Today we have something special for you, one of our reviewers, Dan, visited The Cher Show last week ad wrote a review about it for our readers.

Originally opening on Broadway back in 2018 this re-imagined version of The Cher Show is directed by Arlene Phillips with choreography by Strictly’s Oti Mabuse.  It makes use of three different Chers: Babe, Lady, and Star, to each tell a different chapter of her life. Whilst not at the forefront the other two are very much a presence on the stage helping to narrate and provide the Cher of the moment a sounding board to bounce thoughts off.

Maybe it was the Tuesday night audience, but a lot of the jokes (think titters rather than laughs) fell flat and the crowd lacked a form of energy until the end where a Megamix featured truncated forms of her biggest hits. Until then we plodded through the (not too exciting) story of her life with snippets of songs and no real prolonged upbeat numbers to raise the energy. In fact the audience almost seemed half asleep at the end when the Megamix turned up and needed some encouragement to get up and clap along by Star.

The story telling is remarkably good with clever use of props to show the years progressing as the show goes on. Much unlike other biopic musicals, where one can be left struggling as scenes move on to a different year or era in the subjects life before you catch on, there’s no danger of that here. The set also fills the stage well and the choreography and props keep at least keep the physical momentum going on stage if not the energy of the show itself.

Vocally all three Chers were excellent, but I can’t help but think the diction of both dialogue and lyrics would be greatly improved if there was less of an attempt to impersonate Cher’s vocal style.

The show continues on tour until March 2023.

RATING: *** 3 Stars