Nostalgic funk beats meet unconvincing plot
Sunshine, sweat and sound. When Harry Wayne Casey, a record shop staff in Hialeah with an obsession for rhythm, he didn’t know Miami would become the centre of disco and dance music because of him. Now almost half a century later, J. F. Lawton (book) and Lisa Stevens (director and choreographer) transforms the story of KC and the Sunshine Band into a musical.
Initially performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2024 under the name Who Do Ya Love?, this musical features the love and friendship between Harry himself (Ross Harmon), his good friend Dee (Paige Fenlon) with whom Harry makes a musical with, Gina (Annabelle Terry), and Orly (Adam Taylor) who are both Harry’s love interests.
The jukebox goes well in a way of seeing it as simply a night to enjoy the playlist with some narrative scenes providing background information. Almost 30 grooves are played beautifully by a band of four: Kevin Oliver Jones as the keyboard and guitar, Otto Williams the bass, Toby Drummond the drum and percussion, and Nik Carter the reeds. Don’t worry if you can’t recognise all of them, because the ensemble (Aaron Archer, Eve Drysdale, Rachel Kendall Brown, Finley Oliver), together with Stevens’s choreography, immediately transforms Charing Cross Theatre in to a groovy dance hall.
However, if you do have some expectations for the narrative – for how to tell a story in theatre – it remains chaotic and unsettled. Its meta narrative of Harry and Dee making musical with “conventions” may bear an intention, but whatever that intention could be, it fails to deliver. The supposed necessity of those conventions has no clear effect on the narrative, whether it is Harry’s early career life or his friendship with the rest three. The meta loses its justification. Compared to shows like Showstoppers, it neither slightly teases their audiences, nor even just parodies the musical theatre canon.
Put aside the meta element for one moment, the narrative per se is equally problematic. It seems to display multi facets of Harry’s life: his early career in a record shop, his sexuality, friendships and romances with the rest three. However, these “big events” are just simply showcased in a linear order, loosely stitched by songs or the musical -making dialogue between Dee and Harry. One scene rushes off to another like running water with little depth and no grounded character portrayal. There might be one scene or two, e.g. Gina’s “I Want to Be There”, that carries greater emotional volume. But again, without proper build-ups towards that moment, this scene also feels hasty and lightweight.
Ultimately, while the music and performances shine, the show falters in delivering a coherent or emotionally resonant narrative.