Sometimes you have to wonder where the idea to take popular or successful music groups and put their songs into musical format comes from. We’ve seen in the past few years with successful shows like We Will Rock You (based on the music of Queen) and Mamma Mia! (based on the music of ABBA), so it was only a matter of time before Scotland got it’s own in the form of Sunshine On Leith, which is based on the music of the Proclaimers.
Again, this is another show that has been taken from the stage to the screen but we can’t really comment on how well that’s been done given that we’ve only seen the film version of it. The story follows friends Davy & Ally re-learning how to live on their return to Edinburgh after serving in Afghanistan and the struggles they have coping with life outside the army as well as everyday struggles of family, jobs and relationships.
There is fun plays on the ‘old' rivalries’ of Glasgow & Edinburgh and of course Scotland & England, but for the most part, it’s a film where you feel that you can connect to the family. They are not the ideal Hollywood family that we are normally sold in the movies, but with how things are played out, you feel that you know exactly what it is that they are going through even if you haven’t been in that particular circumstance.
In the long run though, this isn’t the same happy performance that Mamma Mia! was. There is a bit of dark side to it but it probably one of things that makes your connection to the character more real. Still, there is more than enough here to make you laugh and cry….oh and have a good sing-a-long too and a wee bit ‘a dance!
Rating: 4/5
No comments:
Post a Comment