42 Balloons | Live Show Review – TOP 20 MUSICALS 2024: NO 8

Chris Bartlett
Friday, November 29, 2024

Jack Godfrey’s uplifting, heartfelt new musical about real-life, flight-obsessed American eccentric Larry Walters has ‘cult hit’ written all over it

Charlie McCullagh (front) with the cast of 42 Balloons (Images credit: Pamela Raith)

It seems like we’ve been feeling nostalgic for the 1980s almost since the decade ended. And nostalgia sells, as the continued success of ’80s-set film-to-stage adaptations like Footloose, Heathers, Pretty Woman and Back to the Future testifies.

Their appeal, it could be argued, is due in large part to the enduring popularity of the chart hits they contain. The easy option, then, would have been to furnish 42 Balloons, the story of real-life American eccentric Larry Walters – who, in 1982, flew 16,000ft above LA using a lawn chair and 42 helium-filled balloons – with relevant hits from the era, with obvious choices such as Nena’s iconic ‘99 Red Balloons’ (‘42 weather balloons fly by…’).

So, composer, book writer and lyricist Jack Godfrey deserves much praise for taking the far riskier route of creating original songs (around 30 of them) for this funny, touching and uplifting new musical, receiving its world premiere at The Lowry.

As the story is almost entirely sung-through, its success largely hangs on how these songs land. Thankfully – arrestingly orchestrated by Joe Beighton and propulsively performed by a six-piece onstage band – there isn’t a duff one among them and Godfrey demonstrates impressive versatility in the ways he and director/dramaturg Ellie Coote use them to propel Larry’s story along.

This is particularly true of Larry’s rousing Act One number ‘Big Balloon’, which has shades of Come from Away’s ‘Me and the Sky’. Elsewhere, ‘Give it Up’ channels the bubble-gum pop of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ and the partly rapped, Hamilton-esque ‘1982’ riffs wittily on everything from the Beastie Boys to the theme tune from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Later, ‘42 Balloons and a Lawn Chair’ echoes the call-and-response pep of Toni Basil’s ‘Mickey’ and is one of many winningly performed ensemble numbers tightly choreographed by Alexzandra Sarmiento.

The other challenge is how to navigate the tragic turn Walters’s story took after his stunt made him famous. It’s not the first musical to touch on tragic real-life events (as witnessed by Come from Away’s 9/11-driven plot) or involve suicide (Dear Evan Hansen). But Larry’s ultimate fate casts a pall on proceedings that some audience members will struggle with, even if the show ends up being more about the unlikely ways people inspire others than the details of his demise (while the poignant ‘Up and Away’ chronicles his mental state, Larry’s final moments, sensibly, happen offstage).

Walters may have ended up a laughing stock, but the show doesn’t treat him like one, helped by Charlie McCullagh’s sensitively calibrated performance. Godfrey’s book details the setbacks and humiliations that prompted Larry to come up with such a plan, but it doesn’t strain too hard to explain his actions – other than as a way for him to take back control. Instead, it revels in the absurd minutiae of Larry’s scheme (as outlined in the fun, catchy ‘Do You Wanna Know’). And then, when the details seem too unbelievable, the chorus assures us that they’re true, wittily urging us to ‘look it up after the show’.

The main reason that we end up rooting for him is due to Evelyn Hoskins as Larry’s understanding and resourceful girlfriend Carol. Hoskins is brilliant at showing Carol’s conflicting emotions and tugs the heartstrings with her final song ‘Helium’. The other supporting characters are more thinly drawn, and we don’t get much sense of the wider world, but Hoskins and McCullagh are the beating heart of the production.

Milla Clarke’s eye-catching, bowl-shaped set is sometimes a little cramped and Andrzej Goulding’s video projections overwhelming on occasion. Some people might also be disappointed that Larry’s flight, when it comes, is more talked about than actually seen.

The show is co-produced by Andy and Wendy Barnes, the original team behind the mega smash hit SIX. While it is unlikely to replicate that show’s incredible success, 42 Balloons has a similar plucky, can-do spirit and inspiring, underdog energy, and deserves to find a loyal and devoted audience.