The One Nite Stand band opened up with a groove that became an overture of the music that would be covered in Tim French’s The Bastard Sons of a Small Town Elvis. Rob Hinton drew out some naughty licks on his Fender Stratocaster; his riffs took us on a journey through the U.S. that visited Delta Blues, Rock, Funk, Boogie and Soul, writes Michael Holland.
Danny (Michael Gillett) and Billy (Niall Hemingway) like a bit of Rock ’n’ Roll – They test each other with Elvis questions. It is in Danny’s genes as the father he never knew was an Elvis impersonator who took off to live his dream rather than stay with Brigitte (Kathryn Haywood), a promising young singer he was having a fling with and dumped when she got pregnant with Danny.
Danny had grown up with his mum’s side of the story, so when he heard he was coming back to play at an Elvis tribute gig in the town he was there to confront him. And so was Mum. But Danny got it wrong and confronted Lightning Johnny instead of Johnny Heartbreaker (Tim French x 2), the man who had gave his life to being Elvis instead of to his family.
The miscommunication wasn’t all bad. Billy found the love of his life, Mum was reunited with the love of her’s, and we all got to hear some great musicians and meet Frank the Bouncer (David Cramer) who was barring the door on the way in and chucking us out with a laugh at the end.
A big plus is that the writer has written songs in keeping with the Elvis era with lyrics to fit the narrative and keep the Presley fans happy, of whom there were many.
The Bastard Sons of a Small Town Elvis has some excellent laughs in it and the six cast all got to show off their singing skills in front of a terrific band. It does go a little flat at times, but those moments were quickly dispelled by Billy’s smile when he’s with his new love, Lisa Marie (Milly Brann), or when there is more singing and dancing to get the audience of Elvis fans and regular theatregoers nodding their heads in time with the beat; an audience you could sense struggling to not shout out the answers in the Elvis quiz, or not to stand up and give it their best air guitar solos.
Remembering back to the kind of films Elvis made in his career, I think he would have loved to have been in this.
Brockley Jack Studio Theatre, 410 Brockley Road, London, SE4 2DH until 4th November. 7.30pm.
Box office: www.brockleyjack.co.uk or 0333 666 3366 (£1.80 fee for phone bookings only)
Tickets: £17, £15 conc., 14+
Running time: One hour and forty five, including a fifteen minute interval.
