Toomorrow - it's more like yesterday
DISMISSING the abortive attempts over the last ten years at producing a pop-musical and recalling the acceptable memories of Help, A Hard Day’s Night, G.I. Blues, Summer Holiday’ and ‘The Young Ones, one would think that some kind of standards had been set.
But apparently not, for the people concerned in the production of the Toomorrow” film (London Pavilion) are definitely not in touch with what is happening today, let alone tomorrow.
Pitiful
Indeed, it should have been called Yesterday, as everything appears so dated. The pitiful attempts to fuse such “trendy” incidents as a student sit-in and a pop festival at the Roundhouse (complete with screaming fans) becomes absurd.
This also applies to the rather vague plot, which concerns some body-stocking spacemen who, after studying our planet for 3,000 years, discover that the ineffectual bubblegum sounds emitted by Toomorrow are the only antidote to their immediate survival.
When it comes to the script, it’s a marvel as to how the group managed to deliver their lines without collapsing into fits of laugher. (eg) “She’s a groovy girl who digs big beat” (wowie-zowie).
So what about the foursome who go to make up the group Toomorrow? Ben Thomas breathes heavily and tries to date every girl in sight, while Vic Cooper wisely plays it for laughs. Olivia Newton-John proves that she’s got nice legs (the other parts of her are quite acceptable too) and your token Negro, Karl Chambers, who has since quit the group, tries extremely hard to make the most of his hip, cliche-ridden role.
Nondescript
The score, core, which includes songs by Ritchie Adams and Mark Barkan, plus incidental music by Hugo Montenegro, is quite nondescript, using the well-worn patterns of late ‘sixties bubblegum bop.
It is the spacemen themselves who sum the whole thing up when they ask: “Are they (Toomorrow group) known on Earth?” To which the reply comes: “Probably not, they look too clean and pleasant. They are so clean cut they’re almost unhealthy.”
By Roy Carr
Photo: In the “Toomorrow” film, two of the group of the same name, shapely OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN and heart-throb BEN THOMAS.