JADAR

★★★★☆

There was a lot riding on the Royal Exchange Theatre’s revival of Spend Spend Spend, with it being their first show in half a year, thanks to the controversial cancellation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in September. Furthermore, their recent Christmas productions, though well-received, have not enjoyed the same acclaim as those pre-pandemic, with last year’s folksy Brief Encounter a far cry from the usual festive spectacle. So this year, the RX have spent spent spent, and it has paid off: this is indisputably one of their best productions since the pandemic.

Spend Spend Spend is a rags-to-riches-to-rags-again musical based on the life of Viv Nicholson, a Yorkshire housewife who won £152,319 on the football pools in 1961 (worth over £4 million in 2024) and vowed to “spend spend spend” – and she did!

The musical premiered in Leeds in 1998 before transferring to the West End in 1998 and touring the UK in 2000. The West End and tour cast was led by Barbara Dickson OBE as Viv and Rachel Leskovac as Young Viv, with both being nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical and the former winning. 25 years later, Leskovac is leading this anticipated revival as (old) Viv; she has come full circle (in the round!). Young Viv is played wonderfully by Rose Galbraith, who makes us care deeply for a woman who, frankly, can be quite stupid.

The musical opens in the then-present (1990s), with Viv telling us her life story. We go back to her youth, which we arguably spend a little too long on, before the story finds its focus on her second marriage, with her second husband, Keith (a charming Alex James-Hatton), winning the football pools and lifting the pair out of poverty. The first act ends with Viv vowing to “spend spend spend”, with the second act seeing her stay true to this vow – and the fallout.

A sung-through musical, it can feel quite heavy. Even when there’s speech, there’s usually music playing, which becomes a bit tiresome. Sung-through only works when every single song slaps – like in Les Mis and Hamilton – but Spend Spend Spend had me, a guy who plays music all day everyday, longing for a normal conversation.

At times, the music, albeit beautiful, overpowered the actors, and it occasionally felt a bit too quick and pacy. There are some smashing songs, with the score getting better as the shows goes on. The music always mirrors Viv’s life, with more jazz and pizzazz during the wealthy years. It pays tribute to various genres of the times.

There are some fabulous music numbers (by Justin Green and the late Steve Brown – his frequent collaborator, Harry Hill, was in attendance), particularly the electrifying title number at the end of Act 1. The emotional ballad between Viv and Young Viv – ‘Who’s Gonna Love Me’ – is a heart-wrenching reflection and realisation.

Viv not only opens the musical but never leaves the stage. What we are watching is her memory come to life. She inserts herself into scenes, never interacting with the characters but, rather than being a fly on the wall, she immerses herself into her memories, hiding in crowds or lying on expensive beds, reliving better days.

Grace Smart’s set design, which makes great use of mirrors (reflection!), is gorgeous. Tinsel hangs from the sky, props gracefully slide down from it, Young Viv gracefully descends up into it, and set pieces are effortlessly rolled onstage. The production could benefit from a revolve but director Josh Seymour has chosen to keep things more grounded (literally). It is some of the best direction, best choreography (Lucy Hind), and best use of space that I have seen at the Royal Exchange.

Jack Knowles enhances every single scene with his varied lighting design. It is especially effective in poignant moments when characters walk on or off stage – coming from or descending into blackness and smoke. Whilst the musical can feel fantastical – with Viv reliving her past and Young Liv, frankly, living in fantasyland – Richard Brooker and Nick Lodge’s sound design brings the real world to life.

Smart must have had a lot of fun sourcing and designing period-appropriate costumes for the show (the team created over 120!). Drag queens would pay megabucks for Viv’s wardrobe, especially her pink leotard, which is inspired by Marilyn Monroe’s iconic ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ dress (Viv wears it in a fantasy scene, where she dreams of escaping her boring life).

The silver outfits worn by the cast in the scenes where Viv and Keith are celebrating their wealth are a disco dream. The “men in suits”, e.g. a banker, wear outlandishly wide suits with shoulder pads that make those seen in Dynasty look pathetic. The bankers (give and take a letter!) are reduced to villainous caricatures, signifying the trouble they caused Viv. They might have been working people themselves but, to Viv, they were monsters.

Viv’s later husbands are all played by the same actor as her first (George Crawford), and all wear their number on the back of their shirts, which suggests a lack of identity and impact or influence on Viv’s life. She was looking for happiness in all the wrong places.

Possibly my favourite costumes, though, are the pastels worn by the ensemble in the scene where the pair move into a nice area. There are two couples, each with their own colour, and two individuals in their own colours – with one actor cloaked in pink with a matching pink poodle. It’s reminiscent of the satirical suburb in Edward Scissorhands. It feels more American than British – and in one scene, the cast are showered in green notes that look more like US dollar notes – but that seems to be part of the Hollywood-esque fantasy (and the blurring of fiction and fantasy, what with Viv’s dangerous dreaming and Old Viv’s rose-tinted memory).

Whilst the musical focuses on Viv and Young Viv, with Keith rounding off the central cast, all the ensemble get a chance to shine. Alfie Parker deserves special praise for his meticulous characterisation. Olivier Award nominee Rebecca Thornhill, who plays basically every older woman in the cast, has real gravitas. Lejaun Sheppard oozes charm, whether as the Angel or the singer.

Jamil Abbasi, Joe Alessi, Abigail Brodie, George Crawford, Ayesha Maynard, Rachel Moran, and Karen Wilkinson are all perfectly cast in this electric chorus. The diversity – from age and race to gender and size – is beautiful, and certainly reflective of Yorkshire. These are real people.

Brown and Greene’s script is incredibly funny. Early on, Viv’s dad (Alessi) tells her, “It’s not too late to pull out,” before telling her first husband, Matt (Crawford), “You should have pulled out sooner!” When Viv is living in poverty, we are told, “Even the mice, packed up and gone.” Later, Parker, as a man pretending to be a woman (which feels a bit off in 2024), says about his cat, “My pussy’s gone away.” When Viv finds faith, Old Viv says, “No men. None. Nun.” These are just a few zingers in this hilarious – very British – musical.

During their duet, Viv looks directly at Young Viv whilst Young Viv only really looked at Viv at the end. But the end of the show allows past to meet present, with Young Viv wearing the same outfit, wig and glasses that Viv has been wearing the entire show. In this scene, Young Viv (now old) has brought home a man who realises she is lying about her age.

“There comes a time when you’ve gotta be clean about who and what you are,” she says, as the women look at each other and Young Viv walks off stage, shattering the illusion. Viv then tells the audience her real age before once again lying to her lover. “Tell the truth, yeah, but there’s no need to be fanatical,” she says, to laughter, suggesting that a leopard can never truly change its spots.

However, in the (bittersweet) end, she realises that she was happiest when she was poor. There’s a lot to take away from this meaty musical but, at its core, it asks us to appreciate what we have instead of wasting our lives dreaming.

I’ve seen every RX Xmas musical for the past decade, and this might be their best since the pandemic.

So go ahead and spend spend spend on tickets for this superb show!

Spend Spend Spend runs at the Royal Exchange Theatre until January 11 2025.

Photo: Helen Murray