In our original preview of THE OSMONDS MUSICAL, we aligned the clean-cut, family group to ONE DIRECTION, in the level of fame and fan-fever they achieved. Having been to the opening night of the show at the New Theatre in Cardiff, I think we need to revise that and say The Osmonds were far bigger and achieved much more, over a longer period, without the aid of social media and the internet.
Before I go any further I want to congratulate the cast on last night’s performance. What we saw on stage may well make this review different to any other you read. They went ahead with the performance under exceptional circumstances, as ALEX LODGE, who plays Jay Osmond explained.
He wandered onto the stage, microphone in hand, and spent three minutes telling us about the challenges faces by the cast and entire company. To cut a very long story short, their Welsh premiere was hit with illness and injury, with 9 of the team off with bugs and sickness. Two of the cast members also had really bad injuries, including JOSEPH PEACOCK who plays Donny.
The outcome was, the show went ahead, with a fairly nervous audience, wondering if we were going to get a below-par show.
I can tell you now, if Alex hadn’t come out and told us about the issues, I reckon we wouldn’t have known anything was wrong. The cast were flawless, the production seamless, and the entire audience left the theatre feeling they’d seen something very special.
We have put Alex three minute speech on our YouTube channel as we think that alone was exceptionally good. He confidently talked us through each of the possible scenarios before the first note welcomed the start of The Osmonds musical. Great job Alex, we all thought you handled a tricky situation exceptionally well.
So, in a break from our tradition, this seems like a great place to get the audience reaction to the show, the cast, and how they handled the changes within the company.
For those who remember the madness of Osmondmania, but couldn’t ever get to see the group live, this show is about as close as you’ll get. There’s all the big hits, ‘Crazy Horses‘, ‘Love Me For a Reason‘ and ‘Puppy Love‘ and more classic tunes that made a 1970s teenage girl go wild with musical excitement.
The Osmonds weren’t just stars, they were a worldwide phenomenon, selling over 100 million records, packing out every venue they played, for goodness sake, they even had their own Saturday morning Osmonds cartoon series – take that 1D, and Take That for that matter.
You don’t achieve that level of fame without hard work and discipline, and that’s what the musical gives us an insight into. The Osmonds were strict, with a mantra of ‘Faith, Family, Career’, in that order, and to say the group were run like a military operation would be an understatement.
The story is told onstage by Jay Osmond (ALEX LODGE), who also wrote the musical. Jay is the middle brother who played drums, claiming he saw it all from his place at the rear of the stage. This is his telling of the story, life on the road and what it was like being and Osmond.
From the get-go the audience were there with Jay and his brothers, and sister Marie. For some this was a trip back to the 70s, so they’d dug out the old ‘we love The Osmonds’ scarves which were held high at appropriate moments through the show.
The story of the family from Utah in America is seemingly a wholesome one, but as we all know only too well, behind the lights and glamour, there are real family dramas, and The Osmonds are no exception to that.
Mum and Dad Osmond feature in the show, a lot, (NICOLA BRYAN & CHARLIE ALLEN) and lead the family with military precision and plenty of encouragement, taking them from humble barber shop singers to international mega-stars, seemingly overnight, in reality however, overnight took many years to achieve.
The group were put together in the 1960s and had their big break on the Andy Williams TV Show. Now for those who don’t know, a slot on Andy’s show was guaranteed to give an artist the break they needed. The Osmonds didn’t only get a slot, but in fact a five-year contract, which meant the audience watched as the group grew up both physically and professionally, and eventually into stars in their own right.
The Andy Williams period features quite heavily in the show, and we even get a five year old Donny, played by young OSIAN SALTER belting out a song with Andy (MATT IVES) encouraging him along.
It’s a good time to mention the set, which was designed by LUCY OSBORNE. It’s a touch 70s psychedelic, with a series of TV screens filling the stage. They always say The Osmonds were the first group to grow up on television, Lucy’s set captures this mood perfectly.
The cast were incredible last night, and I say that without any reference to the changes and medical issues. They were on point every step of the way, and believe me there are a lot of dance steps in this show. Yes, it was a little odd seeing four brothers performing a few routines when perhaps we should have seen five, but you know what, it all seemed pretty perfect to me.
This a large cast too, and there isn’t ‘One Bad Apple‘ among them…… The kids who played the young Osmonds are terrific, and as you would expect in a show like this, got some of the biggest cheers on the night.
NICHOLAS TEIXEIRA was an exceptionally cute young Donny, JACK SHERRAN was a Young Merrill, LOUIS STOW was Wayne in his younger days, LONAN JOHNSON Was Jay’s young self and of course, no Osmond family would be complete without a Little Jimmy Osmond, and it was LYLE WREN who filled those Long Haired Lover shoes so well. Matt filled the Andy Williams role really well too, with a great rendition of ‘Music To Watch Girls By‘.
As for the big Osmond boys, there were a few changes there, but brotherly love in the cast clearly helped them give an exceptional performance. HENRY FIRTH played Wayne last night and TRISTAN WHINCUP stepped into the Donny role, and made a great job of Puppy Love.
The rest of The Osmonds are the regulars, as we mentioned previously, with JAMIE CHATTERTON as Alan. They are all great singers but also turned ion some fine acting for some pretty emotionally-charged family scenes.
I also want to mention GEORGIA LENNON who played sister Marie. She reminded us just how talented a performer she is and actually had a fair old catalogue of hits in her own right.
As I mentioned earlier, this may well be a different review to any other you have read but what we watched last night only serves for us to reccommend the show even higher. As one of the audience said,
“If the cast can turn out a performance this good, with so many of the regular team incapacitated, then this really does have to be a must-see show.”
We couldn’t agree more. The Osmonds musical is packed with all your favourite songs, which gave us plenty of ‘reasons to love it‘. There is perfectly choreographed routines, great performances and some fine acting, particularly around the family based dramas.
THE OSMONDS – A NEW MUSICAL is at the New Theatre in Cardiff until Saturday 8th October. Performances are at 7:30pm with 2;30pm matinees on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Tickets range from £15 to £196 for a box for 6 with a whole range of prices in between. For more details, go HERE.
The tour then get to Venue Cymru in Llandudno for the last dates on the run between Tuesday 29th November to Saturday 3rd December. Performances at 7:30pm with matinees on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Again, a range of prices from £13 to £45 and all points between. To get yours, go HERE.
If you’d like to see our interview with Donny, played by Joseph Peacock, and our original show preview, go HERE.
