This hit musical based on the music of legendary 60’s rock-pop group The Kinks is bound to put everyone into a sunny mood! Charting the band’s humble beginnings and consequent rise to fame and notoriety, there’s plenty of humour, a little controversy and above all, great music played loud!

The clever set (an endless pile of amps and loudspeakers substituting the walls) provide the basic background, while various props (chairs, desks, mini stage, bed, studio) all provide the atmosphere for the different sequences – even a London Underground sign, a Denmark Street WC2H sign and a gigantic ‘Map of the World’ screen curtain (marking the band’s global tours) make for perfect use!
The story starts in the year 1963 and brothers Ray Davies (Ryan O’Donnell) and Dave Davies (Mark Newnham) – still living with their parents in the leafy North London suburb of Muswell Hill, hatch aspirations to form a pop group with a difference. It all starts relatively innocent, with the first the outfit being called The Ravens and some pretty square dance routines by the ensemble… not really getting anywhere. Until managers Grenville Collins (Tomm Coles) and Robert Wace (Joseph Richardson) are about to change things, with former pop singer Larry Page (Richard Hurst) completing the managing trio a little while later. Apparently it was Page who suggested the band should change their name to The Kinks due to their images and pronounced sense of fashion. This first part in itself is brilliantly executed and various Kinks tunes get a makeover when the management warns of future showbiz pitfalls but also give well-meant advice, while Ray, Dave and remaining band members Mick Avory (Andrew Gallo) and Pete Quaife (Garmon Rhys) are more concerned with getting their sound right and not having to compromise too much.

Again, it’s all cleverly constructed and the audience doesn’t just get the polished songs, instead, The Kinks try out different riffs, chords and harmonies before a song is born on stage. Plenty of opportunities here for some very English humour and rock ‘n’ roll antics, and as the show goes on those antics (courtesy of hell-raiser Dave) get ever more outrageous. Every facet is touched upon - from the constant fighting within the band to their initially hesitant parents Mrs. Davies (Deryn Edwards) and Mr. Davies (Robert Took) giving the written ‘Ok’ for their sons to ‘officially’ become pop stars. Ray’s romance and consequence marriage to Lithuanian-born Rasa (Lisa Wright) due to her pregnancy (though occasionally she provided backing vocals for the band) is the perfect opportunity for more romantic ballads throughout the show.

In another chapter we get an insight into the now completely lost world of London’s very own ‘Tin Pan Alley’ – the former home of British music publishers and songwriters. So there’s a fair bit of melancholia going on. At the same time the increasing unwillingness of The Kinks to compromise produces problems though thankfully it also produces a string of hits! The Kinks legendary US touring ban is also touched upon, as the ‘American Federation of Musicians’ (headed by Nathanael Campbell in one of his numerous characters he takes on during the show)) refuses to hand out permits to the group for the next four years. Although in real life the actual reason was never really made clear, in the musical it’s suggested that Ray’s marriage to a ‘Communist’ and the band’s general rabble rousing ways were the triggers. In between the chaos, we are treated to more fabulous Kinks tunes, and one of the visual highlights comes when England wins the 1966 FIFA World Cup (cue for ‘Sunny Afternoon’). The musical pretty much ends just as the band rides on a wave of success. It can only mean one thing: a darn fine rendition of one of the most beautiful pop songs ever written… ‘Waterloo Sunset’! For the finale, the audience was invited to rock along to the riveting versions of ‘Lola’ and ‘You Really Got Me’ (with the band playing in a suggested NY Madison Square Garden concert). The performances (especially by Mark Newnham and Ryan O’ Donnell’) are electrifying and sure thing they really got their audience!
Speaking of: it was a delight to see the majority of punters belonging to an older generation, clearly all of them huge Kinks fans back in their day and now flocking to the show to evoke treasured memories of their youth.

SUNNY AFTERNOON runs at the Edinburgh Playhouse until Saturday the 17th of Sept.


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