Reviews

The musical opens in a Detroit garage called "Gasoline Alley" and sees the main character Stuart Clutterbuck, played by Ryan Molloy, being picked on for his nerdy behaviour by his fellow grease monkeys. A meeting with Satan sees Stu being given the soul of Rod Stewart and he then embarks on a US tour or should that be romp?

The star of the show is actor Jeff Edwards. He plays guitarist Stoner, who's Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Ronnie Wood rolled into one. Edwards gets all the best lines and therefore all the laughs and it came as no surprise when he received the loudest cheers at the end of the performance. His character totally overshadows Stu and he stole the show.

Ooh, matron

Ben Elton is without doubt a talented writer but I could count the number of great one-liners in "Tonight's The Night" on the fingers of one hand. The plot itself is wafer thin and many of the jokes rely too heavily on smut and innuendo. At one point I thought I was watching "Carry On Rod". 

It is of course the songs that the audience come to hear and they wouldn't have been disappointed on that score. An impressive band knocked out hit after hit. The highlight for me was a tremendous rendition of Tim Hardin's "Reason To Believe" sung by Rachel Tucker. Throughout the show there were some impressive vocal performances with Ryan Molloy very much at home with the material. Very sensibly he doesn't try to sing in Rod's style.

The Regent was packed for the opening night and the whole house was on its feet for the sing-a-long-a-Rod finale. After a hard day at the office this was a great way for people to let their hair down and take a peep into Rod's world. Forty years ago the real Rod Stewart spent many a Monday night singing over the road at The Manor Ballroom. Rod The Mod's come an awful long way since then and as "Tonight's The Night" proves his music is still wearing well.

Tonight's The Night is on at the Ipswich Regent Tuesday 16th-Sat 20th May 2006. The Box office number is 01473 433100 or visit the theatre website using the links on the right-hand side of this page >>>