We're totally Tutti Frutti

Byrne's hilarious comic opus charted the fortunes of the Majestics, the Scottish Kings Of Rock'. There's nothing like live theatre plus live music

TUTTI Frutti is now produced as a theatre musical by the National Theatre of Scotland. Twenty years on, John Byrne's characters have been re-cast. And audiences have the chance to see Byrne's black comedy on stage. The writer describes his reaction when the NTS approached him with the idea of adapting Tutti Frutti. "My first reaction was one of surprise, closely followed by delight," he says. "I'd had foreboding - groundless I have to say - that anything with the qualifying National' in front of it would have hoary old worthies out of the archives, blow the cobwebs off and trot them creakily out on to the stage of some high school in Edinburgh. How wrong can you be." It wasn't an easy task to take six hours and ten minutes of TV drama and transform it into two hours of theatre. However, Byrne argues the new form has it's pluses. "What audiences can look forward to in the stage production is a more immediate group of narrative - multi-stranded, as it is- things come quicker and faster and, with luck, they'll be on the edge of their seats from the off." "What they will also get is the advantage of hearing a rock band perform live. "Rock n' Roll will never die sang Danny and the Juniors all those years ago - and there's still nobody today who can hold a candle to Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry, Little Richard et al. "So, although the world has gone through something of a sea change in the intervening years, the authentic voice of rock, particularly when it's live, still sends a shiver down the spine. "There's nothing like live theatre plus live music - played and sung by the actors playing the characters." Byrne is clearly excited about working on Tutti Frutti again. "I've loved the whole process of reworking it, and re-writing it to a marked degree, then the rehearsals and being challenged by director Tony Cownie. "It's the first time we've worked together to produce even better goods' than I thought possible. A real joy." Tutti Frutti is one of the highlights of the NTS's inaugural programme. John Byrne's theatre musical is particularly apposite given the characters are so Scottish.

"Well, I only know, or think I know, ie, have a rough idea of what makes me tick - and I'm Scottish. "I know what it's like to live in this particular culture - it's what makes me laugh and it's what moves me. "It's what comes up out of the ground and makes you. And you don't get it anywhere else which is why I'm here. "We become Americanised' at our peril. There's damn all in the generic."

And it's a story viewers could connect with, a band who were survivors of the 60 beat boom - and desperate to keep going.

But there is a real problem to overcome.

The band are about to embark on their silver jubilee tour when lead singer, Big Jazza, drops dead.

His younger brother Danny McGlone, (Robbie Coltrane), home from New York for the funeral, reacquaints himself with the band and is asked to replace his brother.

But Danny is unenthusiastic about fronting a band that is at best a footnote to the history of the music scene.

Under pressure, he relents, agrees to deputise for his late brother and the tour goes ahead.

But not without difficulty.

The series highlighted perfectly the greatest of rock n'roll illnesses - inflated ego, which usually results in bands imploding.

The Majestics' final dispiriting tour of Scotland's less salubrious clubs and pubs is punctuated by childish backstage squabbling and a series of personal disasters.

While on one level this band of rock n'roll brothers were desperate to keep the dream alive, the story becomes one of a disintegrating band's final tour.

However, what makes the programme such a joy is its deeper focus on a group of failed and delusional men and the women who love and support them, despite their obvious failures.

Also in the picture is Danny's old flame, Suzi Kettles, (Emma Thompson) a streetwise waitress with a series of sharp one-liners who can pick up the guitar; she too joins the band and then their fortunes take a turn for the better.

And while Robbie Coltrane may have been rotund, women found him sexy. Danny and Suzi's fractious romance is played out against a background of funny, dramatic and touching scenes as she takes the stage for their final shows.

Adding to the heady brew was the wonderful Richard Wilson as the Majestics' hilariously dour manager Eddie Clockerty (almost a proto-type Victor Meldrew), and Katy Murphy as his nippy-sweety secretary, Janis Toner.

There are also several standout comedy moments, such as Big Jazza's police record inadvertently saving his brother from arrest when Kettles's violent husband identifies McGlone as his attacker; only to be told that the person whose photograph he's picked from their volumes of mug shots is dead.

And there is continual conflict. Danny's disdain for the project is played out in a series of rancorous squabbles with The Majestics' original members, especially guitarist Vincent Diver (Maurice Roeves), whose pregnant, young girlfriend comes on the tour.

The drama turns to despair when we learn of the suicide of Diver's girlfriend and the revelation that she wasn't pregnant after all.

This is comedy at its darkest. Which Scots love. We just know that nothing can save the band from its path of slow self-destruction, which drives manager Clockerty to ever-higher levels of frantic despair, much to the frustration of his secretary/girlfriend.

The TV comedy-drama featured dazzling dialogue and knock-out performances from the likes of Stuart McGugan as Bomba MacAteer, Jake D'Arcy as Fud O'Donnell and Ron Donachie who played Dennis Sproul. it's a tough act to follow, but the live show has uncovered a star...

How do the performances of the TV Tutti Frutti compare with the stage production?

It's almost unfair to pose the question.

There's no doubt that Robbie Coltrane, Emma Thompson, Richard Wilson and Katy Murphy helped create iconic characters. And such was their success, each of the actors went on to find fame.

The performances from the likes of Maurice Roeves and Ron Donachie weren't missed either.

But in one sense, the stage performers face a greater test - and not just from comparison.

The actors have to play live.

"Their covers of all the great rock n' roll classics are on occasion superior to the original," says John Byrne.

"We have a great drummer in Bomba (John McGlynn) solid bass from Fud (Barry Hunter)."

And in Tom Urie the NTS have uncovered a star. Urie, a key figure in the Karen Dunbar Show, was a musician before he became an actor.

He can play keyboards, guitar and he can sing. Meanwhile, the new Vincent - Tam Dean Burn of River City fame - offers up a great version of Love Hurts.

Watch out too for the new Suzi, in the form of Monarch of the Glen and Sea of Souls, actor Dawn Steele.

The cast is one of the best to have assembled on a Scottish stage. The hugely talented Gavin Mitchell (Still Game) appears as Lachie, John Ramage takes on Richard Wilson's role as Eddie Clokerty.

Alan McHugh appears as Stuart, Kenny Brians is Dennis, Therese Bradley, Noreen and Helen Mallon stars as Vincent's girlfriend, Glenna. Tutti Frutti, King's Theatre, April 12-21.