Steve Brown and Justin Greene
Royal Exchange Company
Royal Exchange, Manchester
November 23, 2024-January 11, 2025; 2hrs 30mins
In the week a UK ticketholder won £177m on the Euromillions, there is something wonderfully nostalgic about watching a musical comedy based on a woman who won £152,319 on the pools - even if that works out at more than £4m in today’s money.
Similarly, Spend Spend Spend is at the unshowy and gentle end of the spectrum when it comes to festive theatrical offerings, which is no bad thing.
Windfall winner Viv Nicholson became a figure of notoriety in 1961. Hers was a true rags to riches story: from mining town poverty to champagne, Cadillacs and Garforth.
In that uniquely British way, the press and the public celebrated in her success, then watched gleefully as she spun off the rails, spent it all and was cut down to size.
Nicholson’s tale inspired Morrissey, The Slits and Play for Today, and in the 1990s the late Steve Brown, and Justin Greene, decided to transform her autobiography into a stage show. A quarter of a century after its West End opening, the Royal Exchange has revived the musical.
Also returning is Rachel Leskovac, who starred as the young Viv in London. She’s back in the older Viv role this time, a part once played by Barbara Dickson.
Leskovac barely leaves the stage and is utterly captivating throughout as she rolls back the years and takes the audience on a trip down memory lane. From Salon Mystique, where she has ended up, back to her Castleford upbringing and on to the win that changed her life.
Under Josh Seymour’s direction, the first half canters along nicely with super-smooth set changes and clever choreography. The Royal Exchange stage becomes Nicholson’s childhood home, the Miners Arms pub and even a colliery pit.
Designer Grace Smart and choreographer Lucy Hind have clearly had great fun with one laugh out loud bedroom scene in particular.
Less successful, perhaps, is the slightly drama school recreation of a posh car using pink neon frames.
There are no big numbers, in the traditional musical sense, and one would struggle to hum a tune on the way home. The casts’ voices are collectively not the strongest, but there’s a focus on tone and emotion.
Brown and Greene’s music and lyrics are stylish and enjoyable; poignant too, at times. The wish to “pamper all your faded, jaded dreams”, for example.
Comedian Harry Hill was in the press night audience and the influence of his late, long-time collaborator Brown is clear for all to hear. Rhyming "two loos" with "Toulouse", of painter Lautrec fame, is genius.
A song about the rose-tinted way we view the past – when everyone knew everyone, yobs were arrested and the roads uncongested – is truly timeless. The “take care of me” refrain certainly pulls at the heartstrings.
The first act ends with our heroine astride a glitter-spewing champagne bottle surrounded by sparkly shopping trolleys. The only way is down.
Unsurprising then that Act Two reflects the chaotic nature of Nicholson’s post-jackpot life, as well as packing a real emotional punch.
Rose Galbraith is perfectly cast as the younger Viv. She and the truly superb Leskovac are utterly believable. There’s a stunning duet to savour.
They are supported by a talented and diverse ensemble, including Alex James-Hatton as Nicholson’s second husband, Keith, and George Crawford as both her first husband and various other men she encounters.
Joe Alessi is as dramatically brilliant as ever. Kudos to him for the Bruce Forsyth gurning in particular.
We’re transported back to a very particular period so, inevitably, this is quite a wiggy show.
As it is soon Christmas, there’s also a fair bit of glamour in the set and costumes. Gold colours, sequins and tassels over the stage.
But Spend Spend Spend is really much more of a "Sunday afternoon with a cuppa" musical than a "weekend night extravaganza with a glass of bubbly" show. It’s still a nostalgia-filled treat.
Tickets and information here
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