Acorn Antiques: The Musical

What could I say to anyone who says they were disappointed by "Acorn Antiques: The Musical", I would say take some time out of your day and give it another go. Celia Imrie delightfully shocked us with her quite charming singing voice, and Duncan Preston always gives a superb performance with his dry wit and sense of humour with hilarious lines such as "I'll settle this, I have a scrotum" And ofcorse it would be a crime not to mention the national treasure that is Julie Walters, Julie never fails to deliver a top notch performance as her signature role Mrs Bodecia Overall. Neil Morrisey also gives an hilarious performance as "Tony, the Credit Crony" Great Jokes, Perfect Timing, Fabulous,famous Victoria Wood writing style and Funny Catchy show tunes, what more do you need????

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.

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.

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 !

It is very rare for me to laugh out loud when I watch something on my own (which is a very different experience from watching a comic drama with others), and despite being very tired last night I laughed out loud a lot and thoroughly enjoyed the DVD.

Julie Walters sparkles as always both as the hunchbacked crone Mrs Overall and as the pretentious, self-absorbed actress Bo Beaumont. Celia Imrie and Duncan Preston, both also cast member from the original Acorn Antique TV sketches were also excellent.

Josie Lawrence was a welcome addition I have only seen her perform on the improvisational comedy game show "Whose Line is it Anyway" but continue to be impressed by her as I was by Neil Morrissey – both as the pompous John and the slimy Tony.

However it is Victoria Woods writing which has to be the star of the show. It is so full of wit and irony and self-effacing sarcasm.

A wonderful show which I thoroughly enjoyed – I only wish I had seen it on stage in the West End!