Greatest Days is based on the stage musical The Band, which is itself based on the music of Take That , which received its world premiere at Manchester Opera House in September 2017. It then toured Ireland and the UK before opening in London’s West End in December 2018.
Story wise, as is the case with most jukebox musicals, it’s pretty slim with the plot only really serving as an excuse to introduce another song from the band.
Aisling Bea plays Rachel a northern lass in her 40s, strangely played with a thick Irish accent, who wins a competition to go and see her favourite band in concert in Athens.
Director Coky Giedroyc flips backwords and forwards in time as Rachel reminisces about her youth (her younger self is played without the Irish accent by Lara McDonnell) and the time she spend with her 3 best pals listening to the music of Take That. In the present Rachel reaches out to her lost friends (Amaka Okafor, Jayde Adams and Alice Lowe) via the radio station where she won the competition, inviting them to go with her to the concert.
Much like Mama Mia and Sunshine on Leith the Proclaimers jukebox musical which Greatest Days most closely resembles, the story is interspersed with various songs from the band.
Greatest Days moves from one song to another at a rapid pace and, with actors playing the band in the background during the songs, it’s all a bit cheesy. It’ not high end cinema by any stretch of the imagination but the performances of an enthusiastic cast and some catchy pop songs help to turn Greatest Days into one of the feel good films of the summer.
