★★★☆☆
The Drifters Girl has drifted into Opera House Manchester as part of its debut UK tour, reprising 26 beautifully choreographed and soulfully sung classics spanning across the 1950s-1970s.
The Drifters Girl follows the tale of the titular group, The Drifters, in their rise to fame, their carousel of numerous singers, the infamous legal case over the rights to their name, and the sad story behind the girl that co-owned the group.
For anyone that wasn’t aware of The Drifters (like myself), they will be pleasantly surprised by their musical repertoire, with just some of their members including Ben E. King, Johnny Moore, Clyde McPhatter, Roy Hemmings and Bobby Hendricks over the years. Their hits included ‘Kissing in the Backrow of the Movies’, ‘There Goes My First Love’, ‘Up on the Roof’, ‘More Than Just a Number in My Little Red Book’, ‘Under the Boardwalk’, ‘Save the Last Dance for me’, King’s ‘Stand By Me’, and many, MANY others.
In its first rendition, the play starred singer Beverley Knight MBE as Faye Treadwell, before Felicia Boswell took up the baton in 2022. Now WhatsOnStage Award winner Olivier Award nominee Carly Mercedes Dyer (Gypsy, Dreamgirls) is in the role (though on press night, Loren Anderson played the role).
Jaydah Bell-Ricketts (School of Rock, Bugsy Malone) plays Faye’s daughter. In the roles of The Drifters, there is a star-studded line up of singers: Miles Anthony Daley (The Voice, Thriller Live), Dalton Harris (X-Factor Winner, Closer Than Ever), Ashford Campbell (9 to 5, Dreamgirls) and Tarik Frimpong (Wicked 2024, Bat out of Hell). I recently interviewed Harris.
The show opened to an all-consuming darkness, with a singular beam of light focusing on a lone jukebox, and a young girl using her dimes to start a colourful spectacular as the Drifters sing a selection of their songs as she mimes their dances, clearly having grown up admiring them.
Before long, we are introduced to the girl’s mother and the show’s leading lady, Faye Treadwell, whose signature catchphrase captures both her powerful and endearing nature, and what it means to be a Drifter: “The Drifters are like the Yankees… The players may change but there’ll only ever be one New York Yankees”. This idea is particularly important as the line-up of Drifters changes over the course of the show and legal battles commence.
Initially, songs are used as an introduction to the band and genre, but are later used in context, either between bits of dialogue, as contextual ways to tell their story (‘Rat Race’, for example), or are sung by other characters, distorting their initial meanings to reflect their emotions rather stunningly.
These latter two ways were the most effective ways that The Drifters Girl showcased its music, as the initial segment occasionally felt a little distant emotionally from the audience and more like a greatest hits celebration, which, while entertaining, didn’t help ground the initial moments of the story as we move from Faye’s daughter, to the Drifters, to Faye’s stories of the past Drifters that were simultaneously observed by the daughter – something that worked well but was initially a little difficult to wrap my head around contextually.
By the time we get to ‘Rat Race’, the band are in turmoil as several of its members are forcibly drafted into the army, others have alcohol problems or are eventually removed for other reasons. The song did well in establishing the quick changes to the group, saying and spelling their names in big lights across the stage as members come and go. By this point, the story also begins to clarify that it will continue to focus on the character of Faye and her struggles with several of these members (past, present and future). Despite the confusing premise of this line-up change, the cast-members playing the Drifters did a phenomenal job of switching between personas and accents as each member played several Drifters, reporters, secretaries etc. – yet all were distinctly different and identifiable.
Then came the most haunting parts of the show, culminating in the death of her husband and co-manager George Treadwell. Lit by a heavenly light, the audience see his silhouette in the background as Faye sings a eye-watering version of ‘I Don’t Wanna Go On Without You’ and an altered reprise of ‘Stand By Me’ before the interval.
The second half of the show really picked up in story and emotion, starting off with the light-hearted classic (that I somehow remember the words to since listening to it at my grandma’s several years ago): ‘Saturday Night at the Movies’, before moving into the most heart-wrenching version of ‘There Goes My Baby’, sung by George in a flashback, and later in a poignant duet with his wife as they reflect on the importance of caring for their daughter.
The crowd clapped teary-eyed before a new rollercoaster of emotions emerged in the Drifters’ trip to the UK – the irony was not lost on the cast that this coincided with the show’s trip around the UK. First we are brought to Manchester, then we travel into Birmingham, Liverpool and London where incredible accents and an impression of Bruce Forsythe’s “nice to see you” had the audience in an uproar of laughter.
Meanwhile, ‘Come On Over To My Place’ is sung enthusiastically as they make the journey between each hotel and their racist remarks – rather disturbingly pointing out the difference between their external image as a well-loved band and the blatant racism they faced behind closed doors.
While the entire cast were amazing, and Loren Anderson slayed as the powerful yet endearing Faye Treadwell, the male performers were particularly phenomenal, from Dalton Harris and his smooth vocals; Miles Anthony Daley and his heartbreaking performance as George among many others; Ashford Campbell and his change in persona and vocal style as the tragic Rudy Lewis; and Tarik Frimpong, who particularly aced it as the avaricious Lover Patterson. How they could pull off so many roles convincingly, yet still maintain great acting and musical skills, is beyond my comprehension.
The finale in particular had so many people cheering enthusiastically as the entire cast (7 people!) encouraged the audience to dance and clap along, resulting in a bobbing sea of heads and a crowd mixed with different generations, yet joined by their love of this music.
While the first half had a confusing plot and chronology initially (through no fault of the amazing cast), the second half in particular redeemed the show, creating the perfect balance of emotion and comedy it had pursued, whilst also representing the insidiousness of racism and misogyny in the era. All of this, mixed with a talented group of singers, choreographed numbers, showbiz costumes, classic songs, and a phenomenal ability to switch between characters made The Drifters Girl a show I certainly won’t forget any time soon.
While I know some of the band’s music, the show particularly resonates with those who grew up with their music as the cast were great in recreating the experience created by the original singers and their dances, yet perfectly adding their own unique twists to the music.
The Drifters Girl runs at Opera House Manchester until October 14 2023 and tours the UK until May 11 2024.
Photo: © The Other Richard
JADAR 