Danny Horn and company in Sunny Afternoon [Manuel Harlan]

PREMIERING at Hampstead Theatre in 2014, Edward Hall’s award-winning jukebox musical about the Kinks – with music and lyrics by Ray Davies – is back on tour.

Sunny Afternoon follows Ray (Danny Horn), his younger brother Dave (Oliver Hoare), drummer Mick Avory (Zakairie Stokes) and bassist Peter Quaife (Harry Curley) through their meteoric rise to fame.

Joe Penhall’s book captures the band’s early success in the 1960s, and their battle with the men in suits who tried to control their look, their sound, and extract a hefty percentage of their earnings.

Dave was still a teenager when they began touring, and we watch his headstrong response to sudden fame and fortune, while Ray is pushed into adult responsibility early, marrying Rasa (Lisa Wright), his sweetheart and occasional backing singer, after she falls pregnant.

The second half explores their turbulent time in the United States, where exploitation was rife and the band nearly ruptured under the pressures of touring.

Throughout, we’re teased with the opening bars of the Kinks’ best-known songs and are treated to an a cappella Days and a haunting Stop Your Sobbing. Eventually, we’re given You Really Got Me, Lola and All Day and All of the Night in their full, unadulterated glory.

It’s a tour de force of performances and musicianship, supported by Adam Cooper’s infectious choreography and Miriam Buether’s versatile set.

There’s something particularly special about seeing the show at Alexandra Palace, a stone’s throw from where the brothers grew up in Muswell Hill.

Catch it while you can.

Until January 31 and then on tour
thekinksmusical.com/