The Band written by Tim Firth with the music of Take That has arrived at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Filled with so many 90s references that it will make any child of the 90s teaching for their dungarees and tie dyed t-shirts; from top of the pops to smash hits, including some of the most memorable and classic hits from Take That. The story follows a group of young girls who are obsessed with a certain boy band, and after 25 years filled with heartbreak, love and laughter the group of friends to rekindle their love of the music.

The famous boy band are played by the winners of BBC’s Let It Shine. The five young performers are filled with so much energy, it is sometimes difficult to remember that they are not the originals and gathering from how the audience sang, clapped and even danced along they were swept up with the  boy band fever as well. However, the real stars of the evening were the group of friends played by Rachel Lumbeg, Alison Fitzjohn, Emily Joyce and Jayne Mckenna who bring so much warmth and laughter to the show its impossible not to instantly feel like part of the group.

When seeing a show like this you expect a bit of over the top cheesy moments, however at points through out the performance the cheese borders into cringe worthy. Yet even these moments still just add a sense of joy that surrounds this show.

For fans of Take That, The Band is a real treat with plenty of classic songs and of course dance routines to make any hard core fan happy, but for those not fans of this show can seem slightly cheesy and eccentric. As long as an audience is not expecting to see a hard hitting, serious musical but instead just a few hours of light hearted fun that everybody who lived through the 90s can enjoy then The Band delivers perfectly.    ★★★★★    Georgina Randall  2^nd May 2018