The Proclaimers are renowned around the world for there geeky look and the broad Scottish dialect in there music that they refuse to anglicise. Their anthem ‘500 miles’ is probably their most popular track which made number one when re-released in 2007 for Comic Relief, this novelty track is the pinnacle of their musical efforts but behind their bespectacled appearance lies an impressive back catalogue of tunes blessed with humour, sadness, regret, political awareness and lyrics dripping with cutting insights of modern Scotland. The title of the play is taken from one or their famous singalong laments and a review of the musical from Mark Fisher of The Guardian is printed below.
“Why did it take 20 years before anyone noticed the Proclaimers were born to be turned into a musical? Not since Willy Russell came up with Blood Brothers has Britain produced such a perfect and perfectly unexpected marriage of music and theatre. Had playwright and screenwriter Stephen Greenhorn done nothing else, he should be declared a genius for spotting that the songs of Craig and Charlie Reid - with all their emotional honesty, singalong raucousness and political fire - are a true gift to the stage.
Though broad in comedy and blatant in sentimentality, Sunshine on Leith refuses to play by the rules of the jukebox musical. This is a show that begins on the Afghan battlefield with a band of squaddies singing about the imminence of death in Sky T
akes the Soul. The first act ends with a drunken brawl and a decidedly unromantic round of Hate My Love, while a scene among nurses driven insane by "efficiency targets" culminates in the polemical Everybody's a Victim, done as a country-gospel hospital hoedown. We Will Rock You it is not.
Even the title song plays against expectations, being sung for all its pathos by Ann Louise Ross over the seriously ill body of her husband of 30 years. We must thank the company for its restraint in playing only the melody of Act of Remembrance - the full tragic lament would have been unbearable.
It's true there is a contrivance about some of Greenhorn's setups, but his technique is never as blatant as that of Mamma Mia!, and he throws in some clever surprises, such as an all-male Let's Get Married performed in a Hibs-supporting sports bar.
His tale of two returning soldiers finding their feet back in Leith has the strengths and weaknesses of soap opera, being both emotionally upfront and concerned with the everyday stuff of ageing, adultery and falling in love. By choosing to explore the themes of the songs - Scottish identity, emotional inarticulacy, the rise of the call centre - the playwright does considerable justice to the range and seriousness of the Proclaimers' music, at the expense of some forward momentum in the plot.
But the highlights of James Brining's production are many, from Hilary Brooks' full-voiced arrangements to the gutsy performances of the 15-strong ensemble, making it a show worth walking 500 miles for, if not 500 more.”
Fine words and ones that we echo resoundingly.
The only negative we would add to the evening was that our seats which were situated in the centre of a row restricted us from joining the many exuberant theater goers who had taken to dancing in the aisles at the final scene and rousing encore.
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