know and love.
‘The cast excel, as not only can they act but also sing and play their hearts out’
Standout moments from the show are many: brother Dave discovering the ‘Dah-ner-ner-nah-ner!’ ‘You Really Got Me’ guitar riff in his bedroom by way of a damaged amplifier while Ray and wife Rasa (Lisa Wright) show the breakdown of their marriage through singing the mournful ballads ‘There’s Too Much On My Mind’ and ‘I Go To Sleep’ to each other.
Then there’s a pin-drop quiet moment of beauty when departing managers along with Ray and Dave sing an acapella ‘Days’. But, lest we forget, this is a rock ‘n’ roll show and the sight of a drunken Dave ‘The Rave’ Davies swinging from a chandelier in a dress while brandishing an axe is a sight to behold.
‘The highlights just keep on coming as we are treated to two finales’
There are laugh out loud moments too: Dave rebukes his older brother for considering to employ his wife as backing vocalist yelling: ‘You wouldn’t catch Paul McCartney on stage with his wife!’.
There’s also great choreography as swinging-sixties dancing girls in de rigour miniskirts and boots jive along in the aisles as mayhem frequently unfolds on stage. And it’s a relief for massive Kinks devotees (and that includes me) that close attention has been paid to detail: Dave and Ray play the correct guitars. Phew! These details are important.
The highlights just keep on coming as we are treated to two finales: the wistful, bitter-sweet ‘Waterloo Sunset’ followed up by an air-punching, foot-stomping ‘Lola’. A pairing of songs that perfectly encapsulates the characters of Ray and Dave Davies and their rocky relationship.
What a show! I’m thinking of going again tonight. If there are any tickets left that is.
EDWARD BLISS
Sunny Afternoon runs at New Theatre Oxford until Saturday (Feb 14th). BOOK HERE
