Be prepared to laugh, cry, and feel every emotion in between as you watch An Officer and a Gentleman the Musical at Curve Theatre. This story holds a special place in my heart as my father, Poppy’s grandfather, did his flight training at Pensacola in Florida, where the musical is based.
I have also learned that the idea for the original film, written by Douglas Day Stewart, came about as a result of his experiences as a naval officer in 1965, whilst dating a local factory girl. The musical has been written for the stage by Sharleen Cooper Cohen and directed by Curve’s own Nikolai Foster.
The story is set in the 1980s and follows Zack Mayo, played by Luke Baker, a recruit starting his training to become a naval officer. The training is tough under the guidance of Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley, played by Chris Breistein who really puts the young recruits through their paces.
Zack is on a huge emotional rollercoaster, having lost his mum to suicide from an early age, and being given no guidance or empathy from his father Byron Mayo, played by Tim Rogers, who takes every opportunity to put him down, it seems.
Baker manages to sweep the audience along with him and the wave of emotions seem palpable. Rogers on the other hand has a knack of making you want to go right up to him and tap him on the shoulder and tell him to treat his boy right.
Zack meets Paula Pokrifki, played by Georgia Lennon, a factory worker and trainee nurse. They are thrown together and something between them clicks. They fall in love and everything seems to be going right.
Sid Worley is another recruit who joins up at the same time as Zack, his role is played to perfection by Paul French. He meets Lynette Pomeroy, played by Sinead Long, who works alongside Paula at the factory. Their relationship develops, but Sid misjudges Lynette completely.
The pair are mesmerising to watch, and the chemistry is just right between them. I certainly felt in the second half we got to know the characters more and were able to relate more to them. On the build up to the tragedy, Sid’s character really comes into his own.
Casey Seegar, played by Olivia Foster-Browne, plays a feisty recruit who never gives up. The slow-mo scene when she goes over the assault course is well executed, and there is some brilliant choreography throughout, particularly during the cast’s performance to In The Navy Now, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and the fight scene.
The soundtrack to this musical is one of the best, it has so many 80s tracks that I love, I could mention them all, but my favourites have to include the audience’s first introduction to the factory workers and the vocals in ‘This is a Man’s World’ just blew me away.
I Was Made For Loving You by Lynette, Sid, Paula and Zack followed by I Want To Know What Love Is was just wonderful. Family Man was just heart wrenching, and of course, Up Where We Belong was a fitting final song to the show.
★★★★
An Officer and a Gentleman is at Curve until Saturday August 17 – limited tickets available.
ACCESS PERFORMANCES
British Sign Language (BSL) Interpreted: Thursday August 15, 2.15pm
Captioned: Thursday August 15, 7.30pm
Audio Described (with Touch Tour): Saturday August 17, 2.15pm with Touch Tour from 12.15pm
