The Jersey Boys was a big prediction of mine – after seeing the show I said, “cruise ship” and within no time, there were groups of lads doing the songs on ships. I predict there will be Temptations’ groups at sea soon as both are cruise ship shows. Mind, I said the same about Bat Out Of Hell … a slightly more complex show so maybe not. However, the Temptations songs are easy to do and would easily fit two 45-minute shows.

So, I sent the shots over to my good buddy and cruise hit Motown History speaker and singer Steve Simone, we chatted about the two songs that didn’t seem to fit in the show (you can spot them, but they are wrong).

Everything about entertainment is about money as I say in my lectures, and I do think that many shows are designed to have the rights sold off so the creators can make money on someone else doing the show, whether amateur productions or the many, many cruise ships, who all must pay.

It pays to produce an easy-on-the-ear show that the cast can be interchanged easily and can be recreated. That is a polite way of saying the show was a crowd-pleaser and had less drama and grit than I would have liked. A little like the recent Whitney Houston film which was effectively a cleaned-up version of the story and came over as a pop concert rather than a movie. A musical can be that, but I felt both the film and this show lacking, especially in the first hour. Otis and the David Ruffin players stood out, though all the cast were good as were the songs. It will make a great 45-minute music show, so, as I predict, it will be a great cruise ship show. Steve Simone, if you have not seen him, he does several shows on the history of Motown. I must interview him one day, but as they say, we are like ships in the night, passing each other at sea and not very often on the same ship.

However, how fast will the future come, because the Abba show Voyage leaves everything in its wake, and it would be an easy show to sell to ships as technology advances. Abba, is the act Abba, playing live. Holograms, just like the originals; playing live. Paul McCartney is rumoured to be doing a Beatles version, and then there will be loads. Abba blog and film – here