Sunny Afternoon is a jukebox retelling of the whirlwind success of The Kinks, sibling disputes, and the formula for band success in the turbulent period of the 60s. A clear winner for anyone who enjoys stories of band drama and 60s nostalgia, the musical returns to the Edinburgh Playhouse with drum solos and blazing riffs aplenty.
Opening with a gig by The Kinks’ first appearance as ‘The Ravens’, audience members become the crowd, encouraged to sing along. Unlike the pitfalls of some jukebox musicals, the songs never feel artificially slotted in but enhance the natural story of the band’s journey. Leading numbers such as ‘You Really Got Me’, although slightly drawn out, resurface to punctuate scene changes and tensions. The Kinks’ actors are all incredibly skilled at their respective instruments, and at embodying mannerisms typical of sixties bands.
The tender build-up to ‘Waterloo Sunset’ takes us through the construction of riffs or drum fills, tying loose ends. The importance of all bandmates is celebrated — the plot pauses to honour Zakarie Stokes’ electric five-minute-long drum solo.
Danny Horn portrays frontman Ray with emotional depth, focusing on his authenticity in songwriting and pressures from success. Horn and Lisa Wright, who plays Rasa, portray the miscommunication that comes with distance and absent parenthood through emotional duets and numbers such as ‘I Go to Sleep’. Wright gives a firm and nuanced performance through emotional subtlety. Joe Penhall’s book is witty, paying homage to band rivalry with other sensations of the time such as The Who and The Beatles with one-liners which land perfectly with an audience of sixties music lovers. This production’s musical form does not overdramatise the band’s story; instead allowing sibling tensions between Ray and Dave (Oliver Hoare) and disputes with business executives to remain in focus. However, Ray’s troubled emotions surrounding the band’s popularity and parenthood seem dragged out between many songs, and the script could have delved further into relationships between the band members.
Miriam Buether’s design immerses audiences in the claustrophobic quarters of a recording studio but effective directorial choices ground us in location changes while keeping the studio backdrop, from blazing US flag pieces to looming vinyls indicating tensions with managers. The costumes reflect popping retro colours, and the stifling uniformity of British bands of the early sixties through garish green and red stage outfits. Ending with a high-energy final medley, Sunny Afternoon is an electric, nostalgia-fuelled crowd-pleaser.
Production Image by Manuel Harlan on behalf of Sunny Afternoon UK Tour