A selection of reviews which originally appeared between February 12-25, 1983.

Labelled with Love: Inspired by the Squeeze LP  ‘East Side Story’  opened February 1983

Lyrics and music by CHRIS DIFFORD and GLENN TILBROOK, script by JOHN TURNER  
Presented by The Combination.

Cast 

Mike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Danny John-Jules

Monica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alison Therese Limerick

Tarquin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eamonn Walker

Ernestine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trudy Porsch

Eric the Landlord  . . . . . . . . . . . Colen Marsh

Mavis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elizabeth Hepple

Directed by John Turner. 
Choreography: Greta Mendez.  
Music director: Bruce Cole.  
Decor: Kate Owen  
Lighting: Paul Carter

Sunday Telegraph – Trevor Dann

Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford have had to withstand the “new Lennon and McCartney” tag since the early days of the now defunct Squeeze. It will have proved valuable experience because they are about to be thrust into comparisons with Rice and Lloyd-Webber, Rodgers and Hammerstein, even Gilbert and Sullivan.  Supporters of Difford’s clever observations of everyday life and Tilbrook’s disarmingly catchy melodies have long hoped for something more substantial from the pair than a selection of unconnected songs on a band album.  
And now John Turner has woven the songs from the most successful – and the most cohesive – Squeeze LP, East Side Story, into a musical production called Labelled with Love, which opened last week at the delightful Albany Empire in Deptford, South London.  
The script was written and the company assembled before the two songwriters became involved, but since discovering Turner’s plans, they have thrown themselves whole-heartedly into the project, adding a couple of new songs, helping with the arrangements and the stage sound, and promoting the event . 
. . . . the enthusiasm of the company, of whom Colen Marsh as Eric the Landlord and Alison Limerick as the disillusioned cabaret singer Monica deserve special mention, just about holds the piece together.  
Personally I missed Glenn Tilbrook’s own distinctive vocal performances of the songs, but it was interesting to hear them in the context of a stage musical where Chris Difford’s gift for narrative lyrics was fully exposed.  Neither of the songwriters wants to take Labelled with Love any further . . . . but the Deptford show, which runs for another six weeks, bodes well for the future.  
Tim Rice, who knows a thing or two about musicals, was in the audience the night I went, checking out the competition.  He will not be the only writer looking over his shoulder at a theatrical career blossoming in this unlikely corner of London’s dockland.

City Limits – Dave Hill

Set in a time-warped Deptford boozer, Labelled with Love’s success as a fun piece of musical theatre is a tribute firstly to Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford’s mastery of a neglected pop style, and secondly to a vibrant cast who sing, dance and act with tremendous zest.  Alison Limerick as the embattled partner of the house band’s would-be star is particularly good.  It’s a tale of the impatience of youth, the regrets of middle age, the impact of change on both and finally, the need for people to stick together.  Sentimental?  Sure.  But who cares? A thoroughly local scene at a proudly local theatre, this East Side Story is of value to all.

Guardian – Mick Brown

Deptford is not the first place that springs to mind when you’re making a list of rock breeding grounds.  But this district of south-east London is the homeland of two of the finest British rock bands of recent years, Squeeze and Dire Straits, along with several dozen others.  It also has that authentic inner-city atmosphere – multi-racial, fast-talking, street-wise – and, even more important, a cultural centre which suits its spirit.  This is the Albany Empire, a cosy little auditorium.  With its bars and tables and predominantly local clientele, it is one of the best places in the country to enjoy popular music.  
It is impossible to separate appreciation of the venue from appreciation of what takes place in it, so I was biased in favour of the Albany’s new musical, Labelled with Love, before the lights went down.  But it was so much fun that I think I’d have liked it anywhere.  
Based on songs from the Squeeze album East Side Story, the play is a kind of local opera set in a Deptford pub.  The plot unfolds in the manner of a barroom conversation, with many non-sequiturs and abrupt changes of subject.  The featured singers, who call themselves the Long Honeymoon, spend all their time quarrelling; an ex-GI bride waxes maudlin about her wartime heyday; the barman frets about the brewers’ intention to turn the place into a disco.  
The rambling tale depends on strong characters to hold it together, and the cast of six manage it beautifully.  They include a black punk called Tarquin (Eamon Walker), a teddy-boy landlord (Colen Marsh) and Monica the singer (the impressive Alison Limerick), bursting with frustration, resentment and injured pride.  The songs and dance-numbers fit into all this in a pretty rough-and-ready way, more like “turns” than dramatic high spots, but sheer energy keeps the thing going nicely.

Time Out – John Gill

The washed-out shop signs hinting at dowdy old Deptford High Street and introductory tape of pub singalong tunes in Labelled with Love (Albany Empire) led this particular song of the, uh, Cockney diaspora to half-expect a Sid James/Peggy Mount-style working class romance.  Working class it is, with roots in WW2 and the sprawling estates, but set in the multiracial present and more and more a song-cycle-with-tableaux from Squeeze’s East Side Story than a full-blown musical.  That’s a minor criticism though, for it’s crammed with classic Difford-Tilbrook songs, but their sheer number limits the dramatic action.  The story of the pub band falling apart when their leader is lured off to the shampooey doom he mistakes for rock stardom, and the peripheral affairs, fights and reunions, will hopefully smooth away its few amateurish edges, but the energy and verve of the cast, especially the stunning song and dance routines from Alison Limerick (last seen upstaging W Sleep in Dash), Danny John-Jules (a dead ringer for No Problem’s Beastie) and Eammon Walker, more than compensate.

Posted on: 30th April 2015