Cilla – The Musical transfers to the stage the ITV mini-series written by Jeff Pope telling the story of little Priscilla White from Liverpool who became a bestselling popstar and all round family entertainer Cilla Black.

Like many shows based on a larger than life character, there is a risk that it will stand or fall on the performer portraying them. Cilla appears in virtually every scene and the drama depends not just on pure singing ability, but the skill to become a convincing character without lapsing into a simple impersonation. Kara Lily Hayworth beat thousands of others in nationwide open auditions to get the lead role and a huge amount rests on her narrow shoulders.  Audiences will not be disappointed; she is a star in her own right and inhabits Cilla completely.

We are introduced to Cilla first in a Cavern-like club with teenage friends who encourage her to sing.  The show then follows a fairly linear path as she meets The Beatles and is introduced to manager Brian Epstein.  Liberally interspersed with a jukebox cornucopia of Merseybeat songs we meet her humble Mum and Dad and then the man who became the love of her life, Bobby Willis, played by Carl Au.

There are some trials and tribulations along the way, but they don’t seem dramatic or challenging enough to grab real attention.  Her initial audition for Brian Epstein doesn’t go well, she then only charts at number 35 with her first single and at one stage splits up with Bobby while on a less than successful attempt to break the American market.  These events all happened, but they aren’t enough to set the pulse racing.

Andrew Lancel recreates the role of Brian Epstein which he played on stage to great acclaim in Epstein – “The Man Who Made The Beatles”, and superbly captures the slightly buttoned up gay man. He strives to push Cilla to stardom by making choices to steer her onto a successful career and the affection between star and manager is authentically captured.

The remaining cast perform with credit, but there is a curious lack of passion.  The Cavern club in Liverpool must have been an incredibly intoxicating and vibrant venue, but it comes across as a bit of a tame disco on stage.  Equally Cilla and Bobby’s romance which meets a sectarian resistance across a Catholic and Protestant divide in early 1960s Merseyside is treated in a jokey manner and loses the opportunity for a point of real tension.

The standout moments come with Cilla centre stage, particularly at the close of the first half when she sings the song that becomes the first Number 1 hit, Anyone Who Had a Heart.  Recording Alfie for Burt Bacharach is a moment of real skill as we watch a perfectly competent take in the studio then become a great one as Cilla is made to do it again and again.

Kara Lily Hayworth can enter the star’s dressing room. As Cilla would have said, Step inside love!     ★★★☆☆    Bryan Mason   13^th March 2018