Bringing the story of Bob Marley to life with a natural feeling of authenticity whilst capturing the time period is no easy feat, yet Get Up Stand Up The Bob Marley Musical manages to do just that in a genuinely powerful way.
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Lee Hall’s book does away with clunky exposition, taking us on a feverish journey through Marley’s musical awakening and rise to stardom. Admittedly this sometimes leaves the story feeling a bit vague, but we’re having too much fun to care.
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Having sat politely until the denouement on Redemption Song, the audience spontaneously jumped to its feet to dance in the aisles. A rousing, absorbing two hours-plus of joyful theatre that reanimates Marley’s genius.
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The book [is] minimal in its effects, with too-brief scenes incorporating Marley’s politics, consciousness-raising and Rastafarianism. We gain little sense of individual character. But there is a powerful sense of spirit here and it is a tribute so infectious that it defies an audience not to sing or sway along.
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...no amount of advance prep can equal the modern-day force of nature that is Arinzé Kene. Not so much playing Bob as summoning his very being, this protean talent looks to be every bit as invaluable to the launch of this show as Adrienne Warren was to Tina.
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‘Get Up, Stand Up!’ has wonderful tunes, a phenomenal star turn, and a weak story. For now, the first two points largely cancel out the third. But there is an awful lot resting on Arinzé Kene’s prodigious shoulders, and he’s not going to stay with the show forever.
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In the end, it’s the women who help to lift the show. Gabrielle Brooks gives us a stoic Rita who refuses to be shoved into the background, while Shanay Holmes impresses in the skeletal role of the singer’s beauty queen lover, Cindy Breakspeare.
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The magnetic Kene sings divinely, honouring Marley’s utterly distinctive sound. But, since we rarely get inside his head, those great songs don’t have much dramatic heft.
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