Friendsical brings nostalgia galore to Aberdeen
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Oh...my....gawd...His Majesty's Theatre is a time machine to the nineties with the arrival of Friendsical this week.
The show offers no real storyline and practically no original content, but does provide a non-stop stream of iconic moments from popular sitcom Friends
Fans of the show are lapping up every second as the six best friends speed through ten seasons-worth of events, relationships and, of course, jokes...each one as nostalgic as the last.
Of course it's not just the six besties gracing the stage, expect cameos from the likes of Gunther, Janice, and Emily, and Friends would never be complete with out a celebrity guest.
For the Aberdeen dates of Friendsical, this celebrity guest is X Factor finalist and I'm A Celeb runner-up Jake Quickenden who does his best to maximise his stage time by taking on the role of just about every celebrity guest to feature across the full 10 seasons.
Despite only being a cameo role, audiences find themselves seeing a bit more of Jake than they may have anticipated...much to the delight of some women in the stalls on opening night.
So what about the main characters?
Visually Monica is by far the most similar to her television persona, but in terms of embodiment of the character Chandler has it in the bag - if you were to close your eyes it would be as if Matthew Perry himself was treading the boards of the Granite City.
Unfortunately much of the focus is on Ross and Rachel and their neverending quest to be the perfect couple - pushing other characters into the background for much of the show - and they are perhaps the two least convincing characters although the wardrobe department still a stellar job in recreating the influential looks of Rachel Green.
Everyone on stage had their moment where they shone, it's just a shame that some characters seemed to fade away in between these dazzling outbursts.
The set is impeccable, bringing the audience into the girls' and the boys' apartments as well as, of course, Central Perk.
While the songs don't necessarily add to the non-existant storyline, apart from helping to condense season's worth of going ons into mere minutes, they do inject some life into what at times feels like a very long show.
The show is marketed as a parody but apart from a few brief moments it doesn't quite seem to fit the bill for this.
Friendsical offers over two hours of nostalgia, fun and laughs and despite not always quite hitting the mark is a must see for any fans of the show...for anybody not familiar with the television show, however, you can expect a crash course in the memes and otherwise to be overwhelmed with the barrage of 'in jokes' that the rest of the audience will find hilarious but will make practically zero sense to you.
With every memorable moment crammed into the production it is almost too much, however I also don't know what could be removed and not be missed.
All this said...I'm now itching to dig out my box set for the winter.
You can reminisce with Friendsical at His Majesty's Theatre until Saturday, October 22.
