The One Direction Story

The word ‘musical’ is curiously absent from the publicity material around this new, unofficial show about the popular boyband. Nonetheless, we’re promised a frankly mind-boggling 21 1D songs over the course of this ‘engaging and interactive show that will appeal to the whole family’. Perhaps the absence of the ‘m’ word is acknowledgement of the fact it’s a less lavish affair than most musicals, which are developed over years and aim to run in the West End for aeons. ‘The One Direction Story’, by contrast, runs for seven performances only, crammed into three days during half term. It looks, er, pretty cheap and cheerful all things told, but with Harry and the boys about to go on hiatus, it’s about as close as you’ll get to seeing them in concert if you missed their O2 shows last month (and even if you’ve caught them, it’s the only place you’re going to see the band play with Zayn, or at least a bloke playing Zayn).