Review: JUST FOR ONE DAY, The Live Aid Musical

by Lynn on February 5, 2025

in The Passionate Playgoer

Live and in person at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre, Toronto, Ont. Presented by Mirvish Productions. Playing until March 15, 2025.

www.mirvish.com

Book by John O’Farrell

Directed by Luke Sheppard

Choreography by Ebony Molina

Set by Soutra Gilmour

Costumes by Faith Fullerton

Lighting by Howard Hudson

Sound by Gareth Owen

Video and projection design by Andrzej Goulding

Musical director, Patrick Hurley

Music supervisor, arrangements and orchestrations by Matthew Brind

Cast: Kelly Agbowu

Julie Atherton

Jason Battersby

Jordan Cambridge-Taylor

Eloise Davies

Craig Els

James Hameed

Fayth Ifil

Melissa Jacques

Hope Kenna

AJ Lewis

Freddie Love

Tim Mahendran

Rhianne-Louise McCaulsky

Emily Ooi

Ashley Samuels

Sadie-Jean Shirley

Jake Small

Jack Michael Stacey

Tamara Tare

George Ure

A raucous and energetic show about the improbable success of the Band Aid Single and the Live Aid Concert to fight famine in Ethiopia.

The Story. Just for One Day, The Live Aid Musical is the story of what happens when the man with the idea, Bob Geldof, won’t take no for an answer. Rocker, Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats, was galvanized to political action when he saw the horrific photos of starvation in Ethiopia in 1984. Part of that political awakening was a documentary created by the CBC.

Geldof thought that if he got the best rock bands in the world to record a song, the proceeds could go to Ethiopia to feed the starving. Band Aid was the result. Simple. When he was told that no food was getting through because of corruption of the country and the cartels that controlled the ports etc. Geldof needed more money to buy boats, trucks and all that was needed to circumvent the corruption. The Live Aid Concert was the result—a concert on two continents with the worlds best bands and musicians, televised globally. And it had to be done in less than a month. Simple.

The Production. The Band Aid recording (1984) of “Do They Know It’s Christmas” and the Live Aid Concert (1985) in both London, Eng. and Philadelphia, PA are at the center of Just for One Day, The Live Aid Musical, but they are framed by flashbacks and nostalgia.

In John O’Farrell’s book of the show, Suzanne (Melissa Jacques) is helping her daughter Jemma (Fayth Ifil) prepare to go to university. Suzanne finds her copy of “Do They Know It’s Christmas” and her program from the Live Aid Concert. The events changed the then young Suzanne’s life and awakened her political activism regarding famine relief. As Suzanne, Melissa Jacques is impassioned, compassionate and understanding towards her daughter Jemma. Jemma looks on her mother’s nostalgia for the 1980s and that concert, as quaint. In fact, she tells her mother she will be studying the 1980s in her history class. This gives Suzanne a bit of a twinge.

The story alternates between the present and the 1980s when young Suzanne’s political and social awareness was raised because of Band Aid and Live Aid. And at the center of the 1980s portion of the story and production is Bob Geldof (Craig Els), late of the Boomtown Rats and the mover and shaker behind the record recording and the Live Aid concert.

Geldof was/is a stubborn man who would not take ‘no’ for an answer when he thought up an impossible idea for the record recording or the huge concert to be arranged in less than a month. “Impossible” is a word that gets him all riled up and motivated. As Geldof, Craig Els, is lanky, bristling with laid-back attitude, charming, combative and a force.  Geldof was not above lying to get what he wanted or to fool people into thinking he had the greatest artists on board for all this. History shows it worked. Geldof was also able to handle the formidable Margaret Thatcher (a wonderfully starchy Julie Atherton) when Geldof wanted Thatcher to return the tax on charities.  The power of one person wanting to change the world is incalculable. Craig Els certainly realized the formidable power of Geldof when the urgency was desperate during the concert, to get the people to ‘donate your f__cking money!”

Director Luke Sheppard has created a vibrant, explosively lively production that realizes the energy, commitment and importance of the endeavor. Often Andrzej Goulding’s video and projection design notes what group is singing. Often a projection of the actual singers at the concert is placed on the back wall as the cast reenacted that singer in performance. I thought the production could have used more of those projections to established who was singing in the production and actually at the time of the concert.

Luke Sheppard is no stranger to Toronto audiences—he directed &Juliet which will be returning to Toronto for its own sit-down production later in 2025 as part of the Mirvish season.

Soutra Gilmour’s set of bleachers is simple and efficient. The cast sits on the bleachers with the powerful and loud band positioned above them. Ebony Molina’s choreography is explosively energetic with the cast of singers/dancers jumping off the bleachers to gyrate and sing the notable songs from those bands that participated in the recording or concert: “I’m Still Standing,” “We Are the Champions,” “Let it Be.” When the whole audience joined in to “Let It Be”, especially Louise Pitre behind me, it was quite thrilling.

Howard Hudson’s lighting is worthy of any rock concert: beams of light blinding out to the audience, flashing and circling the stage, streaming to the far corners of the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre.

Gareth Owen’s sound design for the production is worthy of any huge open-air concert venue like Wembley Stadium, that accommodated 80,000 people for the Live Aid Concert. Of course, Just for One Day, The Live Aid Musical, isn’t playing in a huge open-air venue. It’s playing in a closed theatre with a capacity of approximately 2000, so the blaring sound is ear-splitting. One can’t make out the lyrics for the (internal-organ-shifting) throbbing of the bass. the bashing of the drums and the over-amplification of everybody. Of course, if one was around in the 80s they knew the lyrics by heart. The blaring sound for musicals is always a problem. One wonders, ‘do you want us to actually hear this important story and its music, or don’t you? Would anything be lost if the sound was palatable and NOT sphincter-tightening?

Comment.  Rather than show the split between the generations, John O’Farrell gradually brought Suzanne and her daughter Jemma closer together.  Jemma realized the importance of her mother’s commitment to doing good through the time of the concert and Band Aid. Jemma was galvanized to carry on that social commitment in her own way, one generation passing on doing good to the next generation.

Just for One Day, The Live Aid Musical, illuminates the power of the individual driven to make change, no matter how unlikely. Because Bob Geldof would not accept “no” or “that’s impossible” he did change the world and fed the starving in Ethiopia. The result is The Band Aid Charitable Trust. All the moneys the trust garners from ticket sales of Just for One Day, The Live Aid Musical, go directly to its charitable activities. Bravo and fitting.

Mirvish Productions presents:

Plays until March 15, 2025.

Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes (1 intermission)

www.mirvish.com

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