Greatest Days is a musical based on the music of the famous boy band, Take That. It uses an original story, filled with fun but also heartbreak, with the famous songs used throughout the musical. Here’s my Greatest Days – The Take That Musical Theatre Review.
Overview of Greatest Days
Greatest Days is a musical that uses the music from Take That, the famous boy band. I’ll assume that everyone reading my Greatest Days – The Take That Musical Theatre Review will be familiar with Take That’s music – if not, listen to some online to get an idea of what to expect!
Greatest Days tells the story of a group of teenage girls, who are obsessed with a boy band. There’s 5 of them, each with their own unique characters. But they all share a love of the boy band. The ‘boy band’ isn’t actually called Take That in the show – but there are 5 boys and they sing the Take That songs, so we can assume the ‘boy band’ basically are Take That. The teenage girls go to see a concert, and hang around backstage to try to meet them. But then, on their way home, tragedy strikes and the group of teenage girls are never the same.
Fast forward 20 years, and the girls are now all grown up women. They’ve lost touch as they’ve all been busy with the daily lives. But then one of the girls wins tickets to see the boy band in Athens, in Greece. The girls reunite, and go to Athens together.
In Athens, they have great fun, including having too much fun with a statue/fountain that leads to them having a brief stay at a Greek police station. But it’s heart-warming to see the group of women together again, and watch them catch up with each others lives. And also come to terms with the tragedy that hit when they were teenagers, leaving them all changed and unhealed. The musical ends with the women coming home after the trip, and moving on with their lives, having healed from the past shared tragedy now they’re together again.
What I liked about Greatest Days – The Take That Musical
I really loved this musical. It was good fun and happy, but there were times it made me cry as well. It definitely takes a good musical to make you feel that range of emotions. I wasn’t expecting the sad aspect of the show – I thought it was just going to be happy and silly. And while there were a lot of happy and (nicely) silly moments, I really liked the sad part of the plot as well. It was really moving.
I enjoyed the music, and thought it was performed well. I especially liked the parts where the girls were singing, but the boy band performances were great as well. The scene set at the Greek fountain in Athens, where the boy band were dressed up as Greek statues, singing the song ‘Greatest Day’, was one of my favourite scenes. It was really good fun.
I really liked seeing the character development of the women. I loved learning about their hopes and dreams for the future when they were teenagers. They were all so different, but they all had really clear goals for the future. I remember being like that when I was a teenager – I knew exactly what I wanted to achieve. I liked seeing characters like that. But then I also really liked that the adult versions hadn’t achieved those dreams. That might sound weird – but to me, it felt realistic and relatable. I definitely haven’t achieved all the dreams I had as a teenager. And I don’t think many people have. I liked that this show delved into what trauma and sadness can do to our dreams, and how it can affect our whole lives. This part of the show was a lot deeper than I was expecting, and I really liked it.
What I wasn’t so sure about
In the first few scenes of the musical, I thought it was going to be a bit silly. It took me a bit of time to really get into it. I ended up loving the show, but it did take a few scenes to really get into it.
I was also surprised that the ‘boy band’ didn’t have any characters. The five boys were just singers/dancers, and didn’t have any dialogue or character. In a way, I would have liked them to have had a bit of a character. But then again, I guess that the girls wouldn’t have ever spoken to them or known their character. To the girls, the boy band were just the boy band, and not characters. So in that way, maybe it worked that the boy band didn’t have their own characters and lines.
Would I recommend Greatest Days – The Take That Musical
I’d definitely recommend going to see Greatest Days – The Take That Musical. It was a great show that had me smiling, laughing and crying. I guess technically you could say it’s not the best show in the world. But I really loved it, and I’d happily go to see it again. Check out the upcoming tour dates here.