When I was a child, the Bay City Rollers were big, and by big, I mean huge. They were everywhere. Five clean-cut, attractive young Scottish guys with a penchant for wearing tartan. They looked and sounded happy all the time. But, as with everything in showbusiness, did the reality reflect true life? Well, for a sneak peak behind the curtain, pop along to the Stage Door Theatre in Covent Garden where Liam Rudden’s show I Ran with the Gang is receiving its London premier.
The show covers the story of original band member Alan Longmuir (Michael Karl-Lewis) who, along with the Narrator (Lee Fanning), tells his story and relives the bands history from the first tentative practice sessions in Alan’s living room, through local gigs, choosing the band’s name to the worldwide fame and finally end of the band and afterwards. Events include his early life, training as a plumber – got to have a back-up career, just in case – meeting and hooking the band’s manager Tam Paton and, of course, Rollermania.
To my mind, I Ran with the Gang is a show full of potential with a real rags-riches-rags story concerning the ascent of one of the biggest bands on the planet, to tell. And, as far as it goes, this lived up to expectations. The problem for me was that there wasn’t enough. We zipped through the years and things were mentioned in passing but then passed over. For example, there was talk of the financial issues the band encountered as well as the relationship with Tam, both of which I wanted to know more about, but there were no details on these. And I can understand it in some ways. This show is a celebration of Alan’s life with the band, and therefore doesn’t concentrate on the negative parts of the history. Personally, I think you can’t have the good without the bad and was disappointed there wasn’t more of the story told.
The performances were all good. Karl-Lewis has a great air about him – with a winning smile – and seemed to be really enjoying playing Alan. As did Ross Jamieson, playing everything from a 13-year-old schoolgirl fan to the redoubtable Young Les McKeown with charm and enthusiasm. Lee Fanning also plays multiple roles both good guys and bad and brings his own inimitable style that shows his real flexibility as an actor.
The final part of the show was a mini–Bay City Rollers concert with the three actors treating the audience to a selection of the band’s hits with Jamieson on lead vocals. If you are a BCR fan, and the audience definitely were, then this will be one of the highlights of the night, I think. The boys really bring back memories of seeing the band on TV and getting excited by their brand of crowd pleasing, happy, poppy music
Overall, I think I Ran with the Gang was an interesting show that, for me, failed to deliver in certain respects. While Liam Rudden’s writing and the acting were good, I believe they didn’t go far enough and left me wanting a lot more. The music element at the end is something that the fans will love. Again, this is personal, but I would have loved to see the songs played as they were mentioned in the timeline of the narrative. I left the show feeling that had I been a true member of the Tartan Horde, I would have been in my element. But, while I had got to know some of Alan’s – and therefore the band’s – story, my personal hopes for the show just hadn’t been fulfilled.
Review by Terry Eastham
I Ran With The Gang tells Alan’s story, from growing up listening to Elvis as a kid, to completing his apprenticeship as a plumber and forming the band that would go on to become the global sensation known as the Bay City Rollers. The piece tells of Alan’s life before he became famous, through the hysteria of Rollermania and of how he returned to life as a ‘plumber from Edinburgh’ when the screaming stopped.
Michael Karl-Lewis – Alan Longmuir
Lee Fanning – The Narrator
Ross Jamieson – The Roller and Young Les
Written and Directed Liam Rudden
Music Programmer/Arranger Erik Grieve
Musical Director Gavin Dickson
Costumes Shiela Behler-Nitz
Sound Design Erik Grieve and Gavin Dickson
Lighting design Richard Lambert
Company Stage Manager Sabina Smith
Video Production and Creative Associate Stephen Hunter
US Producer Kathy ‘Kat’ Conner
Produced by Stageworks East West Ltd
I RAN WITH THE GANG
Stage Door Theatre
13 to 17 August 2024
Saw it. Highly embarrassed throughout. No depth to the story. BCR were yet another manufactured bubblegum boyband to make a fast buck out of pre-pubescent girls’ pocket money. Yawn. Could they even play their instruments, who wrote the songs? The long hagiographic photo montage section was excruciating. Alan may have been a nice guy but was surely no Dylan, McCartney or Hendrix. Why no photos of the band, the fans, news headlines etc to show what ‘Rollermania’ actually was? Why not just a medley of the songs which, while catchy, were all basically awful – I love you, yes I do, boo de boo’ type lyrics. I felt sorry for the actors gurning their way through this stuff. Sorry but for die-hard BCR fans only (if there are any).