There are two primary species of jukebox musicals. The biographical variety — Jersey Boys, Beautiful, Summer — use an artists’ music to trace the story of their career. The others — Jagged Little Pill, Mamma Mia!, Girl from the North Country — spin an original story out of recognizable songs. The former type has a clearer reason to exist, but often require actors to embody inimitable artists such as Tina Turner or Michael Jackson — rarely a path to success.
Mirvish’s biographical Just For One Day, about how Bob Geldof and Midge Ure responded to the 1983–85 Ethiopia famine by putting on the benefit concert Live Aid, makes sense as a jukebox musical. But, rather deftly, bookwriter John O’Farrell and director Luke Sheppard don’t call for much impersonation. Bob (Craige Els) and Midge (George Ure, whose last name is a coincidence) appear throughout, but only sing a couple of numbers by their respective bands, the Boomtown Rats and Ultravox. The rest of the songs, by Live Aid artists, basically get the showchoir treatment — hand microphones, poppy choral arrangements (by Matthew Brind), rhythmic choreography (by Ebony Molina), and all. Random? Yes. Kinda fun? Also yes.
If anything gets workshopped before this North American premiere flies back to the U.K. for a run on the West End, I imagine it’ll be the script’s central framing device, which involves a contemporary mother (Melissa Jacques) telling her teenage daughter Jemma (Fayth Ifil) about Live Aid. Bob helps with this narration, for rather opaque reasons; is he a family friend?
Odder still, Jemma points out some of the controversies surrounding Live Aid, including the outsized influence it has had on North America’s perception of Africa (epitomized by the cringe-inducing lyrics of the charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”) — but because Jemma goes from skeptical to intrigued over the course of the show, these valid concerns ultimately come off as the ramblings of a child who doesn’t understand. I didn’t expect Just For One Day to unpack Live Aid’s ethical project. What’s strange is that it raises the subject before seeming to say “nah, all good.”
Somewhat like Come From Away (though more fictionalized), parts of Just For One Day take a mosaic approach, capturing the experience of the vendors, sound technicians, and audience members who came together for the concert on July 13, 1985. A few of these characters become recurring figures, but many only get a couple throwaway lines from someone in the sizable ensemble.
And an even more unexpected contemporary musical theatre influence surfaces. In service of a subplot about the British government taxing charity money, Margaret Thatcher (Julie Atherton) makes an entrance in an upbeat satirical number reminiscent of those sung by Hamilton’s King George III (The Pretenders’ “Stop Your Sobbing,” here). But then, during her next two appearances, she rap battles with Bob. Hamilton works because each character has its own distinct musical language — to have Margaret zoom from one genre to another is just bizarre.
Still, the music sounds glorious. As the plot lurches on, the ensemble blazes through number after number, usually perching on upstage risers (set designer Soutra Gilmour rolls in furniture as needed, but otherwise keeps things minimal, while Andrzej Goulding’s live video contributes to the concert-like look). It’s a group effort to a rather incredible degree — many of the songs are essentially riff battles, with the singers hot-potatoing the melody around. An upbeat version of “Let It Be” in multi-part harmony feels sacrilegious, but is much preferable to a solo for a pretend Paul McCartney (who gratefully never appears on stage). And while I’m unconvinced the legacy of Live Aid is something that needs to be passed on to Jemma’s generation, the choice to have a fairly young ensemble perform these tunes is congruent with the show’s attempts to make that argument.
So, if we’re talking about the two-and-a-half hour version of Just For One Day currently playing at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre, I remain pretty mixed… but gimme that cast recording.
Just For One Day runs at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre until March 15. Tickets are available here.
Intermission reviews are independent and unrelated to Intermission’s partnered content. Learn more about Intermission’s partnership model here.
WRITTEN BY
Liam Donovan
Liam is Intermission’s senior editor. His writing has appeared in publications like Maisonneuve, This, and NEXT. He loves the original Super Mario game very much.
LEARN MORE
