Save The Last Dance For Me (review)

If 1960s nostalgia is your thing then you couldn’t do better than catching this feelgood jukebox musical from the pens of TV and stage writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran.

The couple hit the musical high notes when asked to come up with a story for the phenomenal Dreamboats and Petticoats which started off as a compilation album of 1950s hits.

One mega hit later and they’re back with a second slice of musical whimsy which will strike a familiar chord with local audiences.

Last Dance tells the story of two sisters, one a chirpy factory girl working in the local car plant, the other a grammar school student (Luton High School if we’re being pedantic as the Grammar only took boys) who leave “downtown Luton” (is there an uptown? –ed) to go on a family caravan holiday to none-too-sunny Lowestoft.

It’s not exactly the Costas and the pair are soon bored – until they are chatted up by a handsome American serviceman off the nearby base who invites them to a dance.

Luton circa 1963 wasn’t exactly the cultural heaven it now is and the girls jump at the chance to enjoy everything the Yanks have to offer – including romance.

The big problem is that sweet little Marie falls for a black GI and, at a time when segregation was still very much a part of American life and inter-racial relationships almost unheard of in the UK, this was a huge issue.

The will-they/won’t-they romance takes up much of the show and, being an upbeat musical fairytale, draws to its inevitable conclusion.

Featuring the back catalogue from vintage US hitmakers Pomus and Shuman plus a talented cast of young hopefuls, mostly straight out of drama school and looking for their big breaks in professional theatre, it’s an enjoyable romp through an era which is fondly remembered – certainly judging by the first night audience.

The singing and dancing was uniformly strong with Tosh Wanogho-Maud proving a real mover on the dance floor. A real highlight for me was the cast’s wonderful acapella renditions of the title song and Sweets for My Sweet.

The production received a standing ovation so it would be churlish to nitpick. But I wished the two leading ladies Megan Jones (as Marie) and Hannah Frederick (Jennifer) had taken the time out to visit Luton to hear how its inhabitants really speak.

As far as I was aware Luton hasn’t been shifted into the bowels of Essex, neither, American GI take note, is Lowestoft in Norfolk, or, Maurice and Gran, the Bedford works in Luton – they were in Dunstable.

But as this was a romantic piece of light-hearted entertainment they can be excused the poor geography.

Running until Saturday but if you miss it then catch the show at Milton Keynes Theatre from April 10-14 (for tickets call the box office 0844 871 7652 or go online www.atgtickets.com/miltonkeynes) or at the Royal & Derngate Theatre from June 25-30 (box office 01604 624811 or online www.royalandderngate.co.uk)

ANNE COX