Heralded as ‘the perfect show for anyone who’s ever been to a pub’, MANBand The Musical is premiered by Bloomin’ Good Productions at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn this month. Set in a Shropshire pub, it promises to go down a treat. What’s On takes a look at what’s brewing...

They say you are never too old to go back on stage (just ask the Rolling Stones!), and new musical MANBand proves the point. Why should the young have all the fun? 

MANBand is the jolly, feelgood, comical story of four music-loving regulars (Baz, Kev, Eric and Frank) in a Shropshire pub who decide to have one last shot at the Big Time with their repertoire of retro-style songs. Being far too old to be a Boy Band, they decide to form a Man Band. But, with an average age of 70, they are also inclined to get grumpy. Can they cope with the pace? Will they stay off the booze long enough to master their dance steps? Do they really have to wear make-up? And what will happen when the women in their lives find out?

There are many egotistical hurdles to stardom, but these septuagenarian wannabes are tenacious. As their first song goes:

“ What are we thinking? 
  It’s ‘cus we’re drinking
  It’s been so long                 
  Since we wrote a song   
  It would be great       
  To rejuvenate                                 
  Back on the stage                           
  At our old age 
  But we could do it!!! ”

One of the first new musicals created especially for Theatre Severn since it opened in 2009, MANBand began life in a pub. Actor/writer Tim Baker was having a quiet pint (or two) in The Three Fishes in Shrewsbury when an old badminton adversary, Pete Hanlon, and his wife Jo walked in. Pete and Jo had spent a dozen years in a professional function band. Tim had been writing scripts for almost as long. None of them are in the first flush of youth. How about a collaboration that celebrated the comic idiosyncrasies of so-called ‘maturity’?

Pete and Jo have written a suite of 21 catchy new songs in the style of some of the musicians they admired in their youth: The Four Seasons, Smokie, Hot Chocolate, Bonnie Tyler, The Police, Fleetwood Mac and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. They stress these are brand-new songs - but they like to think their heroes would have recorded them if only they’d been written at the time. Naturally, many of them are love songs; like First Love, which might have tempted The Temptations...

 “Friday night at the dance           
  It would never be the same   
  Our eyes met across the room 
  I just had to know your name                                         
 You’ll always be my last                                         
 Whenever I think of you                               
 My heart it beats so fast”

Tim’s storyline has the ‘famous four’ making an appearance on the BBC’s Midlands Today programme in their search for stardom - but, needless to say, the interview isn’t a complete success! This sequence was filmed in June in the Midlands Today studio at the Mailbox in Birmingham. And it’s ‘hats off’ to the BBC for playing along, and particularly presenter Joanne Malin (herself a trained actor and all-round game girl) for learning her lines, throwing herself wholeheartedly into the spirit of the show, and allowing herself to be lightly humiliated in the process.

Director Beverley Baker has pulled together the crème de la crème of Shropshire’s performing talent for this show. The cast includes experienced comedy actors, seasoned Shakespearians (letting their hair down), four young lads (who play the wannabes as their frolicsome younger selves), some period Go Go Dancers (recruited from the Viv Kelly School of Dance & Theatre) and even a former Benny Hill girl. For whilst the show is called MANBand, there are some cracking parts for women.

Somehow the men acquire a domineering female manager, Bryony, whose signature song sounds a lot like Tina Turner...

“ My opinion’s always right                         
  And I don’t lose no sleep at night    `
  By telling people what I think               
  Sometimes brings them to the brink   
  I’m an Alpha Male female             
  I’m the boss. ”

Meanwhile, there’s a wonderful Bonnie Tyler-style power ballad for Kev’s younger sister, Marg, who also feels she should have made the grade...

“ I should have gone to stage school               
  But I became a mother and wife     
  When I’m alone I think what might have been 
  Had my world taken a different turn 
  From the one I’m living in 
  It should have been me 
  And I’m so tired of dreaming                           
  How it would have been ” 

The situation comes to a head when the women wreak revenge.
The extensive choreography is in the hands of the highly experienced Chrissie Purslow. Inspired by the routines of The Temptations, The Four Tops and other Motown acts, Chrissie has the cast (of 20) performing dances that echo the era. There’s a nod to the Twist, and the MANBand’s jazz-box steps are reminiscent of The Shadows’ famous walk.

But amidst all the comedy and chaos, above all MANBand is a tribute to the joys of having a few miles on the clock, the crankiness of ‘getting on’ and the bliss of having a good ‘local’ to go to - where, as the musical affirms, all life can be found.

So, the whole show is set in and around a fictional Shropshire pub, created on the stage of the Walker Studio. As you might imagine, this took considerable on-site research. But the MANBand team also consulted experts from the Three Tuns Brewery in Bishops Castle, who have provided props, advice and sponsorship support. Rumour has it there will be a specially brewed MANBand beer on tap in the theatre bar, to be supped whilst enjoying the show. You may just have to put your (plastic) glass down to clap along to the grand finale, though...

“ Everybody give a hand                       
  Give a hand to the ManBand   
  So raise your glass     
  To the friends of your past         
  And the new ones we’ll meet through the years   
  Welcome all … ‘cus all life is here! ”

MANBand The Musical shows at Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, from Thursday 10 to  Saturday 12 October. For further info visit manbandthemusical.co.uk