Author Archives: Nick Hennegan

by Keith Strachan

🍷🍷🍷🍷 – 4 out of 5 glasses of fine claret! (And a Sasparilla!) 5 stars! 🌟

(Oh.. 🍷… they’re our ‘bohemian’ version of Stars! ⭐️)

The Tabard Theatre put The Bomp in the Bomp ba bomp ba bomp! So now you know!

A new musical is a rare and wonderful thing. And this is unique in so many ways. It’s VERY low tech for a musical. No individual mics or amplification, apart from reverb. Which, almost charmingly misfired a couple of times during our early show. And in a sense that is almost part of the charm and glory of this new offering. It has a sweetness and integrity that means the audience would forgive almost anything.

Not that they need to. This sweet and engaging musical also has a very sweet and engaging cast. It’s the story of Gen Z Londoner Billy Johnson and his friends as they form an unamplified Doo-Wop group, celebrating the music of Billy’s Grandad. They get to know themselves – and each other – and are thrust upon the world via social media with all the positives and negatives that brings. Writer and Director Keith Strachan spent many years directing and arranging musicals for the late Bill Kenwright, and the two often talked about a Doo-Wop show. It never happened – until now – and this production is dedicated to Kenwright’s memory.

There is a freshness, a zing and an energy that fairly explodes off the stage, possibly because several of the cast are making their professional debuts.

And there are few musical genres more gloriously infectious than doo-wop. It was born in US urban neighbourhoods and post-war ghettos, rising to prominence in the 1950s and early 1960s, with no or minimal instrumentation. And it’s widely accepted that it fundamentally shaped popular music.

Strachan, whose previous musical successes include Dreamboats and Petticoats, and many record releases, clearly loves the music, but rather than simply recreating a bygone era, his well written and structured production imagines a group of contemporary teenagers discovering the form.

Then with progress posted on TikTok, they become unlikely stars in the world of social media earning a shock invitation to perform at a major event!

The script is necessarily brisk and efficient, but it is also very funny – any show that can get repeated and rising laughs out of its own stage directions is a mark of its quality.

And the talented cast of six performers all have individual high spots but they also act seamlessly as a team in a textbook display of ensemble performance and generosity.

The musical director Marissa Landy also performs as the enthusiastic teacher, Miss McTavish. (Who throws in a Tap Dance for good measure!)

Joshua Webster’s choreography is unobtrusively smooth, complementing a set design that is also quietly perfect – back-wall projection giving us streets, the schoolroom, and a bar, (an Irish one, at that!) allowing for more performance space. There are occasional moments when I wished they’d break the line and move a little more during the dialogue, but it’s a niggle.

This show rocks (and rolls!) Go bag your Bomp at the Tabard Theatre.

CREDITS…

Take Note Ltd for the Tabard Theatre presents:

WHO PUT THE BOMP? by Keith Strachan at the Tabard Theatre

14 October to 7 November 2026.

Box Office: https://www.tabard.org.uk

Cast

Billy Michael | Billy

Joy Silweya | Summer

Joshua Webster | Cole

Aidan Spicer | Danny

Finn Williams | Jack

Marissa Landy | Miss McTavish

Creative Team

Keith Strachan | Writer and Director

Anne-Marie Lewis Thomas | Musical Supervisor

Callum Bruce | Lighting Designer

Faith Powlett | Costume Designer

Charlie Stace | Sound and Projection Programmer

Rob Miles and Pat McMahon | Set Construction

Marissa Landy | Musical Director

Joshua Webster | Dance Captain

Melody Lo | Stage Manager

Simon and Sarah Reilly | Producers

Photography credit: Hunter Collins Photography