Wild About You is the latest in a flurry of musical concerts to hit the West End. The show opens with Olivia in hospital, with a case of amnesia which included being unable to remember why or how she got there (and frustratingly we never really discover the answer). Throughout Act 1 you see her piece back together her life and in particular the people in her life with her. Act 2 however sees a sharp turn in the narrative as she is forced to watch her son grow up without her.

Whilst the premeisis of the show is interesting the book by Eric Holmes leaves many threads unanswered. Act 1 ambles along and we struggle to develop any real emotion for the leading roles due to a huge amount of context that is missing and the direction that the show goes in after the interval almost gives me whiplash. The focus of Act 1 is around 3 people all wanting to be with Olivia but just what the magnetic attraction is around Olivia the audience never discover and if anything struggle to even like her. Whilst the show was billed as a concert it was in fact semi staged but it would be interesting to know if the issues with the book were due to some of the book being cut due to the format, however at already 2.5 hours long (including an interval) I doubt that this was the primary reason. I did however enjoy the fact that our protagonist was a bisexual woman and whilst this was used as a conversational point at times it was not the main driver of the plot, something that other musicals could take note of.

The music by Chilina Kennedy does little to add to the emotion of fill in any of the missing context that the book leaves. Whilst there were some good stand alone songs in there it is not a score that causes me to listen to it on Spotify on the way home or in the car this coming week. Many of the numbers sounded similar to other numbers that I had heard just moments before and Wild About You is missing a unique sound to encourage people to return to it.

The problems with the book and the average score however do not take away from the impressive cast assembled for this production. Rachel Tucker played Olivia and her powerhouse vocals were really given the chance to shine throughout the show. I did however question her portrayal of Olivia as the artistic and creative type as there was nothing other than others referring to her as this which reflected this. Tori Allen-Martin plays Olivia’s ex girlfriend Jess and she nearly steals the show for me with her feisty portrayal of a woman in love. Oliver Tompsett plays Thomas, Olivia’s boyfriend and as always he lights up the stage whenever he appears but even his usual charm couldn’t convince me to like his character. The cast is completed with Eric McCormack as Michael, Olivia’s husband, Jamie Muscato as Billy, Olivia’s son (who as normal, displays serious feats of vocal gymnastics) and Todrick Hall as Nurse Shae and Robin who brings some welcome levity to the show.

Unfortunately for Wild About You not even a cast packed full of musical theatre royalty could save this show, with work needed on both the book and the score it will be a while before the west end is going wild about this show.

To find out more about Wild About You visit their website here.

If you like this review you might also like my review of Diana in Concert, West End Sessions and Cruel Intentions.