London Mirror review for
"Great Balls of Fire!"

Copyright 1999 MGN Ltd.

The Mirror

October 15, 1999, Friday

THEATRE: KILLER PUNCH FROM A ROCK ‘N’ ROLL LEGEND

by Tony Purnell

Billy Geraghty sets the piano and stage alight as Jerry Lee Lewis in GREAT BALLS OF FIRE at the Cambridge Theatre. The flames may be fake but the excitement is real when he hits the ivories as the American rock ‘n’ roller they call The Killer. Bruce Welch of The Shadows swore it was just like watching the real thing.

The musical is more than just another excuse for a ‘50s pop concert. It traces the rise and fall of the boy from the Bible Belt whose private life was as wild as his piano playing. A tour of England was cancelled after just three concerts when the newspapers discovered he had bigamously married his 13-year-old cousin Myra. His career took a dive and he hit the bottle - but he picked himself up, dusted himself down and reinvented himself as a country and western star.

Geraghty has a real ball. He belts out the hits, and in the spectacular finale he bangs the keyboard with his fists, his backside and his feet until it is not only his blond wig that is all shook up - so is the audience. The Killer knocks ‘em dead.

GREAT BALLS OF FIRE
Cambridge Theatre, Earlham St, WC2 (0171 494 5080)