Hubby and I love the theatre so when our kids bought us two tickets to see Benidorm Live at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, as Christmas presents last year we were thrilled. (Cheers Simon & Nicola). The tickets were pinned up on our events board (yes it makes us smile every time we look at it) and I can’t believe how quickly the months went by and it was time to go and see it.
We had tickets for the very first night of the tour, Friday 7 September at 7.30pm. We were going to get the bus into town but decided at the last minute to take the car. Big mistake. Even though we set off at 6.30pm it took us nearly 45 minutes to get there and get parked. We’d forgotten it was the Great North Run AND the last weekend of the Great North Exhibition!  Anyway we got there with just enough time to buy a programme and get settled in our seats (no time to get a small glass of wine, but never mind).
The stage show starts off where the last episode of the sitcom finishes, with the Solana being taken over by Belroy Hotels, and it got going with the introduction of a couple of new characters checking into the hotel – who were very reminiscent of Martin and Katie. This set the scene nicely for the appearance of Joyce Temple-Savage and a round of applause from the audience for the entrance of the first of the much loved Benidorm characters.
I’m not going to spoil the show for anyone who has tickets, so I won’t give you a blow-and-go account of the whole show, just the highlights (get the joke? 🙂 ).  The first half of the show saw the entrance of Mateo, Jacqueline, Kenneth, Liam, Sam and Asa Elliott. I hadn’t realised there was going to be songs in Benidorm Live, but they were a very welcome addition and got the audience clapping along (one lady even got up from her seat to dance). With Asa Elliott doing the singing I felt I was sat in Neptune’s Bar. There was a Flamenco dance from Mateo (Jake Canuso) – I hadn’t realised he was actually a professional dancer. Great performance from a very sexy man (sorry hubby, but he is!).  Other songs included Rubber Ball (involving Jacqueline dancing with a group of male dancers – very funny), and a solo from Sam (Shelley Longworth) which she sang very well.
The jokes came thick and fast, especially from Kenneth (played by Tony Maudsley), who is a fantastic character and his stage performance was just as good the sitcom, some real laugh-out-loud moments. One of my favourite scenes was the song from new character, gay Derek. He sang it to Kenneth and I have to say the interaction between the two of them was hilarious. Kenneth’s facial expressions are priceless.
My all-time favourite character in Benidorm Live (and in the sitcom too), is Liam, played by Adam Gillen. I absolutely love this character, he fascinates me. Adam’s mannerisms remind me of the great comedy actor, Jerry Lewis, and the Liam character had plenty of opportunity to show off his wonderful quirks during this production.  I’d love to see a lot more of him on television, film or stage.
It was also really nice to see the character of Jacqueline mentioning her late husband Donald quite a few times during the show. It felt right that Kenny Ireland (who played Donald), who died in 2014, was also a part it.
The show left us with a happy ending and a group rendition of Y’Viva Espana, which got the whole audience clapping along with the characters. A great end to a fantastic show. I’m so pleased I got to see Benidorm Live – I’m only sorry it was over so quick and there won’t be any more episodes on television. If you’re reading this Derren Litten – how about a one-off movie?!
If you loved Benidorm the sitcom, you’ll love Benidorm Live on Stage. They’re touring across the country until April 2019 so if you’d like to grab a ticket click here to go to the Benidorm on Stage website.
Right, I think it’s time to watch the whole 10 series of Benidorm again on Now TV (aff link).