I Should Be So Lucky The Musical Reviews

"A warm comforting hug"

"An utter joy from its shimmering start to confetti finish"

"... I Should Be So Lucky was just the warm, comforting hug of a show that we all needed. Indeed, this world premiere production is an utter joy from its shimmering start to confetti finish."

"It features a true ensemble of superb singers and dancers - and particularly pleasing is the sheer diversity of cast in body, mind and voice up on stage. It sends an important message that it's a show for all, with the universal themes of love, loss and laughter at its heart."

"Standouts for me were an astonishing belt out of Never Too Late from Giovanni Spano as Nathan's best man Ash, and the pals' completely hilarious reimagining of Dead or Alive's You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) at a Turkish nightclub. The nightclub is also the scene for a magical segue of Mel and Kim's classics Showing Out and Respectable."

"Leading lady Lucie-Mae Sumner as Ella also puts in a performance Kylie would be proud of with her stunning vocals, particularly when she lives her own pop star dream as Kylie herself looks on through the mirror to Bananarama's Venus. While special mention goes to Scott Paige for his amazing energy and true comedy bones as Michael who finds love in the most painful of ways with tough masseuse Hassan (Ralph Bogard)."

"Stock Aitken Waterman musical is a jukebox fever dream with Kylie cameos and honeymoon hijinks"

"Nativity! director Debbie Isitt has assembled a breathless Minogue mega mix, with the crooning of Jason Donovan, Rick Astley and others to ensure the 80s/90s pop quota is decidedly hit."

"You might expect I Should Be So Lucky to play on that cheesy-tune nostalgia, but it’s all a bit flimsier than it could be."

"The setting and family reinforce the impression of an ersatz Mamma Mia!. But there’s little to our heroine here, nullified further by her decisions: jilting a genuine guy herself, then getting back with Nathan on the basis of “better the devil you know”, which seems particularly glib and weak. The story deflates under any pressure, like one of its beach balls."

"Missing the Hit Factory"

"Show built around Stock Aitken Waterman’s songs flies so long as the pop classics are playing"

"To see the triumvirate of Mike, Matt and Pete on stage at the curtain call of this musical based on their phenomenal back catalogue was akin to witnessing deities descend from musical Mount Olympus. But not even their beatific approval can hide the utter bizarreness and often quite offensiveness of the story sandwiched around their perfectly crafted pop songs."

"Debbie Isitt is a gifted writer and director, her ability to paint comedy in the broadest of brushstrokes while shooting straight into the core of emotional truth rewarded with Baftas and Emmys aplenty. That isn’t evidenced here, where Turkish waiters have Manuel-ian accents and where a joke about a masseur called Hassan willing to give you “Indian head” makes it past the taste filter."

"When the songs are centre stage and it becomes a vehicle for the Hit Factory, the show flies, the choreography from Jason Gilkison is exemplary and performed with real star-turn panache by Lucie Mae-Sumner as Ella."