Naughty Numbers: Songs We Shouldn't Sing. Riverhead Theatre, Louth. 20 August 2026

Louth Playgoers has an excellent reputation for producing musicals of a high calibre and every year they also showcase their abundance of talent through Summer and Christmas musical revues. This year's Summer offering is the rather raunchy, Naughty Numbers: Songs We Shouldn't Sing. The title tells you everything you need to know. The society has chosen to perform a series of songs that may be rather dubious in nature given the contents or rather saucy with an array of racy costumes, grinding and and gyrating dance routines and occasionally NSFW material!

This year, Jamie Harris is joined by producer and choreographer Georgia Pearson and Musical Director Jack Pudsey, to bring audiences a sensational show that might just cause granny to spit out her tea or to spill her pearls. The show is very funny, rather than tasteless with most routines being performed tongue in cheek but there is such a wide range of musical material mined, that audiences will be delighted. Of course, there are one or two songs that will make viewers squirm and even outrage them, but its all done in the name of entertainment.

The show begins with the opening number from Miss Saigon with the brothel number, The Heat Is On as various prostitutes vie for the prize of being Miss Saigon - won by a lucky GI for a pittance in a lottery. it is a strong opener and helps to set the scene for what to expect from the Louth Playgoers as the costumes are colourful and in some cases, very revealing. The opener is followed by a terrific number from Tick, Tick Boom! entitled Green, Green Dress, performed with real energy by Sophie Browne and Will Clarke. The number sizzles as the two crawl across the stage in time with the tempo of the song.

Will Clarke also returned to lead the company in a performance of Sweet Transvestite from The Rocky Horror Show, replete with feather boa (shedding as all feather boas do!). A show like Naughty Numbers simply wouldn't be a show without songs from tis classic sci-fi spoof and anyone attending would expect to see this particular number as Clarke stalks and prowls across the stage, camping it up, though sadly, not in fishnets and heels as one might expect.

One unusual choice of song is the number Ja, Ja Ding Dong from Eurovision: The Movie performed wit great humour and a deadpan delivery by Mark Thompson and Abbie Dixon. Kudos for the addition of the baby in a harness wearing ear defenders - a great nod to the film itself.

In something of a change of pace, I really enjoyed Take Me or Leave Me from Rent, sung by Evangeline Pinner and Chantelle Gill. The delivery was fabulous and the use of physical levels in the staging, really helped to make this confident performance stand out as Pinner and Gill both climbed on a rather precarious table in heels during the number, again a hark bark to the movie choreography from Rent but becoming very much it's own in this show.

It was a pleasure to see Stan Fillery perform You Won't Succeed on Broadway from Spamalot. Fillery delivers the number with panache and there are some lovely Easter eggs in the costuming of the chorus in this number with nods to lots of other musicals.

Natasha Connor is always a strong and confident performer and everything she performs in this show is of teh highest standard, with her solo of Dance 10, Looks 3 from A Chorus Line being the absolute pinnacle of her performances as she confidently negotiates the storytelling interwoven with the performance of the song.

Living Next Door to Alice, sung by Jamie Harris and Kev Campbell, is also a surprising choice for the show but it is the naughtier version that brought life back to the song years after it's original success that the ensemble delivers here. Massive respect should go to Harris and Campbell for playing the song as straight as a die while the ensemble bring chaos to the number.

A selection of numbers from Avenue Q provides an opportunity for Beth Ireland to demonstrate her powerhouse voice at its very best in the number Schadenfreude, performed with Jamie Harris. Ireland's vocals also really come into their own in the second act as well during the Burlesque sequence. Kev Campbell and Lauren Harrison give a great performance as a duo and the ensemble work of the cast on Everyone's a Little Bit Racist is excellent too.

The first act concludes with a a large chorus number from The Producers, beautifully led by Jed Spittle as the conniving Max Bialystock. defrauding unsuspecting old lady investors out of their savings in Along Came Bialy. Yet again the spectacle and the choreography work really well together.

Act Two opens with another all-out banger in A Bag of Weed, from Family Guy, led by Chantelle Gill and Abbie Johnson. The song will rouse the audience and successfully remind them what they have come to see.

Then, Lauren Harrison performs the demanding Lullaby, originally a song for a male by Tim Minchin. Harrison plays the role of a young mother singing to her child and let's leave it at that for the moment until you see the show. But Harrison does a great job of selling the song and bringing some relatable emotions out wit great humour.

I particularly enjoyed the trio performing The Negative from Waitress. Georgia Pearson and Ruby Hall provided great support to Charlotte Bowles, who really sold the emotion and the hesitancy of the main character in the song. All in all, it was a charming, quirky performance to be savoured.

The ensemble sizzled in corsets and fishnet tights during the numbers from Burlesque led admirably by Sarah Leggatt, offering some spectacle to the show in contrast to the prior solo by Abbie Johnson who had the difficult task of selling Toucha Toucha Touch Me, from The Rocky Horror Show, alone on stage and yet drew the audience in perfectly with her delivery and commitment.

I ought to mention the comedic songs performed by Louise Ray in both acts as she performed numbers by Fascinating Aida. In Act One Ray performed Dogging and in Act Two, along with Sophie Browne and Charlotte Bowles gave a memorable performance of Cheap Tickets. Ray simply owned the stage as she performed each song dryly, with great wit and assurance. She totally understood the assignment and delivered.

Another performer with a voice to melt the heart is Ben Gilbert, his two standout songs both came in Act Two and were both performed with Chantelle Gill. Say No To This from Hamilton and As Long As You're Mine from Wicked were excellent, with the latter edging it for me and my taste in musical theatre.

Kev Campbell delivers a smooth performance of his number in Act Two, giving off Michael Bublé vibes in his black tuxedo, though I suspect the content of his solo may well divide audiences as he delivers a song by Tenacious D, which I won't name here for decency's sake!

Evangeline Pinner reminds everyone why she is an excellent choice for a leading lady in a musical with her powerhouse performance of All I Wanna Do from Six. I loved the fact that it was a performance released from the parent show that didn't feel it need to ape the original performance or choreography and allowed Pinner to prowl the stage and to perform the number at the highest level.

El Tango De Roxanne, featured in Moulin Rouge, offered the chance to show something a little different in that it featured the talents of Annie Walker and Mark Cressey delivering a quite breathtaking dance as Jed Spittle and Will Clarke delivered the vocals for the song.

The evening wound up with a bright and bouncy number from Monty Python, Every Sperm is Sacred which will allow audience members to leave with a real smile on their face, almost certainly induced by a certain costume choice.

It is a really fun-packed evening that highlights just how much talent is at the disposal of the society in Louth and which sadly cannot all be contained within a single musical, but shows like this allow audiences to discover their new favourite musical theatre performers in the group. I am certain have been unable to do justice to every performer and apologise for not being able to name check everyone, all of your contributions work towards ensuring this show is a success and I hope it receives the sorts of audiences for each performance that it deserves. There are two performances of this sow on Saturday 22 August at 2:30 and 7:30 pm. Tickets are still available from Louth Riverhead Theatre's Box Office.

Andy Evans 21 August 2026