Maidenhead Advertiser Review

Dreamboats and Petticoats - Theatre Royal Windsor

5:31pm Wed 4th Aug 10:: written by Siobhan Newman

The needle moves on the Dansette record player, there's a swish of sugar-stiffened skirts and we're off transported back to 1961.

It's the heady days when teenagers were just invented and St Mungo's youth club in an Essex town is a hotbed of hormones, rock'n'roll and Tizer-fuelled posturing.

Bobby wants to join the band but confident Norman pips him to it. Both want sexy Sue's attention and Bobby's so busy trying to get noticed he can't see how his pal's little sister Laura is falling in love with him.

Written by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran (of Birds of a Feather fame), the show is much more than an excuse to string some rockin' hits together.

There are rich characters, ripe one-liners and a cracking bit of slapstick that whips into There Goes My Baby with spot-on timing. But, like the Sixties, you had to be there.

The references are fun: jubblies, Formica, milkshakes costing one and six... It's amazing how the words Vauxhall Velux can elicit a belly laugh.

The live band playing all the music is great too. Runaround Sue, Shaking All Over, Let's Twist Again, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen had the Baby Boomers and their big brothers, sisters and descendants dancing in the aisles.

Daniella Bowen (Laura), Josh Capper (Bobby) and Jonathan Bremner (Norman) were all smash hits in the lead roles but Francesca Jackson stole the show as Sue.

The time trip of your life...