Last night saw the return of Save the Last Dance For Me to the Regent Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent.  Brought to us bythe mac daddy of all things theatre, Mr Bill Kenright, the mastermind behind Dreamboats and Petticoats, Save the Last Dance for Me is a Rock n Roll celebration of songs from the 60’s sprinkled with love and a little bit of heartbreak along the way.

Marie (Elizabeth Carter) and her sister Jennifer (Lola Saunders) after strict instructions from their parents are set to go on their first “grown up” holiday… In lovely Lowestoft.  Tired of the rain and multiple trips to see Summer Holiday at the local cinema, the girls jump at an invitation to a party at the local Airforce base.  After watching Curtis (Wayne Robinson) perform as part of the band The Airmen, and being wooed by his dulcet tones and smooth moves on the dance floor, Marie and Curtis embark on a week long holiday romance.  Unfortunately, as Mr Shakespeare once said, the course of true love never did run smooth.  In a time where it was frowned upon to be caught dancing with a boy, let a lone a *gasp* coloured man, the couple face questions and prejudice surrounding their blossoming relationship.  I liked the fact that the show did touch upon a serious issue from “back in the day” without coming on too heavy.  In all honesty, I can’t believe there was a time where it would be “wrong” for the likes of Usher and Neyo to fall in love with me – I’m quite pleased the world stopped being a judgemental and utterly crazy place.  (Note: Usher and Neyo – call me)

“You can’t fall in love in a week” – in a world created by Bill Kenright and Goodnight Sweetheart writers, Maurice Gran and Laurence Marks, you can.

The onstage relationship between siblings Marie and Jennifer (who a gal” sister Jennifer) left me in hysterics and if you want to talk about the hunky men in uniform, which I’m sure you do, Curtis (Wayne Robinson), Rufus (Sackie Osakanor) and Milton (Antony Costa) made me want to don a petticoat dress and runaway to an airforce base in, well not Lowestoft but a sunnier equivalent.  The dance numbers were full of energy and left the 13 year old Rock n Roll dance student in me wanting to get on stage and shake my tail feather and there were some perfect comedy moments that left me chuckling (and some particular innuendo lines where I found myself to be the only one giggling.)

If there are three things in life that make me happy, a love story, a holiday romance and a good old dance are top of the list (closely followed by a bar of chocolate, a glass of wine and a hot man to enjoy it with). Save The Last Dance For Me ticked all 3 of the above boxes – I even got wine and lots. of. hot. men.

With a Dirty Dancing meets The Notebook storyline, a jukebox full of the best 60s songs, beautiful dresses and more men in uniform than I could shake my *beep* at – Save the Last Dance For Me is a feel good musical which sweeps you up into the swinging 60’s and left me dancing my (not so little) tush off.

Save The Last Dance For Me will be running at the Regent Theatre in Stoke until the 30th April – you can get your hands on tickets online or at the box office.