The Bodyguard: The Musical is entertaining audiences in His Majesty's Theatre this week.
This is the story of global superstar Rachel Marron (Jennlee Shallow) who finds herself with a deadly stalker at the peak of her career and is reliant on her new bodyguard Frank Farmer (Benoit Marechal) to protect herself and her family, punctuated with the songs of Whitney Houston.
While the storyline has all the makings of a great crime story, the intricacies are glossed over and it has instead been written as a tale of romance ensuring its place as a classic chick flick.
There are a few times as the story progresses which rely on the audience accepting what's happening on the stage without question, such as going from 'I don't want you in my life' to 'take me on a date' in mere seconds with no apparent reason for such a sudden change in attitude.
As the central character, Shallow seemed to struggle in commanding the stage and I felt that, although clearly a talented singer, she lacked the superstar presence one would expect from somebody playing one of the world's biggest popstars.
On the contrary, Micha Richardson who played Rachel's sister Nicki had no problem commanding the attention of the audience and seemed to display greater depth and range as both an actress and a singer.
It is unclear whether this imbalance in roles was due to poor or clever casting choices – was this a display of the two actresses abilities or was it an intentional acting choice to highlight the vulnerability and isolation of Rachel in comparison to the 'trying to escape her sister's shadow' Nicki?
While I feel it may be the former I am desperate to believe it was in fact the latter.
All of the male roles seemed to be filled perfectly, with Marechal doing a great job as the very professional bodyguard.
Young Fletcher, Rachel's son, is definitely one of the stars of the show.
The talented singers managed to avoid the ever-present risk of making the soundtrack sound like a Whitney Houston karaoke night, and for that alone everyone on the stage deserves an extra round of applause.
The set pieces have been cleverly designed to effortlessly shift the audience from scene to scene without hesitation, and give off the appearance of being incredibly simple despite obviously being well thought through and highly technical.
As well as the general scene setting pieces, there are a number of clever set designs and effects used which had real flare and pizzazz to Rachel's performances from the moment the curtain rises.
While The Bodyguard is riddled with opportunities to be something more intellectually stimulating, it provides a great night of entertainment as a love story that doesn't require too much thought – which many will find absolutely perfect for this time of year - and rightfully earned the standing ovation which came at the end of the night.
The Bodyguard: The Musical is in Aberdeen until Saturday, November 9, and for more information and tickets you can visit www.aberdeenperformingarts.com or pop into the Box Office in His Majesty's Theatre.
