Croft House Theatre Company’s The Cher Show – 24 March 2026, Lyceum Theatre
Review by Claire Taranaski.
Croft House Theatre Company’s latest show is a perfect dazzling, honest and funny celebration of the life Cher and as it’s the nearest most of us will get to seeing her live is an unmissable show for her fans and musical fans in general.
In the show the role of Cher is played by three performers who all possessed superb stage presence, chemistry and vocal ranges, Grace Hadabora as Babe (covering Cher’s childhood and the 1960s), Harriet Thompson as Lady (covering the 1970s Sonny & Cher Show era) and Tanya Tuby as Star (1980s and 1990s Cher). If like me you were new to the show you may expect them to appear one at a time in the story but instead their roles cleverly overlap often supporting each other and building their confidence in a way that will make you leave the theatre wishing you had the trio to guide you through life. Separately they were all superb but together they were superb cubed with their wonderful harmonies in the act one finale “Song For The Lonely” being a standout, before their Finale meant they all had a final chance to shine and they did. I feel like Cher would be happy for all of them to portray her.
Grace captured the childlike innocent of a girl just wanted to be loved and accepted, and performed with a genuine likeness that we all warmed to, including her beautifully innocent performance of “A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes”, before truly getting the chance to take centre stage and shine returning in the second half for the “The Beat Goes On” celebrating Cher’s Oscar achievements. Harriet captured the natural comedic skills of 1970s Cher and the feeling of wanting to make it in life and not be controlled by those around her.
Adele famously was once beaten an Adele tribute competition and based on this show Tanya could easily do the same, her performances of classic numbers like the opening “Turn Back Time” and later “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves” were vocally faultless, her star quality shone through and she maintained an incredible accent throughout whilst displaying body confidence that we can all admire. Tanya also wonderfully captured Cher’s vulnerability and heart break from Sonny’s funeral (more below) to the build up to her Broadway debut “The Way Of Love”.
Adam Walker as Sonny was his usual stand out self on stage, whilst not outshining the Chers and feeling like he had a genuine connection with all of them. He balanced perfectly why Cher would have fallen for him and remain in love with him for a long time with why he was not good for them, without falling into a bad guy stereotype. His duet of “I Got You Babe” with Babe would be almost impossible to distinguish from the real thing and when Star speaks at his 1998 funeral we shared her heartbreak.
I must also give a special mention to Caroline Fojut as Cher’s mum Georgia Holt who was the type of mum I aspire to be, and I love that the show acknowledges the importance of us mums, whilst closely reminded of me actress Kristen Schaal.
Director and choreographer Claire Harriott did an excellent job of bring the show to the stage (I imagine even the real Cher would happily have taken direction from her) including clever changes and faultlessly crisp but fun choreography throughout, with for me the ensemble routine to “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” being a standout. Whilst musical director Matthew Symonds and his 14 piece band made cleverly arranging over 30 songs from across four decades and the voices of the three Cher’s, Sonny Jamie Cooke as country singer Gregg Allman seem easy.
Behind the scenes a massive shout out must go to wardrobe manager Christine Minott and her team, not just for some of the fastest glitteriest costume changes I have ever seen, including multiple times for the whole dance ensemble but, with no costumes available to hire creating all of Cher’s memorable looks, all of the fabulous costumes from the iconic “if I Could Turn Back Time” catsuit to her unique Oscar looks. With her looks such as iconic part of what makes Cher the star she is, it was only right that these got a celebration in one of my favourite moments of the show with the mass catwalk number “Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do”, which also featured Andrew Stansall as Cher’s favourite designer Bob Mackie and Jay Bell as his assistant, both played with a flamboyant fun campiness.
John Port at Ground House Media’s back projection not only reminded the audience what we were seeing, not that we could or would want to forget, but also added to the celebration of Cher’s life with montages of fabulous photos of the star herself whilst also transporting us through her eras including into the 1960s TOTP studio; whilst lighting designer Gary Longfield brilliantly balanced the mood of the scenes with capturing the arena like lighting atmosphere of seeing Cher live in concert.
My only fault with the show was not with Croft House but with Rick Elice’s script that seems to race through the latter half of Cher’s career (with the second part of her biography out later this year this should be solved for fans) otherwise this is a musical not to be missed by fans of the legend that is Cherilyn Sarkisian La Piere Bono Allman.
