Military Wives - The Musical

A Northern Theatre News review

I’ll start with a bit of background, for me as much as for you!

In 2010 a group of army wives at Catterick Garrison decided to form a choir, to divert their attention from the worry of their loved ones being in Afghanistan, relieve their boredom, and to get to know others in the same situation on their ‘patch’.

What started as a small idea, soon captured the nation’s heart, leading to documentaries, best-selling singles like Wherever You Are, and the creation of the wider Military Wives Choirs network, and of course the 2019 film.

Now for my confession, I’ve not seen the movie or documentary this was based on, though I did know the basics of the story… on paper it just didn’t seem to be my kinda thing.

Put it into a musical, on stage, at the beautiful York Theatre Royal and I‘m all over it ;-)

Written and directed by Debbie Isitt (of Nativity! film fame - which I do watch every year!), this new British musical stays true to the basic facts of what happened and has crafted a heartfelt, witty, and deeply authentic musical adaptation.

Isitt provides a fresh narrative with original characters and worked with real military wives during development to ensure they are honestly captured on stage. She details more of this process in this excellent interview.

The result is a co-production (with Everyman Theatre Cheltenham and Buxton Opera House) that showcases the resilience, courage and humour of partners living under the shadow of war, and the ever-present worry that they may not see their loved one again.

Okay, that’s the intro and it all sounds fine, not necessarily normally my sort of thing - hence not seeing the original film.

But what I did not, on any level, expect was to be so effortlessly brought into these women’s lives, to connect so deeply with them and their plight that I was in tears within the first ten minutes - it must have been very dusty, ahem.

I may have cried more than I did during Come From Away, which always floors me. At one point the lovely lady next to me apologised if her crying had disturbed me - her son had done four tours. No apology needed, given my two sob-a-thons during the most emotionally raw sections later on.

Wonderful venue

I’m not entirely sure how Isitt did this but she owes me a bunch of Kleenex - other tissue brands are propbably available ;-)

But, that’s also not entirely true, I think I do know.

I think the simple approach taken to staging, to practically allow intercuts to Afghanistan, the wonderful characters, and the fantastic music selection, combine to prevent any distractions for the audience. So your connection to these very relatable women is immediate and deeply layered from the off.

It is a very smart and very effective technique if not a little damp inducing.

Touching on the music selection, this is a jukebox musical, and I usually find with these that the approach is to find a song where a lyric mirrors what a character says, or worse - force a character to shoe horn a lyric into their dialogue, and then launch into that song. It so often feels forced and cliche.

That isn’t the approach taken here, the selections here were made with Musical Director George Dyer, and appear to have been reverse engineered so that they both fit naturally with what the choir/character might select AND what fits the narrative at that moment.

A couple of those selections are so absolutely devastating that I’m welling up again as I type!

The cast are universally great, playing characters that are individually distinct and imbueing them with warmth, life and honest vulnerability. It’s difficult to pick a standout but I will mention Bobbie Little who plays Olive the choir mistress, who belts out a couple of soul numbers with incredible energy! (full cast below)

Okay, so you get it, I loved it!

But, I also found it educational too, which I definitely did not anticipate. I’ve no background with the military, no immediate family serving/served, so learning about their lives, on base - or patch as they call it, the death letters the soldiers leave behind just in case, the loneliness they endure (until the choir changes that) was revelatory.

Had the pleasure of chatting to a current choir member at the interval - the evening had started with them singing in the foyer pre-show - who explained that not only was the choir network still going strong, and that some of the original members were still involved, but that some patches have children’s choirs now too.

Current choir serenading us pre-show

By the end number, well there’s two really, the standing ovation was thoroughly well deserved and generously given by everyone in theatre… and then the second end number became a joyous standing-ovation-dance-along - a danceovation if you will!

Danceovation time!

There is just one narrative twist that didn’t quite land for me, but that is probably just me, and it certainly didn’t detract from the experience with this joyous, moving celebration of friendship, community, and the strength found in unity.

Runs until 27 September - get your tickets !

Trailer - Youtube

Military Wives Choir - Info & Support

Cast

  • Kayla Carter — Faith

  • Emma Crossley — Bex

  • Jessica Daley — Jenny

  • Ashleigh Gray — Terri

  • Adrian Hansel — Luke

  • Sydney Isitt-Ager — Sarah

  • Joe Kelly — Adam

  • Bobbie Little — Olive / Paula

  • Billy Roberts — Dale / Simon / Andy

  • Caroline Sheen — Susannah

  • Rachael Wooding — Krissy

  • Stewart Wright — Dave (The Welfare Officer)

Creative Team

  • Debbie Isitt — Writer & Director

  • George Dyer — Arranger, Orchestrator & Musical Supervisor & Musical Director

  • Katie Lias — Designer

  • Rory Beaton — Lighting Designer

  • Richard Brooker — Sound Designer

  • Rebecca Louis — Movement Director

  • Marc Frankum — Casting Director