When anyone mentions the name, The Drifters, two people spring to mind, no, not Johnny Moore, the longest serving member, or even Ben E. King, the most famous one, but Cliff Richard and Trigger from Only Fools and Horses. The reason is that the Shadows, the Peter Pan of Pop’s backing group, were originally called The Drifters but changed their name when, in 1959, the manager of the American group threatened to sue after they had a hit in the USA; and, although still touring as The Drifters, there have been 65 members since their original line-up in 1953, putting me in mind of Trigger’s road sweeping broom, which he said was the same one he used for 20 years, although he had replaced 17 heads and 14 handles!
I always wondered why there was such a high turnover of members and this show provided a few answers. Some were drafted into the forces, died, sacked, lured away by other promoters or just got fed up of the constant touring, but 65 is still a heck of a lot. There have only been eight Rolling Stones, who were formed just nine years later. Anyway, the musical is as much to do with non-members as members, insofar as it deals with the tenacity of Faye Treadwell, who became the group’s manager, along with her husband, George, and took them to the heights of fame they achieved on both sides of the Atlantic. Before they got married she persuaded George not to disband the quartet but to stick with them and weather the various impending storms. Being a black woman, this was a brave ploy as she was subjected to prejudice and discrimination on two counts resulting in several wheeler dealers trying to muscle in on the fame, and thus, money-making potential of the singers, and poaching members when they could not acquire the group as a whole.
It was because of the above tactics, and Faye’s dedication, that the law in the USA was changed to prevent unscrupulous elements from setting up groups with the same name as successful ones in order to cash in on their reputation. Faye Treadwell had had the nous to register the company as Drifters inc. which enabled her to argue in court that the name was a separate entity from the members. She used the analogy of the New York Yankees baseball team by saying that, no matter how many players were used over the years, they were still the Yankees, and so it should be with musical ensembles.
When the show began it was obviously going to be a juke box musical, as the opening scene comprised a girl making selections on a machine and the four singers taking to the stage with a medley of the group’s hits. It then morphed into a biographical piece recounting the formation of the band. I realise that in order to fit a 71 year story into an hour and fifty-five minutes stage time, you can’t hang about, but the speed at which the dialogue was delivered was positively supersonic. It tried to be of the 1950s razor-sharp, fast talking New York style banter, but this caused it to become unintelligible at times, and the characterisation of the subjects didn’t help.
I am used to actors playing multiple parts in shows, but the number is usually limited to two or three, here we had the four singers adopting half a dozen or so each, sometimes in the same scene. A particular example I found to be a bit confusing was when one of them played a barman who, in mid sentence would don a headband and carry on as a woman. My first impression was that he was depicting a caricature gay man but the penny slowly dropped. There were elements of racial stereotypes from both sides; in the portrayal of a couple of English men who had been charged with looking after the touring party when they first came over here. They were both called Roger, wore bowler hats, carried umbrellas and spoke with heavily affected posh accents. It was quite amusing for a minute or two but the joke soon wore thin.
The thing which surprised me was a scene which highlighted the racist attitude towards the group and their manager from the hoteliers in the UK when they were on tour in the sixties. I love soul music and the blues, but in every interview I have ever seen or read, the black American performers all loved being here because they were treated with respect and not subjected to the segregation meted out to them at home. They could not believe their ability to use any restaurant, toilet and drinking fountain rather than have to seek out the blacks only version. I am obviously not doubting the word of the writer of the book on which the show is based, Ed Curtis, especially as there were references to specific hotels which had refused them entry unless they paid in advance, such as the Adelphi in Liverpool, or those who would not admit them at all, and I am sure that the co-creators; Adam J Bernard, Tarwin Callender, Matt Henry, Beverley Knight and Tosh Wanogho-Maud, were prudent enough to take advice on the tort of defamation before staging this show, but the infamous sign, projected on the back of the set, bearing the legend ‘No Blacks. No Irish. No Dogs’ was usually seen in the windows of houses with rooms on long-term let rather than hotels.
All the above aside, it was the performances we were here to experience and the show delivered admirably. It took a bit of adjustment to realise that the original sound of the Drifters was being interpreted rather than replicated, as it seemed to be in a higher register than I remember, but I am sure that Dance With Me sung by the quartet today would be fairly well removed from the 1959 version anyway. Whatever the key, the execution of the songs was very good by all concerned, whether they be in the group or a peripheral character who had to contribute in a musical capacity. Sadly, my favourite ever Drifters song, the beautiful, if somewhat suicidal, B side of Under The Boardwalk, called I Don’t Want To Go On Without You, was sung beautifully by Loren Anderson, who was covering for Carly Mercedes Dyer, but it was meant to be delivered by a man, hence the line ‘I hold your handkerchief and smell your sweet perfume’. I must have been given the adolescent elbow by some girl who had come to her senses!
In the first half Ms Anderson had not much singing to do but in Act 2 she blew the place away. Also, in Act 1 there was a character called Girl, played by Jaydah Bell-Ricketts, who spent the hour wandering about the set, joining in with a few dances but generally looking bewildered as to what she was doing there, as were the audience. In the second half she also sprang to life, becoming the daughter of George and Faye Treadwell and taking a much bigger part in proceedings, her father was portrayed by Miles Anthony Daley, when he wasn’t being a Drifter.
As previously mentioned, there was a lot of gender bending and humour, my two favourite examples were the meeting between Faye Treadwell and folk trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, the three of whom were black males dressed in hippy garb, Mary even sporting a beard; and a depiction of the group playing Sunday Night at the London Palladium with a back projection of the theatre’s auditorium and a silhouette of Bruce Forsyth cast on the curtain. Tarik Frimpong, who played Clyde McPhatter, Lover Patterson and others, was a dead ringer imitating Brucie’s poses to perfection. Ashford Campbell played the legendary Ben E. King as well as Rudy Lewis and others. (there are a lot of ‘and others’ in the programme). The parts of Johnny Moore, Gerhart Thrasher (honestly) and others, were taken by Daniel Haswell. The other 62 Drifters were covered by Tré Copeland-Williams, Ethan Davis, Matthew Dawkins and the aforementioned Miles Anthony Daley, while Linseigh Green was Second Cover Faye Treadwell and Girl.
The orchestra under Dustin Conrad was superb and the choreography by Karen Bruce captured perfectly the cringe-worthy moves of the time. The Director was Jonathan Church.
Fortunately, after all that great music, the show ended with the company on stage performing the songs again and getting the audience up to dance, well, it would have been rude not to! Actually, a few of the attendees had been rocking away all night in their seats anyway.
Whether you are a Drifters fan or not, the show is a feel good night out with great music and a chance to let your hair down.
The Drifters Girl is at Leeds Grand Theatre until 23rd March. For more information and to book, please go to https://leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/the-drifters-girl-2024/
For a full list of what is on at Leeds Heritage Theatres (The Grand, City Varieties and Hyde Park Picture House) it is https://leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/
Photographs by The Other Richard
Tyke It To The Limit 