Rhinestone Mondays – Mercury Theatre, Colchester
Writer: Joe Graham
Director: Phil Willmott
Musical Director: Richard Healey
Reviewer: Michael Gray
The Public Reviews Rating: 
Faye Tozer in Rhinestone Mondays. Picture by Robert Day
As the Rhinestone Cowboy Glen Campbell prepares a UK farewell tour, country music is as popular as ever this side of the Pond.
A far-flung outpost of this fan-base lurks in the dingy basement of the Warbleswick Sports and Social Club, where Monday night is Line Dancing night.
That’s the premise for Joe Graham’s slight piece, directed by Phil Willmott, which aims to please both lovers of the music and the regular theatre-going crowd.
More than a touch of Girls’ Night Out here, though with a sad lack of boots and hats in the audience. Rarely has the label “karaoke musical” seemed more apposite, with the cast stepping up to sing to backing tracks in the lilac spotlight.
After a front cloth warm-up, we meet the gallery of clichéd sitcom characters – little old lady with flatulence and false teeth, loud Welsh gay tap-dancer, you get the picture – whose fights and feuds, loves and losses, form the flimsy plot on which to hang the songs.
There are some interesting performance pedigrees at work. Faye Tozer, from Steps, is the dance teacher who finally finds happiness with dance-phobic, tongue-tied Tom [Anthony Topham]. Also from Steps, Ian H Watkins, gives a strong performance as Duncan the treacherous tap-dancer who engineers the happy ending.
One of the best vocals of the show [Willie Nelson's Crazy], not surprisingly, was from Lyn Paul, whose first big hit with the New Seekers was an incredible forty years ago. Her Cougar character, however, was less convincing.
There is lots of comedy potential in the pivotal role of Ronald, who likes to be called Clint, and takes everything a bit too seriously. Phil Pritchard, however, failed to make it more than a figure of fun, I felt.
The best performance by far, combining just a little send-up with real acting and superb comic timing, was Shaun Williamson’s Del Boy barman. His rendition of Orbison’s Blue Bayou was priceless, a taste of how wryly entertaining this show could have been …
Surprisingly there is not much actual line-dancing in evidence until the coda, when we were given a nice 42nd Street curtain line of stepping feet, and a chance to see how much of Achy Breaky Heart we could dance in the narrow aisles of the Mercury.
This is a World Première for Colchester: the show and its stars set off on an ambitious tour, bringing line-dancing comedy to Wales, Ireland and Scotland.
Runs until September 10 then touring until November 26
Tags: Ally Holmes, Anthony Topham, Faye Tozer, Ian 'H' Watkins, Joe Graham, Lyn Paul, Mercury Theatre Colchester, Pauline Fleming, Phil Pritchard, Phil Willmott, Rhinestone Mondays, Richard Healey, Sara Perks, Shaun Williamson
10:00 am on September 6th, 2011
Rhinestone Mondays has a real “feel good factor”. The Mercury Theatre in Colchester was packed on a Monday evening and the audience on their feet in a standing ovation. Word has got round that this is a show not to be missed and one which could well, with a bit of tweaking, be a West End success.
It is a joy to leave the theatre surrounded by smiling faces and laughter. Yes, some of the characters could be stronger but there were many memorable moments. Shaun Williamson as the barman held it together and show got better and better as the audience responded. I would love to see it again at the end of its run which hopefully won’t be for a very long time.