REVIEW | Caroline - A New Musical, Online Digital

Harry Brogan
4 hours ago
3 min read

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Caroline! The sound of a nation, the sound of the land…. sounds like your new

theatre obsession. Caroline - A New Musical is based on the musical revolution of the 1960’s and is brought to us in a revolutionary way. A show filled with charm, great characters and a nostalgic soundtrack; this is a show not to be missed.

Wouldn’t it be nice to watch a theatre show in your pyjamas, while singing along to some of the best songs of the 1960’s; now you can by streaming Caroline - A New Musical on demand until 19th September and by checking out the digital tour dates. In 2022 it was the mission of eight East Anglian theatre organisations to reshape how theatre is made and shared. The result is Caroline - A New Musical.

This musical is inspired by the events of 1964-1967, at a time when there was a

revolution coming. A music revolution that would see pirate radio send waves

through traditional broadcasting. The writing by Vikki Stone is fantastic and

exceptionally complimented by the direction of Douglas Rintoul and Alex Thorpe.

Caroline: A New Musical begins with the characters of Declan and Kitty (Joey

Hickman and Rhiannon Hopkins), who team up to bring a new radio station to the air aimed at the persona ‘Caroline’, the average working-class woman. We then meet Robbie (Jake Halsey-Jones), a young man who is given an opportunity of a lifetime to be a DJ on the new station Radio Caroline. As he embarks on his new career, he leaves behind his love (Claire Lee Shenfield), also named Caroline, a hard-working intelligent young woman who brings a lot of heart to the story. With legislation threatening the music revolution, follow along to see how this story plays out.

The set design is simple but very well thought out, lighting is used cleverly to set the scene. I noticed that sound is used to create atmosphere, for example when

characters are at the pier the audience can appreciate waves and bird sounds.

The choreography by Sundeep Saini is used to tell the story, with the whole cast

including the band dancing on stage and bringing the fun of the 1960’s to us now.

My favourite aspect of this show was the music and how the songs help to tell the

story. The musical supervisor Paul Schofield chose nostalgic songs that perfectly fit with the story being told on stage. In fact, the soundtrack is so perfectly curated that I almost forgot these were songs from music history.

In the first act ‘Dead End Street’ by The Kinks is used to highlight the frustrations our characters are feeling in their lives and careers. My standout song of the second act is ‘You’re My World’ by Cilla Black sung by Caroline. This song gives the audience an emotional insight into the importance of the love story of Caroline and Robbie, and the recurring theme of Robbie having to choose between the two Caroline's in his life.

There are several perks of watching a new musical at home;

1. You can choose when to have your breaks and how long your interval is

2. You can sing along if you know the words

3. You can relax in your own surroundings and just enjoy the vibes

I really enjoyed Caroline - A New Musical, it is a fantastically written jukebox musical with a soundtrack made up of the best of the 1960’s. I would love to see this production live as in my opinion nothing beats the atmosphere of being in a theatre and experiencing everything in person. However, the digital tour and on demand options of this show makes theatre accessible to everyone, and that can only ever be a good thing.

★★★★

Caroline - A New Musical is streaming until 19 September: https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/events/caroline-on-demand/