Robert Tanitch reviews Bend It Like Beckham at Phoenix Theatre, London WC2
We have come a long way since 2002. The English Women’s Football Team is actually playing in the World Cup Quarterly Finals. The premiere of Bend It Like Beckham, the musical, could not be more opportune.
Gurinder Chadha had such a big success producing, directing and writing the feel-good movie that it is very natural that she would want to keep a tight hold on the reins of the stage version.
The additional attraction is that there is now music by Howard Goodall.
You will remember the story. Jess (Natalie Dew) the daughter of an orthodox Sikh family, wants to be a professional footballer. “If someone gets the glory, why shouldn’t it be me?” she sings.
The family is appalled.
Her dad (Tony Jayawardena) doesn’t want his daughter to suffer the racism and failure he suffered when he was young. Her mum (Natasha Jayetileke) wants her daughter to do something respectable like learn to cook and get married.
Jess has a good friend, Jules (Lauren Samuels), who is also keen on being a footballer. Jules’s mum (Sophie-Louise Dann) presumes her daughter must be a lesbian. Dann has one of the best numbers, “There She Goes”.
Preeya Kalidas is Jess’s sister and she has a big personality. Jamie Campbell Bower is the heart-throb coach and Jamal Andréas is the nice gay who is so closeted that Jess’s parents have no idea he is gay and would be quite happy for him to marry their daughter.
“Just A Game” the song which is sung as the finale to the first act, gives the show such a fillip that it raises hopes that the second half will be better; and the second half, what with the Indian wedding celebrations, is better and builds to a cheerful, audience-friendly climax.
The production, designed by Miriam Buether (set) and Katrina Lindsay (costumes), is very colourful and the stage often looks very pretty when the whole cast is on.
The only question now is whether the Asian community will support the show in sufficient numbers to give it a long run. On the evidence of what I saw on the night I went to the Phoenix Theatre the answer is a resounding yes.
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