Review: Dream Lover- The Bobby Darin Musical.

“Hit ‘em with the ol’ Razzle Dazzle… especially if you don’t have a lot of substance in your story”.

David Campbell is a confident guy, he’s a good singer and he has a big profile on TV. In many ways, he shares a number of traits and skills that Bobby Darin had. He has performed songs from Darin for many years and made his name doing what Bobby Darin did. However, Campbell lacks something of the x-factor, or that cheeky cockiness that Darin oozed, yet was still so likeable. Campbell may sing the songs, he may do the dance moves, but he just doesn’t have something that makes him like Bobby Darin. He also lacks strong acting ability, and whilst you might come away from this show thinking he was really good as an actor, overall, he gets away with it because the show is so jam packed with songs, there’s little room for much in the way of story.

The show is split into two halves. The first half, see’s Darin’s rise to fame and the marrying of Sandra Dee. This section of the show is so overblown with music, that the story is somewhat lost in the endless stream of dancers coming on stage in a variety of very colourful outfits. Darin’s health, his upbringing, his family ‘situation’ is all structured to fit the inclusion of many songs, some of which feel like they were chosen to suit the actors, such as Marina Prior, more than the story itself.

The second half is more story focused, mainly because the show had nowhere to go musically due to the amount of material used in the first act. Due to act one’s glossing over of many aspects of Darin’s life, the sudden move to political activism feels forced, and the discovery of Darin’s parentage, tied with the loss of Bobby Kennedy doesn’t quite lead appropriately to how Darin gave up his lifestyle and turned into a hippy. Campbell comes back dressed just in denim, with the same hair as when he was singing Dream Lover. His folk/country career is swept under the rug really quickly, and Simple Song of Freedom is so over the top with its big band arrangement, that we seem to leap back into the style of the first half again very quickly. Considering Darin’s country chart successes, it’s a shame it was glossed over so quickly here (and as well as in the film Beyond the Sea).

All of this means that the show is more of a Bobby Darin concert than a Bobby Darin story. The set design is cool, having the band behind them, however, this restricts the show in what it can achieve, and so sets are very basic and again, the focus on music is at the expense of story. It’s not surprising then, that the show is called The Bobby Darin Musical, and not the Bobby Darin story.

It’s hard not to compare the show to the film Beyond the Sea, especially as the show actually borrows a few aspects from the film. Kevin Spacey, despite being too old at the time, certainly captured Bobby Darin much more, in both acting and performing and the film was able to show more of the person behind the music.

However, all this said, it’s still a fun and entertaining musical. It’s not going to blow your mind, but it does have some good old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll Vegas style performances which are well worth watching. All the cast give it their all, and the band are fantastic. Naturally, most of the music is really good, after all, this is a show full of Bobby Darin music.

(SPOILER ALERT)

Least favourite moment: When Nina tells Bobby she's really his mother, she starts singing the song 'More'. Then Marina Prior comes out (as his grandmother) singing as well. The audience gave this a huge applause. I groaned. It felt totally out of place and really cheesy.