Jerry’s Girls is a musical review which covers a large amount of Jerry Herman’s hits from shows such as Mack & Mabel, Mame, Hello Dolly, La Cage Aux Folles, A Day in Hollywood, Milk & Honey & Dear World. It is delivered by Jessica Martin, Cassidy Janson and Julie Yammanee who take the audience on a whirlwind tour of Herman’s hits.

The show is fast paced and the cast are barely given a chance to stop and take breath. The songs seem to be grouped together by theme and the women give the impression of life imitating art and performing in a revue together. The themes vary from movies as they appear to be ushers at a cinema to fractious relationships on stage as the action flicks from the dressing room to staged in front of large curtains as if on stage. The links and the transitions are tenuous and slightly clunky and if anything pulls down the flow of the show and dates it slightly. They would have been wise to simply focus on the music rather than forcing phony relationships

The show hypes up the 3 different generations that the performers fall into. Jessica Martin is treated as the old timer, happy for the others to send her up for this fact and she often joins in, Julie Yammanee as the youthful star and Cassidy Janson sits in the middle. It is clear why Janson is a leading West End lady and her moments in the spotlight such as ‘Time Heals Everything,’ are the show stopping moments. Equally all 3 women individually are supremely talented and sells their moments from comedic moments through to big belting numbers and the moments that they join forces vocally are the highlights of the show.

The band under the instruction of Sarah Travis sounds great and are well put together for this type of music and it is a lovely touch during the final number, ‘Jerry’s Girls’ that each band member gets credited. It is a great chance to see some classic musical theatre numbers from iconic shows but equally there are reasons why many of these shows have not seen a revival in recent years.

The choreography by Matt Cole is very basic and performed with varying success (with no reflection on Janson’s foot injury). Whilst it is in keeping with Herman’s era is makes the show feel a little dated.

Jerry’s Girls is a quaint revue in the hands of 3 talented women which will appeal to those that love classic musical theatre.

Jerry’s Girls is running at the Menier Chocolate Factory until 29th June. You can book tickets here.

If you like this review you might also like the reviews of Two Strangers Carry A Cake Across New York, Hadestown and Choir of Man.