Theatre review: The Monkees Musical, King’s Theatre, Glasgow

THE recent passing of Davy Jones affords this jukebox musical an unlikely poignancy, all the more remarkable given that for superficial daftness it exceeds even the tomfoolery of the Monkees’ television series.

Taking its lead from the group’s calculated assembly as the Prefab Four, the flim-flam plot features Chuck (Ben Evans), Andy (Stephen Kirwan), Mark (Tom Parsons) and William (Oliver Savile) touring the globe pretending to be Davy, Micky, Mike and Peter, under the stewardship of dodgy businessman Joey Finklestein (Linal Haft), because the real Monkees can’t fulfil their touring obligations.

With a single landmark and some exceptionally broad national stereotyping signifying the likes of Madrid, Paris, Tokyo and swinging-60s London, the boys are bewitched, besotted and have their hearts broken by Russian spies, nuns and traffic wardens, with James Bond and Murder on the Orient Express allusions tossed around with abandon.

Though it’s pacy and amiable enough, the jokes tend to the groanworthy and detract from what’s otherwise inoffensive and capably sung fun, a couple of excessive sexual puns and tired lines about Iron Curtain female shotputters flitting uneasily between modern smut and period nudge-nudge humour – a shame, as Savile has a nice running gag about “future” innovations.

What redeems it are, of course, the hits, Last Train To Clarksville, I’m A Believer and Daydream Believer, though the stand-out number is Scarlette Douglas’s rendition of My Boy Lollipop. One for the easily pleased, and Monkees fans.

Rating: ***