And They Played Shang-A-Lang

This production from Scotland's Craft Theatre Company is a mawkish, comic ode to adolescent life in 1970s Edinburgh. Cynics may argue that it strives to dignify cheap, cloying nostalgia through the presence of a dead narrator, but there's no denying And They Played Shang-a-Lang's strange evocative power.

Essentially a loose series of vignettes and songs strung together by the recollections of a portly man in an ill-matched three piece suit, the musical shines thanks to the sheer energy of its cast. The unashamedly broad script, however, is often too obvious for its own good, frequently delivering references to obsolete things that people may be able to recall. Remember Buckaroo? Crackerjack? Jimmy Saville? To the writers' credit, Spangles aren't mentioned once.

Many of the situations depicted are just as obvious, yet conveyed so joyfully that it's hard not to become swept up by the sense of communal nostalgia. One school misfit models himself on Donny Osmond and garners multiple new admirers as a result. A family Hogmanay causes consternation for all involved, while a trip to the disco necessitates complex, strategic planning from both sexes. Most impressive is a school nativity scene involving a born again disciplinarian which causes pockets of the audience to literally weep with laughter.

Throughout all this action, hits of the decade transport audience members of a certain age back to their own formative years. Whether this is a good thing or not, the show is an entertaining 90 minutes that achieves all it sets out to do.

http://www.craft-theatre.com