I Should Be So Lucky: Stock, Aitken and Waterman musical in Glasgow

For those attracted to the likes of Dead or Alive’s You Spin Me Right Round, or Bananarama’s Venus, it was considered to be pulsating Eurobeat. For musical purists all too ready to dismiss and deride the SAW hits performed by the likes of Rick Astley or Sinitta, it was considered to be more bubblegum than a box of Bazooka Joe.

Regardless, the SAW sound became a phenomenal success, particularly when performed by the likes of Kylie Minogue or Jason Donavan, with the production team selling more than 150 million records.

I Should Be So Lucky features lots of SAW hits (Image: free)

What's the story?

Now, that music form is to be celebrated with the arrival of a new stage musical. I Should Be So Lucky follows the story of young couple, Ella and Nathan, who are madly in love and about to be married. But the three-tier wedding cake that is their relationship begins to wobble and crashes to the floor.

As you can imagine, this personal trauma offers the perfect opportunity for a clutch of SAW songs to be performed, all capturing the mood of sorrow and loss, such as Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up, Donovan’s Especially for You and Bananarama’s Love in The First Degree.

Indeed, the musical features 10 number-one hits, and more than 30 songs from the SAW Hit Factory.

Kylie Minogue or Jason Donavan in Neighbours (Image: free)

Ah, but, you’re thinking: “With all those songs squeezed into a couple of hours of stage time, surely the time allocated to storyline will be shorter than Kylie’s hotpants?”

Is it a plotless jukebox musical?

No, writer Debbie Isitt (who adapted the first Nativity! movie into a West End musical) maintains she hasn’t gone down the route of a simple plotless jukebox musical.

“The story starts with a wedding that goes wrong but the bride’s [Ella’s] family and her two best friends are not prepared to let her disappear in a puddle of grief and insecurity, so they accompany her on her honeymoon to Turkey to try and help her heal her broken heart.  “However, on the honeymoon they each have a transformative experience that changes their loves and lives forever.  “Meanwhile, Ella wrestles with a new love – the local tour guide – just as her old love turns up to try and win her back.”

Clearly, the musical evokes the Mamma Mia! sense of summer fun, with its sunshine, sandals and shorts.

What about Kylie?

But there is an added twist, with the contribution of the pop legend that is Kylie. The Australian doesn’t actually appear on stage, but she – with the aid of smoke and mirrors – becomes Ella’s inner confidence as the nearly-bride begins to piece her life and broken heart back together.

Now, critics have suggested that there are a few too many subplots thrown into the mix. And some of them (such as a gambling addiction tale) have been written to provide the opportunity for the cast to sing I Should Be So Lucky. But this is a very funny show, and the production of the SAW hits is exceptional.

Pete Waterman says...

Pete Waterman admits it has been a challenge to see his songs transfer into musical theatre form. “I’d previously worked with a couple of people on it, but nobody came up with a story that we thought was emotional enough – they are very emotional songs and I think people didn’t get that.

“Yes, they were hits, but they were more than hits to the people who bought them; they were statements. We’ve always guarded that; we never wanted to spoil that memory.

“I think that the people we talked to in the past didn’t see the depth of the songs; they just saw that they were hits – and that didn’t work for us.”

Waterman, who wrote the lyrics to many of the hits, felt the speed of the songs was vital to appreciating them. He didn’t want to hear them speeded up to allow for more to appear.

“When you hear someone do a song slightly differently, the lyrics get to you. I guess nobody before had understood why the lyrics were so poignant.

“We couldn’t have put Sonia (You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You) out as a ballad. Our songs were dance tracks, that’s what the era was. But you take Never Stop, and you slow it down and people go, ‘The lyrics are fantastic. We didn’t realise they were so hard-hitting’.”

Pete Waterman, who has long been considered a man unburdened by a strong sense of modesty, feels this is a musical for the times.

Stock, Aitken and Waterman (Image: free)

“I hope audiences have fun with this show,” he says, smiling.

“This musical couldn’t have been timed better. We’re currently in a world that’s all over the place. And, I mean, we just need a bit of uplift as we’ve got enough grief.”

I Should Be So Lucky, the King’s Theatre, Glasgow, February 12-17

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