Becoming Nancy is a musical with a British creative team of Elliot Davis, who wrote the book, based on Terry Ronald’s semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, music by George Stiles and lyrics by Anthony Drewe. Directed and choreographed by the American Jerry Mitchell, it was first staged in Atlanta, Georgia in 2019. This Birmingham Rep production, also directed by Jerry Mitchell, is its UK première in a slightly updated form.
We are in East Dulwich in 1979, and the local secondary school is putting on Lionel Bart’s Oliver! One of the pupils, David Starr (Joseph Peacock), is a pop music fan, and he has the best singing voice in the school, so the teacher casts him as Nancy. David is initially taken aback—he was hoping for Fagin—but Nancy gets to sing "As Long As He Needs Me" so he thinks, why not? Meanwhile, the dishy new boy, Maxie Boswell (Joseph Vella), has been cast as Bill Sykes. Cue first love, coming out and the homophobic backlash that follows.
Jerry Mitchell directed, amongst others, Legally Blonde and Kinky Boots, and the combination of British songwriters and an experienced Broadway director and choreographer works well. The opening ensemble number, "Welcome To The Beat Of My Heart", sets the tone: it’s fast, slick and flawlessly executed. It takes us from David’s bedroom, with posters of Sting, Debbie Harry and Kate Bush on the wall, to school where Mr. McClarnon (Stephen Ashfield) is casting the school musical.
Joseph Peacock has an engaging, everyman quality as David Starr, and the rest of the cast act, sing and dance their socks off. The premise of the show, that David is the only pupil with a decent singing voice, is undermined by his friend, Frances (Paige Peddie), and the girl with a crush on him, Abigail Henson (Daisy Greenwood), both of whom are sensational. The standout number is "About Six Inches From Your Heart", which David’s Mum, Kath (Rebecca Trehearn), sings beautifully.
David Rockwell’s and T J Greenway’s school hall set is simple and versatile, and it is transformed into various locations by Dick Straker’s imaginative video projection. Sarah Burrell’s live five-piece band seems to be locked away in a cupboard somewhere—they took their bows at the end via a video link—but they switch between musical styles seamlessly, and the whole thing looks and sounds terrific.
The problem is, you have seen this show before. It’s The Boy In The Dress meets Heartstopper meets Everybody’s Talking About Jamie meets Billy Elliot. The school bullies, the outsider ally school friends, the supportive Mum and uncomprehending Dad are all there. There’s enough 1979 politics to justify a subplot in which Frances organises a Rock Against Racism disco and is subject to a racist attack when she does so, but the politics don’t inform the show in the way that the miners’ strike does in Billy Elliot and the homophobic, racist school bullies are pantomime villains who can be crushed by a smart putdown.
Becoming Nancy is a feelgood show with its heart in the right place, a talented cast, a terrific ensemble and bags of energy, all packaged in a slick, West End-ready production. If you go to see it, you’ll have a good time, but if the strength of the show is Jerry Mitchell’s knockout production, its weakness is the book with its stock characters and formulaic plot. The Rep makes no secret of the fact they are aching for a West End transfer, but if Atlanta was the Broadway try-out that never made it, I have a feeling Birmingham might go the same way.