Review Cher The Show – A New Musical – Manchester Opera House
Cher the Show, in Manchester and we headed along for a night all about the iconic favourite. Discover what we thought in our review.
Cher the Show, a New Musical is making it’s way around the UK and we were invited along to check it out at Opera House Manchester last night. We sent along our On The Go reviewer Vaughan Staples . Read on for what he thought below.
Review Cher The Show – A New Musical – Manchester Opera House
Full disclosure from the start, I am a huge Cher fan, and so walked into the Opera House in Manchester with a huge amount of trepidation of what I was about to witness. Would it be a fitting tribute to a global icon and trailblazer, or would it be a cliché-ridden jukebox musical with a poorly executed ill-fitting narrative?
Before I could take my seat the first thing that hit me was the sheer diversity within the audience that lay before me. This speaks in volume to the mass appeal of Cher herself, not just to her devoted LGBTQ+ fan base but to young and old alike some of which will have become fans in the early days of Sonny and Cher and others who have become fans since her role in the second Mamma Mia film.
The format sees three versions of Cher tell her life story from the ’50s right up to the present day. What could be chaotic works well and does help the story flow. All three Cher’s are subtly different in their own way.
Photo Credit – Pamela Raith Photography
Baby Cher ( Millie O’Connell), showcasing a young naive Cher in the 60’swooed by Sonny is the most caricature of the three, over emphasising theCherism’s that were more evident in the earlier days of Cher trying to find herself. Although it intially felt over exaggerated, as the show continued I came to love this younger interpretation.
Babe Cher played by Millie O’Connell, Lady Cher played by Danielle Steers and Star Cher played by Debbie Kurup and all three are present throughout either acting out the story that their Cher represents or by helping to narrate and support vocally in the background.
As the story moves on, Lady Cher (Danielle Steers) negotiates her way through the 70’s. Full of comedy and sass as the tale of her split from Sonny unfolds.
Throughout the musical, Cher’s songs help to narrate the story with some of her biggest hits featuring and some songs occasionallyshoehorned in to form part of a performance on the Sonny and Cher show.
Star Cher (Debbie Kurup) took us on the journey through the 80’s and 90’s to present day, showcasing her movie making and up to the relaunch of her career and touching on Sonny’s funeral where Kurup showed us the range of her acting skills. She also proved that she could sing hitting every note impeccably without a caricature in sight.
Photo Credit – Pamela Raith Photography
Tori Scott also deserves a mention as Cher’s formidable and supportive mother, as she brings some great one lines and words of wisdom to the proceedings.
The Cher Show takes you on the roller coaster of Cher’s life laughing one minute hold back the tears pn the next.
For those who have been mimimg along thoughout the show, the finale saw us invited to sing and dance along with the likes of Strong Enough, Woman’s World, Dov’eL’amore, The Shoop Shoop Song, I found Someone, If I could Turn Back Time and Believe.
Cher fans will adore this homage to an icon, whilst non – Cher fans will discover a life story that may surprise and amaze and many songs that are impossible not to sing along to.
