A Slice of Saturday Night
Words and music by the Heather Brothers
King's Head Theatre - 1 - 26 Aug: Transferred Arts Theatre 27 Aug: Transferred Strand Theatre 6 Sep
The Heather Brothers' homage to the Swinging Sixties music was a smash-hit success when presented at the King's Head Theatre and transferred to the Arts Theatre, London, where it enjoyed a long run. It then moved to the Strand Theatre London September 6, 1993 for a 12 week run.
The Club-A-Go-Go, run by Eric 'Rubber legs' DeVere, a faded rock star, is where "the action is" on Saturday night, which means chatting-up, the boasting, the heartaches - in fact, all the highs and lows of teenage emotions. A knowing and affectionate look back to the 60s, with a fast-moving score of doo-wop, soft rock, and many laughs (and a few reminiscent sighs) along the way!
Synopsis
It's Saturday Night at the provincial "Club A-Go-Go" and three blokes and four birds are out on the pull. The girls, chalk-faced, pale lipped and lacquered to perfection are desperate to look like Twiggy, Sandy Shaw or Dusty Springfield. The lads in their button-down collars and leather caps are all would-be Beatles or embryo Donovans. However, beneath the girls' skimpy Mary Quant and St Laurent copied dresses beat virginal Barbara Cartland hearts, while inside the lads' cool, hipster trousers lurk the impulses which have driven adolescents to distraction since the dawn of time.
Sue is going out with Gary, who chats up Penny and any other bit of stuff that looks his way. Sharon fancies Rick who fancies Sharon but can't pluck up courage to tell her because she hasn't told him.
Eddie fancies Bridget who doesn't fancy anyone.
And so, watched over by ageing rocker Eric (Rubber-legs) De Vere, the club's seen-it-all, done-it-all owner, we follow then as they wend their way through teenage sexual mores as rigid and predictable as any New Guinea tribesman's initiation rights.
Cast:
5 female, 5 male, no chorus
Musical Numbers
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The Scenes:
In and around The Club A Go-Go
Instrumentation:
keyboards, 2 electric & acoustic guitars, bass guitar, drums Vocal Score and Libretto on hire only
- "A pleasurable, lightly satirical revel in Sixties manners
and music ... with bite, kick and hanky-panky." Guardian
- "The Heather Brothers' musical spoof on the Saturday night rituals of pubescent 17-year-old delinquents in the 60s is full of such clever self-mocking charm that it's difficult to come away feeling anything but thoroughly entertained ... the real pleasure comes from the Brothers' shameless poaching of an eclectic cross-section of famous 60s numbers - Cliff and the Shads to Bob Dylan via the Beatles - superb comic pastiche and sharp, cuff-link humour " Time Out
- "A Slice of Saturday Night" is a musical pastiche that takes you spinning back to the Swinging decade to celebrate the eternal embarrassment of teen age ... girls in mini-skirts and boys in Chelsea boots sing songs about teen trauma that sound like all those 60s hits you've heard on retrospective shows." What's On
Discography:
Original Cast Recording
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