THE VINYL CURTAIN

After watching Good Vibrations, the story of Ulster Punk told from the perspective of a radical and rebellious record store owner named Terri Hooley, I found myself in a bit of a tizzy. It was a fantastic story, beautifully told. It was fun and poignant, perfectly casted and boasted a kick ass soundtrack. So it deserved the plaudits from all around the world. But there was bonus appeal for us lot, of course – we got to see Belfast and Derry on the big screen, which was fun. There was also the theme of music’s power to unite and ignite – alongside the warning that it can sometimes dominate our lives, overshadowing everything else to the point of no return. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know what I mean – there’s a lot to get your head around.

I always thought it’s a movie that would transfer really well to the stage – and so it’s come to pass, with the announcement of Good Vibrations at The Lyric Theatre this September. Straight away it’s worth pointing out there’s a key word missing from the lengthy press release I’ve just read – ‘musical’. While I don’t see it as a dirty word myself (‘The Commitments’ on the West End was based on a similar movie, and is branded a musical – and it’s great), I guess we’re to approach this as a play, with music. Which is a different pitch. We can assume the stage adaption by Colin Carberry and Glenn Patterson (who wrote the original biopic) will be a little ‘off’ Broadway and – more importantly – it’s a cert the musical element will be notably authentic. Expect the onstage soundtrack to be noisy and spiky – without a jazz hand in sight. With that in mind, it’ll be really interesting to see who plays the lead roles – and indeed who’ll perform live replicating the various bands featured in the script – Rudi, The Outcasts and – of course – The Undertones. You can be sure that – once again – authenticity will be key – with some of our finest young musicians given a chance to shine. The legacy continues!