Back to the 80's product reviews

This was my first time inside the Abbey Threatre itself, and I was quite surprised by the interior... tables and chairs lined up in an irregular pattern, obviously well suited for dining, and yet still allowing a surprisingly good view of the stage... this is NOTHING like a 'normal' stageshow theatre, such as The Regent on Broadway for example.

I was honoured to be invited to see the final dress rehersal, and I was forewarned that this is when they would be smoothing out any last hiccups and technical glitches, so I was prepared to endure a rough show... so I was quite surprised to find myself laughing, claping and cheering along with the rest of the audience, despite a few noticable 'technical issues being smoothed out in organised panic' by the various technical teams.

Now at this point I need to stress, this is NOT a big-budget Broadway production, it is a small-budget production performed by mostly amateur cast. So if you are expecting smooth perfection, forget it... this show is not like that. It's about taking you back a few decades, and the storyline revolves around the highschool lives of a group of 'seniors' aged between 16-18. Having been around that age myself during the 80's, I found the antics of the characters all too culturally accurate. The tongue-in-cheek humour that popped up throughout was brilliant, and executed well by the cast, and the songs really tied in well with the storyline, and often added to the situations occuring at the time.

There were some very talented singers and performers in the cast, of particular note were "Fergal McFarrin" who does "Class Geek" so well I was almost convinced... he even DANCED geek-style! , and "Ilene", who has a wonderful voice with a lot of power, and with some more training could have a great career ahead of her.

Overall, this was a fun show, with the audience really getting into the spirit of it, and there were a lot of somewhat nervous giggles as various costumes appeared on stage, particularly during the "Live Aid Concert". There was a lot of laughing, clapping and even a bit of singing along with the songs 'from our youth'... it was also good to see the younger members of the audience, who would have been but babes in arms as the 80's became the 90's, joining in and having fun. Well worth the effort to go see, so long as you don't go expecting perfection.