Jimmy Rae and Peter Davies’ musical Under the Mersey Moon saw its premiere a year ago at New Brighton’s Floral Pavilion Blue Lounge. Now it’s back again on the venue’s main stage for another short Valentine’s weekend run.
The heartfelt and unashamedly sentimental story opens with a hapless Danny (Sam Heller) failing to wow his partner Louise (Samantha Alton) with his garage flowers and no Valentine’s date night. His passion for country music sidelines the relationship to breaking point, but his love for his grandfather, and a discovery about granddad’s past, takes him on a voyage of musical and personal discovery that leads him from Liverpool to Nashville and back.
Featuring more than a dozen original songs and some strong vocal performances, especially from Heller and Adam Johnson (as young granddad), the play is a love letter both to Liverpool and to Country and Western.
Simply staged and featuring sparing but evocative use of projections, the show is full of warmth and the love of family and community. Brian McCann directs with an eye for nostalgia, and the cast, although slightly uneven in parts, has some witty characterisations, and welcomes back radio legend Billy Butler as Granddad and his wife Lesley as Carol.
It’s great to see this affectionate piece continuing to develop and reaching a bigger audience, and it is already set to return for a run at Liverpool’s Epstein in November.
Star Rating 3½ stars
Billy Butler as Granddad and Sam Heller as Danny - Picture by Brian Roberts
This review was originally written for publication by Good News Liverpool
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