Acorn Antiques: The Musical

My best advice with Acorn Antiques the musical is to skip ahead to the second half of the musical (e.g chapter 7 onwards). This is because the first half is ....well....extremely extremely odd. The second half however is the musical you are expecting and you will not be disappointed - great songs and in-jokes.

I hear as the show travelled they did indeed cut out a lot of the first half and God only knows why it made it onto the DVD.

The songs in the second half are superb and you will find yourself singing them for days afterwards. There are also a lot of laugh out loud moments and in-jokes for fans of the original series.

When this was on in the West End I was desperate to get tickets but never managed to. Thank goodness, what a waste of £ 65 that would have been. I'm still angry at paying £15 for the DVD, having not seen it before I bought it ( something I rarely do but felt I could not go wrong with this?) I have always been a fan of Victoria Wood,right from the beginning and acorn antiques was always my favourite sequence from her TV show so was intrigued and excited to see how she would translate a 5 minute sketch into a musical. I cannot fault the acting, although Neil Morrisey gets very annoying after a while - Julie Walters is fabulous as ever and Celia Imrie is wonderful but the problem is it just isn't that funny.Wood seems to think mentioning heamorriods all the time will get the laughs but it just got boring.There is one wonderful song a dance scene the tip top tap ( or something like that!)but the rest of the songs are dull and go on too long. And that is the major problem, the whole thing just goes on, and on ,and on. Wood should have just left Acorn Antiques for us to remember warmly in the 80s instead of making a total hash of a musical.Also on 'bingo nights' when Walters wasn't performing as Mrs Overall, we have DVD extras of scenes featuring Wood as Mrs O. This is embarrassing to the point I had to turn off. There is only one Mrs O !

I was amazed at how good this show was, shame Victoria did not make any more musicals as her unique brand of comedy and musical timing is gold.

The loved the first act, as it introduces the characters rehearsing in a amateur production with a awful self absorbed director (Neil Morrissey) and in one scene is a direct nod to Les Misérables.

The second act is where the real acorn antiques really starts and comes alive, Celia Imrie, Duncan Preston are as fun ever and Sally Ann Triplett brings her own style to Miss Berta. Julie Walters is definitely the star of the show.

Victoria's Music and lyrics are as charming as ever and shows the broad range of her talent and the love song later in the act, has a lot of emotion and is my favourite and will always remain in my heart.

In April 2016 we lost our Victoria, she was a comedy legend and genius and this musical and her shows will go on R.I.P Victoria you were one of a kind.

If you don't get regional British humour you won't get this - which is a tragedy because this is British theatre at its' best! The dialogue is wonderful, smooth and expertly delivered - as are all the songs and dances. Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, Duncan Preston, Sally Ann Triplett and Josie Lawrence show what true professionalism is and whilst the story is somewhat different to the TV series and lacks some of the familiar items, the new mixture of the TV series and 'Vaudeville/Music Hall' is inspirational, extremely funny and well delivered. Even though I dislike Neil Morrisey's previous work, I have to say he delivered the obnoxious/slimy role very well - good casting, The rest of the cast is tip top too - just like 'Tip Top Tap'!! Well done Victoria Wood et al - more please!!

Acorn Antiques The Musical is one of the most phenomenal and brilliantly entertaining things I've ever seen! It is outrageously funny with joke after joke and punchline after punchline thrown at you throughout the entire performance. It certainly keeps you on your toes and listening hard! It must have taken tremendous time and effort to pull everything together and the music and choreography are simply stunning. The storyline is very original but just as splendid as any other if not more so! I loved every minute of the performance and would see it a million times if I could. Each character has a spark of individuality that is amazing without the rest of the show backing it up. I found the whole thing thoroughly enjoyable and encourage others to see it!