What do Schitt’s Creek, Romeo and Juliet, and Roy Orbison have in common? Very little! Their only commonality is that David West Read, the Emmy-winning writer of Schitt’s Creek, also wrote the script for the award-winning musical & Juliet and has penned the script for In Dreams, a new musical based on the songs of Roy Orbison. He’s very versatile!
A non-biographical jukebox musical, it has absolutely nothing to do with Roy Orbison; it just uses his splendid songs to advance its story, à la Mamma Mia! Not all musicals get the formula right; often, the songs feel thrown in. But Read manages to weave songs in so well, just like did with & Juliet, which uses the music of songwriter Max Martin.
The songs are weaved in a number of ways. In most cases, the lyrics of the song match what a character is thinking and they aid the character in revealing their thoughts. Sometimes they pull the narrative along. On a few occasions, the songs are ostensibly live performances, but the lyrics remain meaningful; they’re never sung randomly or unnecessarily; it never feels like Read just wanted to include certain songs with no real consideration given.
Occasionally, the songs are weaved in humorously, such as when the male lead, Ramsey (Oliver Tompsett), an Uber driver, is invited to a party by his ex-girlfriend. “I’m an Uber drive – I’m gonna drive!” he says, before singing ‘I Drove All Night’. Later, when his ex-girlfriend locks him out and sings ‘It’s Over’, he knocks on the window, matching the iconic beat of the song.
Orbison’s catalogue is truly divine. At a time when male singers projected machismo, he revealed raw emotion and vulnerability, candid feelings you need in musical theatre, especially a story as bittersweet as this one.
The musical centres on Kenna, the former lead singer of a once-successful rock band. Kenna is played by Tony winner Lena Hall, who is best known for Netflix’s Snowpiercer.
During a live performance (one which opens the show), she gets a phone call from her doctor, who tells her that she has cancer. Fearing her cancer could be terminal and that her days are numbered, she decides to throw a memorial party at Felices Suenos, a Mexican restaurant known for its lively memorial services.
The restaurant is Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) themed; it appears to celebrate the festival all year round. The musical is guided by Día de Muertos as much as it is Roy Orbison’s discography, making for a beautiful celebration of Mexican culture, which most Britons are not that exposed to. The Mexican decor is tantalising. It’s not the most elaborate production but the stage design is gorgeous.
The restaurant is owned by Oscar, a young Mexican man who lost his parents a few years ago, hence his mission to celebrate life (and death). He manages the restaurant with his pregnant wife, Nicole, who he pushes away emotionally. The adorable couple, the emotional heart of the show, are played by Manuel Pacific and Gabriela García, both of whom starred in the Royal Exchange Theatre’s acclaimed revival of West Side Story.
Oscar’s lonely and sassy grandmother, Ana Sofia (Broadway actress Alma Cuervo, a former classmate of Meryl Streep’s), works at the restaurant. Her love interest, the twice-widowed (suspicious!) George is played by Richard Trinder (Harry Potter).
Leon Craig, who is known for his many pantomime dame appearances and for playing drag queen Loco Chanelle in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, plays camp chef Tom, a huge fan of Kenna’s band, Heartbreak Radio. I was intrigued to find out that Craig was not playing a drag queen in this show but I also felt a sass of loss and longing – but don’t fret; act 2 really lets him dazzle!
Tom is written to be stereotypically gay, or rather what the old straight people flocking to see this musical imagine gay guys to be like, but we do get to see behind the glittery facade – and Craig excels in every way.
Kenna decides to invite her ex-bandmates to her memorial but she does not tell them that she is dying. Instead, she refers to it as a ‘goodbye party’, later clarifying that she is moving to Mexico, with Mexico presumably being figurative for death because, well, Day of the Dead.
Kenna’s bandmates include British drummer and ex-lover Ramsey, who is played by Oliver Tompsett, a West End mainstay who just starred in the closing cast of Pretty Woman – which is, of course, named after (and closes with) Orbison’s signature song. I interviewed Tompsett ahead of the world premiere of Read’s previous musical, & Juliet, in which he played Shakespeare.
The band is completed by married couple Jane (Sian Reese-Williams, best-known for Emmerdale and Hidden) and Donovan (Noel Sullivan, a former member of Hear’Say and a well-known musical theatre star), who have five children that they are glad to ditch for a party!
In the first act, you do question if the musical is going to go anywhere. There’s a lot of establishing – characters, relationships, themes, etc. But by the end of the act, you realise this is not a mainstream musical; it has got its own identity.
It’s almost entirely set in the Mexican restaurant so it’s not going anywhere physically. But it goes places emotionally – it goes everywhere emotionally. It is the musical embodiment of “bittersweet”. Who knew a musical about death could be so uplifting and inspiring? Mexicans, that’s who – this musical is an incredible tribute to Día de Muertos, which has such a beautiful, positive view of death which most cultures lack.
By offering an alternative way to look at death, the musical offers us an alternative way to look at life. Are we “born to die” or should we appreciate every single minute because we are so fortunate to be alive and who knows when we will be out of minutes? It’s a real “glass half full” energy.
The musical blasts through Orbison’s hits. There’s the title song, which summarises the musical, but the musical brings ‘You Got It’ to the forefront; that’s its signature song. There’s also ‘Blue Bayou’, ‘Crying’, ‘Only the Lonely’, the aforementioned ‘I Drove All Night’ and ‘Oh, Pretty Woman’, and many more.
Every performer gets the chance to sing an iconic song and thus shine but the show is, of course, stolen by Broadway beauty Lena Hall. It’s hard to believe she’s in Leeds! Hall is a very versatile performer. In Snowpiercer, she played jazz singer Audrey, a Dita Von Teese-esque character; she was smooth, soulful and sensuous. In In Dreams, she’s a rock chick. She sings Orbison songs like they were written for her; she makes them her own.
The musical lacks an antagonist or even an adversary. There’s no major conflict but there are inner and emotional conflicts, including between all four of the couples – and, of course, Kenna’s secret. The drama and tension are heightened in the second act; the musical engages with a variety of issues, evoking emotional responses in everyone onstage – and everyone in the audience. I cried… multiple times.
