The Billy Fury Show at Nottingham Arts Theatre review

We went tonight to see The Billy Fury Show at Nottingham Arts Theatre.

I wasn't really sure what to expect, as Billy Fury is much less well known than contemporaries such as Elvis or Cliff Richards. And this was not one of those Tribute shows like Mamma Mia where the songs are built into some pseudo story.

The show tells the story of the life of Billy Fury, from his discovery in the North West as Ronald Wycherley through to his early death due to heart failure. Most of the show is dance performed to recordings of his work, punctuated with narration and some slide show projection of images of Billy Fury through the ages.

The narration was all clear and helped move the story on. And all of the dance numbers were skillfully performed. I understand that the projection allowed the series of dance numbers to be broken up a bit, but images of Billy Fury projected on a screen didn't work for me so well.

This was a large scale production with 40 dance numbers, frequent changes of costume and over 30 girls. A great effort by all, and appreciated by the audience. There were also several poignant moments, Psalm 23 sung by the cast reflecting the music at Billy Fury's funeral, a song by Susan Raasay about Jessica of Jessie's Fund (the event was a charity event raising money for Jessie's Fund), and a presentation to Billy Fury's mum who came from Liverpool to see the show (how old is she?). Possibly fewer dance numbers overall would have kept the audience engaged  better on a hot summer evening and on the principle of "more is less".

Overall an inspiring evening, extremely well presented, obviously with lots of effort all round, and would make me want to hear more of Billy Fury's music.

11th July 2010
 
Posted by: Robert Dixon on 12 July 2010