SOME of the most recognisable characters ever to be created on TV appeared in one of the 64 episodes (plus Christmas specials) of Only Fools and Horses. And as each new one, faithfully and accurately recreated, first appeared in this musical adaptation, they raised a cheer and a laugh.
How tempting it therefore must have been for actor, writer and performer Paul Whitehouse and Jim Sullivan, son of the show’s originator John Sullivan, to go for the cheap option and send the whole thing up look for nothing but comedy as they adapted those classic scripts into a musical. But by deciding to concentrate on underling the value of family and friendship ties, via Del Boy’s romance with Raquel, Rodney’s marriage to Casandra, Boycie and Marlene’s desperate attempts to produce a baby and the loving Grandad longing for a world that was slipping at speed from his grasp, they shifted the balance from out-and-out comedy into pathos with a dash of real-life drama.
Director/choreographer Caroline Jay Ranger was able to do this because she had assembled a cast who were not content to just guy the original characters, presenting mere cardboard carbon copies. There were real moments of pathos as Sam Lupton’s Del Boy talked to his dead mother, admitting to her some of his many faults, and in the pathetic lies he and Georgina Hagen’s expertly-portrayed lonely Raquel, told as they tried to impress each other.
A fine facade of comedy, even in their very funny rendition of the Tadpole Song, covered Craig Berry and Nicola Munns’ Boycie and Marlene as they desperately sought to have a child. Most people remember the flamboyant Buster Merryfield as Uncle Albert, rather than the more restrained Leonard Peace’s Grandad. Paul Whitehead must have total recall of both, giving a masterly portrayal, full of pathos of the lonely Grandad, before throwing in a perfectly-crafted cameo of Uncle Albert. Quite a few members of the audience didn’t realise that Nicola Munns had also slipped a second character in under the radar with an understated portrait of Tom Major’s over trusting Rodney’s, Cassandra.
The slow-witted Trigger, deliciously played by Lee VG, and the local hard men gangsters the Driscoll Brothers, (Darryl Paul and Peter Watts), are ready candidates for over-playing. Lee VG avoided that trap whilst relentlessly pursuing the comedy in the role of Trigger, and, by introducing some genuine-looking threat, Paul and Watts kept the Driscoll Brothers on the right side of reality.
Jim Sullivan and Chas Hodges score might not be the most memorable you will find in a modern musical, but aided tremendously by clever witty lyrics from Paul Whitehouse and Jim Sullivan, and sung with great enthusiasm by soloists and full company alike, they fit very snugly into the storyline.
Quite a few of the 24.3 million viewers who watched the final episode of Only Fools and Horses are still out there, and if they decide to come to the Bristol Hippodrome between now and 8th February to see this musical version of their favourite, they will be taken back in time by a committed company making a fine job of recreating so many much-loved characters.
The tour continues, stopping at Southampton Mayflower from 3rd to 8th March and Plymouth Theatre Royal from 19th to 24th May
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