An officer and a gentleman

 Review by: Paul Towers, Thursday, 19 April 2018

An Officer and a Gentleman by Douglas Day Stewart & Sharleen Cooper Cohen

A Made at Curve production

Curve 6 – 21 April 2018

“Jonny Fines … the climax that every woman in the audience had been waiting for”

I have never seen the film other than to see the clip where Richard Gere picks up a factory girl and walks off into the sunset in the finale.

I am pleased to confirm that that iconic moment is still the finale and it has to be said that when Jonny Fines as Zack Mayo appears at the top of the staircase in his Officer whites it was the climax that every woman in the audience had been waiting for.

A feast of 80’s hits are the background to this story of officer training recruits and factory girls jousting with each other while the love story of Zack and Paula (Emma Williams) unfolds.

As a new intake of raw recruits start to be put through their paces several fall by the wayside until a hard core of 6 remain. As Sergeant Foley (Emil Shell) pushes them harder and harder the men resort to hard partying to counter the stresses of the training. Many of the local factory girls are looking to trap the airmen into marriage and escape from their drudgery by falling pregnant. Paula is one of the few with principles and wants to marry for love. That love is Zack. Jonny Fines’ Zack certainly has the physique to convince as a serviceman; his good looks had all the female members of the audience swooning (and a good few of the men!) and his fitness was evident when Foley put him through gruelling calisthenics.

The entire cast sing, march and look pretty good, especially when the guys start to strip down to their underwear at just about every opportunity (thanks director Nikolai Foster!)

This production is going out on tour when it finishes at Curve and is scheduled to end up in London’s West End later this year. Another national success for Nikolai Foster and his team.

This show is hugely ambitious with a gigantic set, magnificent lighting effects, amazing back projections (some filmed in Aylestone Meadows) and a live orchestra.

This is not a show for the easily offended as there is plenty of ‘language’ and a suicide. That said, tonight’s performance (and apparently just about every other one) got a well deserved standing ovation and is almost fully booked. Try calling the box office for possible returns.

Once again a Made At Curve production is going out on the road and showing just how good our local theatre is.