42 Balloons Review

42 Ballons is a new musical that flies high above the rest.

Currently playing at the Quay Theatre at Manchester's Lowry Centre, 42 Balloons is a new musical by Jack Godfrey that tells the true story of Vietnam War veteran Larry Walters who fulfilled his dream of flying up to 16,000 feet into the air in a lawnchair with 42 weather balloons attached.

Larry (played with brilliant growth by Charlie McCullagh) is a socially outcast truck driver who decides to realise his dream of taking flight in just an armchair after being refused entry into the US Air Force due to his eyesight. Helping him overcome his defeat is his soon-to-be fiance Carol (the outstandingly talented Evelyn Hoskins who's part hilarious, part heart-breaking, and whose voice you will never want to stop singing), Ron (reassuringly portrayed by Lejaun Sheppard) and Carol's Mom (hysterical Gillian Hardie) who all attempt to shoot down Larry's dream until they realise just how much a dream can mean.

But it's not just the four principles who deserve high praise; a brilliant ensemble stays with us for the duration, all young and exceptionally talented, exceedingly funny, and giving a voice to the audience's thoughts - "What makes a man want to fly in a lawn chair?" They ask.

That's where Godfrey shines, and makes this show sing - his lyrics are witty and knowing all the way through. He can make us laugh and cry and fall in love just in a rhyme, and knows exactly when to bring forward the Greek chorus to disapprove our disbelief with "this actually happened you can look it up after the show." It's a crazy concept, in reality, that a man would fly high into the sky in a lawn chair, and even crazier that someone would write a musical about it. By acknowledging this Godfrey tells us exactly what what we're in for - a crazy camp retelling of a crazy cool story.

His lyrics infuse a great 80's pop/rock/hip-hop score that feels fresh and modern whilst still sitting us firmly in its time, performed under the baton of musical director Flynn Sturgeon every night whose band make Godfrey and orchestrator Joe Beighton's music seem effortless.

Every piece of this puzzle balances so well within each other, with Milla Clarke's inspired set placing us inside one of Larry's balloons, or maybe inside his mind, allowing Ellie Coote's direction to weave seamlessly around the stage. Every choice of Coote's is imaginative, perfectly paced, and yet makes total sense. She balances live action with projections on the sides of the set, sometimes of animations designed by Andrzej Goulding and sometimes of live footage of what we can see onstage, heightening the characters' emotions. And if it wasn't for Coote, then Alexzandra Sarmiento's fast-paced 80s-style choreography - that is equally camp and fun, and yet devastating - wouldn't keep us holding our breath in such a way. Or Olivier Award Winner Bruno Poet's lighting design wouldn't be able to blindside us with his extraordinary use of shadow, or how he can turn a simple balloon into a breathless blue sky.

In all, what makes 42 Balloons work so well isn't anybody's sole exceptional talent. It's a collection of exceptionally talented people who all have a love for what they do, and a dream to do it to the best that they can. If Larry Walters' story has taught us anything, it's to never belittle someone's dream, because they might just be able to reach the sky.

42 Balloons is currently playing at The Quays Theatre, Manchester until 19th May.