Jamie Wilson Productions & The Previous Vic/Simply For One Day, The Stay Help Musical, e book by John O’Farrell, a jukebox musical/diversified playlist, choreographed by Ebony Molina, music route by Patrick Hurley, directed by Luke Sheppard, CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre, closes Mar. 15. Tickets right here.
In the event you had been on this earth on Saturday, July 13, 1985, even should you weren’t a fan of rock and pop music, you knew about Stay Help. How might you not? The publicity for the occasion was monumental, its significance trumpeted to the world.
Stay Help was the identify given to 2 profit concert events to lift cash for famine reduction in Ethiopia. They befell concurrently at London’s Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia’s John. F. Kennedy Stadium, that includes the largest names in music. The format had the acts alternate between the 2 international locations, and the concert events lasted over 16 hours.
It’s estimated that the televised Stay Help raised round £50 million for Ethiopian reduction, and was seen by 3.5 billion folks in 150 international locations, which was almost 40% of the world’s inhabitants.
It’s the occasions main as much as the mounting of the Stay Help concert events which might be the unlikely topic of the British musical Simply For One Day.
Background
That is the type of feelgood present that may attraction to everybody. John O’Farrell’s e book is each emotional and humorous on the identical time, and in addition to being a seminal a part of musical historical past, the making of Stay Help is a rattling good story.
After which, after all, there’s the music, that includes the best hits from the 70s and 80s.
Director Luke Sheppard and producer Jamie Wilson thought up the thought of a Stay Help musical in 2021, and introduced in O’Farrell to create the e book. Their intention was to showcase the enjoyment and the magic that surrounded the occasion, in addition to specializing in the hard-working individuals who made Stay Help occur. The present debuted at The Previous Vic in 2024, and Toronto marks its North American premiere.
Characters
Central to Simply For One Day is the Irish rock star Bob Geldof of the band the Boomtown Rats (Craige Els), and be warned, his speech is liberally peppered with the F-word. He’s now Sir Bob Geldof, having been knighted for his philanthropy.
To inform the story of Stay Help, O’Farrell has created Suzanne, a present-day mom and Stay Help fanatical superfan (Melissa Jaques), who tries to convey the greatness of the concert events to her unimpressed daughter Jemma (Fayth Ifil).
The solid accommodates each actual life and fictional characters.
As Suzanne narrates the story, we comply with Younger Suzanne (Hope Kenna) in 1985, and Tim (Jack Michael Stacey), her coworker on the bookstore the place she is a part-timer. Geldof joins Suzanne and Jemma to inform his central half in creating Stay Help.
In 1984, Geldof was watching tv and noticed BBC journalist Michael Buerk’s harrowing documentary on the Ethiopian famine, the primary to convey the disaster to public consideration. Geldof was shocked and got here up with the thought of writing a Christmas track that includes a slew of well-known stars to lift cash for Ethiopia.
Geldof was clearly a pressure of nature and bullied folks to get what he wished. For instance, he badgered Scottish singer Midge Ure (George Ure) of the band Ultravox to cowrite the track Do They Know It’s Christmas? They known as their enterprise Band Help and introduced in Marsha (Kelly Agbowu) to supply their single. This little charity track went to primary on the charts and raised buckets of cash.
From there, the thought morphed into mounting the enormous Stay Help concert events that includes the celebrities of each the USA and Britain. Together with Marsha and Ure, Geldof corralled sound technician Jim (Ashley Samuels), live performance promoter Harvey Goldsmith (Tim Mahendran) and leisure lawyer John Kennedy (Jake Small) to assist plan the occasion.
The solid additionally options the character of Amara (Rhianne-Louise McCaulsky), the Ethiopian assist employee who’s dealing with the horrors of the famine, and, would you imagine, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Julie Atherton)? Sure, Geldof even confronts the chief of the federal government.
Okay, the plot line is hokey, however the characters are fascinating. The principle trajectory is to comply with Geldof as he browbeats his technique to making the concert events a actuality and this does seize consideration.
The solid is fantastic, and I imply everybody, with the dynamic Els taking centre stage. His go-for-broke efficiency is the glue that holds every thing collectively. The power simply pours off the stage, and the six-man rock band actually lays it on.
The Manufacturing
I’m not fairly certain precisely what Ebony Molina’s choreography is doing, nevertheless it’s enjoyable to look at due to its bodily demanding, high-octane, vigorous output. Maybe evoking or mirroring the music?
Soutra Gilmour’s intelligent set options bleachers in entrance of the band ,and the solid and ensemble sit there if they aren’t performing. These bleachers conjure up the picture of the stadiums. Small set items like chairs and desks are simply pushed on and off, whereas Andrzej Goulding’s atmospheric movies and projections fill within the again and aspect partitions as wanted.
Howard Hudson’s lighting is especially efficient in pin-spotting the motion, whereas Fay Fullerton’s sensible costumes cross two time intervals and convey the style statements of each.
The Music
Arranger/orchestrator Matthew Brind has ingeniously blended collectively the disparate music right into a seamless rating. As a little bit of trivia, each track within the present was carried out at Stay Help.
The songs mirror who the characters are, or what they’re considering, or what’s occurring. For instance, the musical opens with all the firm singing the very apt David Bowie’s Heroes, and it’s a line from this track which supplies the present its title.
The overbearing Harvey Goldsmith is available in on Pinball Wizard from the rock opera Tommy. Margaret Thatcher warbles Cease Your Sobbing, made well-known by the Kinks. Amara introduces melancholy with Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ within the Wind, whereas Jemma sings Pete Townsend’s My Era.
The ending is especially shifting, with Lennon/McCartney’s Let It Be morphing into Tears Are Not Sufficient, the track {that a} celebrity group of Canadian singers recorded in 1985 as this nation’s contribution to lift cash for famine reduction. Including this track to the rating is a considerate tribute to the Toronto manufacturing.
Ultimate Thought
Simply For One Day incorporates a terrific solid, nice music, energetic choreography, and a compelling story. What’s to not like?
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Paula Citron is a Toronto-based freelance arts journalist and broadcaster who hosts her personal web site, paulacitron.ca. For over 25 years, she was senior dance author for The Globe and Mail, affiliate editor of Opera Canada journal, arts reviewer for Classical 96.3 FM, and dance previews contributor to Toronto Life journal. She has been a visitor lecturer for numerous cultural teams and universities, significantly on the position of the critic/reviewer, and has been a panellist on COC podcasts. Earlier than assuming a full-time journalism profession, Ms. Citron was a member of the drama division of the Claude Watson College for the Arts.
