REVIEW: Dreamboats and Petticoats brought sixties sounds and summer love to the Blackpool Grand

The show was bursting with 60s chart-toppers that had everyone singing along, and reminiscing about the old days.

It harked back to when £11 a week was a ‘good wage’ and kids discovered bands on the radio.

And the fashion helped set the scene too. Girls wore groovy miniskirts and platform boots as they danced around their handbags.

We followed the gang through a raft of hook-ups and break-ups, during a summer season at Butlins. The main two characters are Bobby (David Ribi) and Laura (Elizabeth Carter); two dough-eyed lovebirds trying to make the long-distance thing work.

Laura is a budding star doing nightly shows. She has a belting voice and her sultry vocal rendition of ‘You Don’t Own Me’ was a showstopper.

A wafer-thin plot merely acts as a segue from one jukebox hit to the next.

But the selling point is a talented cast who really breathe life into old songs like ‘Lipstick on your collar’, ‘Stop in the name of love’ and ‘Blue Moon’.

And the live band did a fabulous job of keeping things in motion. Benji Lord, Joe Sterling, Rob Gathercole, Sheridan Lloyd, Daniel Kofi and Alan Howell gave a polished performance with plenty of camaraderie.

And Chloe Edwards-Wood and Lauren Chinery played the saxophone when they weren’t busy dancing.

60s heartthrob Mark Wynter also made an appearance as Laura’s manager/agent. He dazzled the crowd with a medley of his old songs, including his most well-known number, ‘Venus In Blue Jeans’.

But the Eurovision ‘show within a show’ added little to the night – it seemed to drag on longer than necessary and it detracted from what was otherwise a fun and fast-paced show.

However, a Kenneth Williams impression, by Mark Benson, made Blackpool carry on howling with laughter.

The third instalment of the Dreamboats and Petticoats series was less rock & roll than the first one, but it definitely brought the good times back to Blackpool.