Get Real: The Return! debuted in a performance by Brighton-based LGBTQ+ group Out Cast for Brighton Fringe 2026, enjoying a sell-out run. The musical follows the fortunes of hit 90s band Get Real as they attempt to get back together after their lives have taken wildly different turns, with two members performing at a run-down holiday club, one finding success as a TV talent show judge, another becoming the wife of an obscure sports star (far from the glamourous world of football), and their songwriter revelling in obscurity as an experimental electronic musician. When the key members try to put aside their many differences and attempt to write a hit musical, they must contend with the scandal that tore them apart the first time.
As in other musical comedies I’ve written, the production was gently immersive, this time with scenes addressing the audience as holiday campers watching a ‘green coats’ show, performers waiting their turn at a TV talent contest, and as a TV studio audience. They responded with enthusiasm to the talented cast, directed by Amy Bowyer with musical direction by Simon Gray, and added visual humour in the technical direction from David Mantle.
You can read more about the show here.
Scene magazine review, by Eric Page
The audience laughed often and loudly, with specific moments drawing the kind of reactions that tell you something has genuinely landed…Where the show earns its emotional weight is in how it treats the scandal at the group’s heart with enough tenderness that the reconciliation at the end feels earned rather than convenient. This is, as all good musicals understand, what the form is for.
You can read Eric’s full review here
From audience feedback via the Brighton Fringe
I laughed more than I did at Avenue Q (which was great) in the West End last week. Some of the singing was outstanding and made me cry.
A fresh, funny satire with some satirical observations and a very friendly crowd.
There is so much love in this joyous romp through camp pop.
From audience feedback given after the show
Pure joy. Sharp, nostalgic and laugh-out-loud funny, with just enough heart to catch you off guard. It doesn’t just revisit the 90s…it celebrates it in the most brilliantly chaotic way.
It’s so heartwarming. We cannot wipe the smiles off our faces!
Brilliantly unexpected and refreshingly different.
Show photographs by Phil Stacey
