They were the most English of British Invasion bands. While other English musicians adopted American styles and turned their backs on their own musical traditions, the Kinks doubled down, writing distinctly English songs about topics like Queen Victoria, village greens, steam-powered trains, their North London neighborhood of Muswell Hill, and sunsets seen from London's Waterloo station.
The North American premiere of Sunny Afternoon, the jukebox musical at Chicago Shakespeare, is based on Ray Davies’ original story, music, and lyrics and written by Joe Penhall. The cast features Danny Horn as lead singer and songwriter Ray Davies, Oliver Hoare as his brother lead guitarist Dave Davies, Michael Lepore as bassist Pete Quaife, and Kieran McCabe as drummer Mick Avory.
Sunny Afternoon follows the evolution of the Kinks from their early days as a band called the Ravens to their breakthrough hits and American tour. Director Edward Hall, Chicago Shakes' artistic director, says it was his intent to recreate as faithfully as possible the live sound of the Kinks in concert during their 1960s and 1970s heyday.
He has succeeded. The band is sensational.
A big part of the musical’s story is the contrast between the band members’ home lives—Davies’ parents were especially supportive––and the pressures of life on the road. The band’s first U.S. tour, for example, was an inimitable disaster. A union rep from the American Federation of Musicians demands the band pay union fees even though they are not members, essentially accusing them of making money off the backs of African Americans like so many other British Invasion musicians. Ultimately, the Kinks were banned from performing in the U.S. due to a combination of the union refusing to issue them permits to appear in concert and their own rowdy behavior—fisticuffs ensue onstage, for example––all of this ironic given Davies’ openly socialist beliefs.
The Kinks wrote hit after hit, great song after great song. Their earlier works were crafted in a distinctly American style, enabling them to appeal to a wider audience. During the recording of “You Really Got Me,” for example, Ray pushed for a rawer and louder sound. “It’s too civilized,” he initially tells his bandmates before their rendition of the song explodes onstage in an aural onslaught. The band soon began incorporating social commentary into their music, with Davies writing character studies and addressing class issues in songs like “A Well Respected Man,” “Dedicated Follower of Fashion,” and the satirical “Sunny Afternoon.” The perennial crowd-pleaser “Lola” has lyrics so prescient that has become surprisingly relevant (“I know what I am and I’m glad I’m a man, and so is Lola”).
The performers are terrific and their renditions of the 30 or so songs is first-rate. Danny Horn is outstanding as Ray Davies, a melancholy figure stuck in an oppressive business he can’t get out of, as is Oliver Hoare as his showboat of a hothead brother Dave Davies. Ray, who we are told, “thinks in song,” is more comfortable writing lyrics and living in his head than dealing with the pressures of being in a successful band. “I can’t switch off,” he says. At one point Ray complains the life of a rock star is like working in a factory. But they refuse to conform. When Davies is told that he needs to get his teeth fixed, he replies, “They may be ugly but at least they’re real.”
Some of the characters, though, are barely more than caricatures, especially their annoyingly obnoxious manager, Allen Klein (he would eventually go on to also manage the Beatles and the Rolling Stones), and a Chicago cab driver, waving a gun as the band recoils in shock and, thus, reinforcing their misgivings about touring the States. When Ray objects to going to America because he doesn’t want to get shot, the audience applauds as if in response.
As stories go, it is a familiar tale of musical ups and downs and not a particularly memorable one but what does stick is its themes of identity, belonging, and staying true to oneself. It is also great fun. By the conclusion, we see the Kinks in concert, years later, making their triumphant return to the U.S. at Madison Square Garden. By that time the audience was on their feet singing along to “Lola,” a fitting way to end the evening to this most singular of bands.
To paraphrase one of their songs, the Kinks were never quite like anybody else.
Sunny Afternoon runs through April 27 in the Yard at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 800 E Grand Ave on Navy Pier. Running time is 2.5 hours. For tickets and more information, see www.chicagoshakes.com/sunnyafternoon.
For more information on this and other productions, see theatreinchicago.com.
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