Sunny Afternoon is the multi Olivier Award winning story of band The Kinks, from the beginning of their journey as young men exploding onto the music scene with a backdrop of London’s “Swinging Sixties” right through the love/hate relationships that developed amongst the band members and almost tore a family apart. The true story is told through the songs written by The Kinks singer/songwriter Ray Davies. All of the music is original Kinks tracks, there has been no additional songs written for the show.
To launch Sunny Afternoon’s first nationwide tour, following two hugely successful years in West End, we were treated to four songs from the show performed by the West End cast. 
Danny Horn and Oliver Hoare play the Davies brothers Ray and Dave while Damien Walsh plays drummer Mick Avery and Tom Whitelock is original bassist Pete Quaife. These four young men are exceptionally talented and provided an exciting taster of what is to come when the show hits Manchester in August 2016. The energy was electric and they performed with the charismatic swagger you would expect from only true Rock and Roll stars.
Following the performance, the cast took part in a Q&A with the audience to give some more details about what we can expect when Sunny Afternoon hits the region. Working closely with Ray Davies himself throughout the process, Horn explained how they have avoided turning it into a series of impressions of the band members, focusing on the story itself aided perfectly by Davies autobiographical song writing. The four main cast members, supported by session musicians provide all of the music during the show which, as you would expect, contains classic such as Waterloo Sunset, All Day and All of the Night, Lola and over twenty more Kink songs.
If this small preview is any indication, I am very much looking forward to the full show. It was loud, vibrant, energetic and exciting. It was everything I would want in a 60s inspired musical and add to that the beautifully descriptive songwriting of Ray Davies, I have a feeling this is one not to be missed.
In the North West End region Sunny Afternoon plays the Manchester Opera House from the 19th -27th August, Regent Theatre, Stoke 29th November – 3rd December and the Liverpool Empire from the 7th – 11th February 2017.
Full details can be found at http://bit.ly/1qd9GIe
Previewer: Helen Kerr
Previewed: 10th May 2016
Photo: Helen Kerr
