Writer John O’Farrell has turned the story of Live Aid into a musical journey, with a great singing cast but thin storyline.
‘Just for One Day’ is the show.
The day was 13 July 1985 – the day that brought the world together with not just one but two massive concerts – one in London and one in Philadelphia. But ‘Just for One Day’ also tells the story, through song of course, of how this journey began – with Bob Geldof’s germ of an idea to make a Christmas song to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. The song was ‘Do They Know it’s Christmas’ and it came out in December 1984. But Geldof (played by Craige Els) wasn’t happy with just one song, he wanted to do something bigger – no matter what – hence the Live Aid concerts.
The extremely talented cast – more than 20 of them – sing the songs from that era to tell the story of how the record, and the concert, all came about. Their voices are loud, confident and amazing, what a cast! ‘Just for One Day’ really brings back the memories of this event to those of us of a certain age. Featuring the songs of Bob Dylan, David Bowie, The Who, U2, Queen, The Police (‘Message in a Bottle’ is memorable), The Cars, Paul McCartney (‘Let it Be’ of course), and lots of others. But just to be fair ‘Just for One Day’ is basically a jukebox musical. It’s a rousing show that will entertain you for the afternoon or evening but don’t expect memorable characters or moments.
We follow the journey of this concert through the eyes of shop worker Suzanne (Hope Kenna), who happens to be in love with her clueless boss and her determination to get tickets to the concert. And while it’s a thin plot device, it is needed to run in parallel with the story of Geldof’s determination to get the concerts up and running – providing a bit of drama against all of Geldof’s angst. ‘Just for One Day’ provides the entire plot to us in the simplest terms, no complicated story lines or characters, basically dictating to us that it is all about the music. And while we don’t get to know any of the incredible singers who belt out the songs, like any jukebox musicals you will be humming one or two of them to yourself after the show but won’t remember much about anything else.
Now playing until March 30, 2024
www.oldvictheatre.com/stage/event/just-for-one-day
