Culture
Pete Waterman tells us why you need to book your tickets to I Should Be So Lucky at the Liverpool Empire
12 months ago
The music of Stock Aitken Waterman provided the soundtrack for a generation, with hits from Kylie, Rick Astley, Jason Donovan, Bananarama and more.
Now the era defining music is making its way to the stage, in the world premiere of the official Stock Aitken Waterman musical, I Should Be So Lucky coming to the Liverpool Empire from April 15th to April 20th.
We caught up with the Hit Factoryās Pete Waterman, to discuss making a move into musical theatre, the enduring appeal of the SAW catalogue and why now is the right time to bring the songs to the stage.Ā
There must have been many people wanting to make a musical using the Stock Aitken Waterman songs over the years, why is now the right time?Ā
Iād previously worked with a couple of people on it, but I think weād never seen a story that was of any interest to us. Nobody came up with a story that we thought was emotional enough ā they are very emotional songs and I think people didnāt get that.
Working with the cast in the theatre recently took Mike (Stock) and I back to when we wrote the songs. When you hear someone do a song slightly differently, the lyrics get to you. I guess nobody before had understood why the lyrics were so poignant. Yes, they were hits, but they were more than hits to the people that bought them, they were statements, particularly for young people. Weāve always guarded that, we never wanted to spoil that memory. I think that the people we talked to in the past didnāt see the depth of the songs, they just saw that they were hits and that didnāt work for us.
Has it been a huge jump from the music industry into musical theatre?
This is a very different genre for us ā musical theatre ā itās hard work, itās one of the hardest things Iāve done in my life. My admiration for the cast is unbelievable. The hours they work and the detail they put in. The last thing you want is the writers of the music to sit in the audience frowning, but theyāve got to understand that these are our children, songs that are very special to us. Weāre writers, but weāre now also the custodians of peopleās memories, so we are touchy about how those songs are treated.
What do you think is your most successful song to date?
Thereās no question, itās āNever Gonna Give You Upā. It has taken on a life of its own. Itās easy to say that now that it has become almost legendary ā I think last year we did 400 million hits, and its 35-years on. Itās a song that got wrote on the way to work with Rick, and we didnāt take it that seriously at the time.
Youāve got to pinch yourself sometimes. Itās when you see Kylie closing the Olympics or Rick doing Glastonbury and then doing this musical, you sit there thinking, āI didnāt think Iād be doing this 40 years agoā. I thought weād do great just getting a couple of years out of it.
The production features endless hits from the Stock Aitken Waterman catalogue, such as Never Gonna Give You Up, Especially For You, and the titular I Should Be So Lucky. Do you have a favourite used within the show?
In this show thereās a couple of songs that really hit me hard about why we wrote them, because theyāre done in a different way to how we did them, and itās just beautiful. I think thatās what has struck me about this whole thing. George Dyer, the productionās musical director, what heās done is absolutely great, you sit back and think, āI never saw the song like thatā. Soniaās song, āNever Stop Me Loving Youā, I have never seen the way they do it in this musical. You just go, āWow, why didnāt I think of thatā. The musical had me in tears. Two songs, every time they play them get to me, because the lyrics are so important to us ā you instantly remember what you were going through or why you wrote that lyric. All the SAW songs are Matt, Mike and myself, spread across a canvas.
Iconic hitmaker Kylie Minogue scored her first UK number one with āI Should Be So Luckyā, and sheās also got a starring role in the musical of the same name. Whose idea was it to get Kylie involved, and what is it like to work with her again after all these years?
It was the producerās idea to get Kylie involved, and I wonāt spoil it for anybody, but it works ā I was as sceptical as the next man, but it does work quite brilliantly within the show. Iāve been so busy doing TV and other things that I couldnāt get to London to see her in rehearsals, but Iām doing a show with her soon, so weāll get to catch up then. With all your artists you never fall out with them. Because Iām that much older than all the guys I was always like their dad really ā they always treated me like their dad. If there was a problem they came to me, they didnāt go to the record company, I had to deal with all of it!
What do you hope audiences will take away from the production?Ā
I hope audiences have fun with this show. This musical couldnāt have been timed better. Weāre currently in a world thatās all over the place, I mean, we just need a bit of uplift as weāve got enough grief.Ā