Express & Star

Boogie Nights at Wolverhampton Civic Hall blasts fans back to disco days

A blast of YMCA, a dose of Blame It On The Boogie and a rousing rendition of I Will Survive – there was no doubt disco had arrived in Wolverhampton.

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Featuring a star-studded cast including The Osmonds, Gareth Gates, X Factor star Chico and Eastenders actress Louisa Lytton, Boogie Nights shimmied into Wolverhampton's Civic Hall and brought the disco era back to life with a bang.

Young and old alike packed into the venue for a night of good old-fashioned fun and and helped to belt out some of the biggest tunes from the 1970s.

The cult musical, written by Jon Conway and Shane Richie, is playing more than 50 dates across the country and features dancing, drama and all the best songs of the decade.

Set around the story of bad boy Roddy O'Neil, who dreams of becoming a rock star, the show had the crowd dancing in the aisles from start to finish the start.

Jimmy Osmond and his brothers Jay and Merrill led the disco-tastic tribute to the 70s by singing a string of their own hits including Love Me For a Reason and Crazy Horses.

Jimmy said he was "thrilled" to be part of the show and speaking before last night's performance at the North Street venue he added:

"Times are tough for everybody and folk pay hard money to come and see the show with their family.

"You will see grandma all the way down to a young kid singing YMCA together and you know that the audience have really left their troubles at the door.

"The reaction to our tour so far has been over the moon.

"It is a great thing to be part of." Shane Richie Junior is suitably cast in the lead role made famous by his father, while EastEnders actress Louisa Lytton, who plays long-suffering girlfriend Debs, put in a strong performance of Gloria Gaynor classic I Will Survive.

And while Gareth Gates wowed the crowd with his boyish charm as heart throb Dean, X Factor star Chico had the audience in stitches with his one-liners and dance moves.

Former bin man Andy Abraham also impressed as tough guy soul singer Spencer with his rendition of My First, My Last, My Everything.

Sue Attwood, who managed to get a last-minute ticket for the show last night, said: "The concert brought back lots of memories of all those great hits from the 70s and the audience loved it.

"When the Osmonds sang Remember Me with old footage shown behind them on stage the fans – of all ages – were all on their feet cheering and applauding.

"The show really came to life in the second half.

"And most of the fans spent that entire half on their feet singing and dancing. In fact at one point the singers fell silent and left the many fans to finish off the song," she added.

"This was a full-on performance and what a few of the performers lacked in vocal strength they more than made up for it with their high energy performance," she added.

"Gareth Gates did a superb job standing in for Donny with Puppy Love which went down very well. Altogether a memorable night."

The toe-tapping production was penned in 1997 and became the first jukebox pop musical before the likes of We Will Rock You and Mamma Mia followed its lead.

Billed as the 'ultimate party show', the crowd that flocked to last night's show let their hair down as they danced the night away in a trip down memory lane.

And it was a winner for all in the crowd – whether it allowed them to reminisce about their younger days or for first-timers just being introduced to the songs of the 70s.

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