Review: THE COMMITMENTS, Theatre Royal, Glasgow

The Commitments musical has been adapted from the novel by Booker prize winning author Roddy Doyle himself and is directed by Andrew Linnie. The Commitments centres around a working-class man called Jimmy Rabbitte (James Killeen) who wants to form the greatest soul band that Dublin has ever known. While his father (Nigel Pivaro) is sceptical of his dreams, he doesn't stand in his way of holding auditions to find other members of the band.

There's some humour as the band begin to find their way and encounter turbulent relationships but if you're looking for a solid plot, The Commitments maybe isn't the show for you. It's entertaining enough to see the band implode as love affairs and Eurovision entries threaten their future but it's diffuclt to find much purpose.

The cast are great but are given frustratingly little to work with. As there are so many members of the band, nobody seems to get as much stage time as they deserve and the real shining moments are the full band numbers. Music-wise, it's hard to fault The Commitments as big hits like "Mustang Sally", "Proud Mary" and "River Deep, Mountain High" are performed faultlessly by a talented cast. It's the kind of show that is guaranteed to have the audience on their feet by the end and is sure to please lovers of the original book and film.

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