Camp, contagious and hilarious: a musical full of energy and iconic songs

I Should Be So Lucky is a musical which centres around a young bride named Ella, jilted at the altar, who decides not to waste her honeymoon but instead takes her family and friends to the lovers’ paradise in Turkey. The plot was ridiculous, and became increasingly so as the show went on, but the show was undeniably packed with energy, glitter and fun.

The whole cast were fabulous and played their roles to the maximum, even Kylie Minogue herself, who appears on a screen as a figment of Ella’s imagination. She acts as a sort of fairy godmother to Ella throughout the story, which added yet more cheese to the storyline, but for all the Kylie fans in the audience was probably a great addition. For me, the stand-out actor was Giovanni Spanò, who played Ash, the best man. His charisma, comedic timing and mannerisms had the audience howling with laughter – but he wasn’t the only one. The whole show was funny from start to finish and there was never a dull moment, which can’t always be said of other musicals. Jamie Chapman, portraying Spencer, the fussy, camp manager of the resort, was also a favourite, and Kayla Carter, who played Bonnie (Ella’s best friend) was the stand-out singer, bringing the house down with ‘You’ll never stop me loving you’. 

Alongside this were dozens of iconic Stock Aitken Waterman songs impossible not to sing along to, including ‘Never gonna give you up’, ‘You spin me round’ and ‘Love in the first degree’, which the audience of course lapped up. By the end, everyone was up singing and dancing. I thought the choreography was extremely well-done and certainly one of the reasons this show was full of energy, which made sense when I read it was choreographed by Jason Gilkison: the lead choreographer of Strictly Come Dancing. The band too were faultless, and both the costumes and the heart-shaped set were perfectly suited to the show, with no shortage of pink and sparkles.

I felt the characters were all written taking stereotypes to the extreme: the fussy mum, the wild child Grandma, the flamboyant gay friend and the ‘always the bridesmaid’ best friend were all clearly defined. The zest of all the supporting personalities made the actual bride and groom quite boring characters in comparison. There were many little storylines branching off from the main story which were all somehow predictable, cliché and over-the-top, which was a clear theme to this musical. I wouldn’t describe it as well written, but I can’t deny, I had a great time watching it.I can’t recommend this show to everyone: I know my dad would be rolling his eyes. But while it was mostly middle-aged women in the audience, I would recommend it to anyone who loved ‘Mamma Mia’, is a Kylie fan, or just wants a fun night out and doesn’t mind a bit of cheesiness.