Review: Dreamboats and Petticoats

Welcome to the Sixties! Clare Deal on a night of singing, swinging and bumper cars

Sunderland Empire, January 16-21

A bottle of wine between two whilst watching a love story set in the sixties with a singing, dancing and clapping cast and audience made for a very fun evening indeed. There was a disco at the end which was amazing – it felt like we basically attended the after-party and the audience – who tended to be somewhat older than us, but were well up for it.

There were some brilliant moments like the bumper cars on stage with dead-pan angels on the back which were never really explained but provided an awesome contrast to the happy clappers elsewhere. A bizarrely long applause erupted while the couple we’d all been waiting to happen finally kissed and – as the clapping died down – a lone old man cried ‘wheeay’ into a suddenly very quiet theatre.

The lead girl was amazing and held her own during solos and in a crowd, but the lead guy didn’t have the loveable qualities required by even the anti-hero. He was supposed to be a bit of an idiot and the guy the girls all fancied, but he just managed to fulfill the ‘bit of an idiot’ part.

The songs were fantastic, but it was clear that the script was written around them, meaning act one’s script was quite weak. Act two, in comparison, was better. I recommend to see Dreamboats and Petticoats for the songs rather than the story.

I’m not a huge fan of musicals, but judging it as the spectacle it was – the acting, dancing, script, songs and bumper cars -  it was an overall enjoyable show.