CHICAGO (WLS) — The Kinks were an electrifying group that exploded in the British music invasion of the sixties.

“Sunny Afternoon” is a dynamic show about the band now on-stage at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. It’s getting rave reviews.

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Actor Danny Horn talked about playing the legendary Ray Davies, the leader of the roaring pack.

“They were chaotic; they weren’t well-behaved. They couldn’t be told what they were supposed to do,” Horn said. “Songs like ‘You Really Got Me’ were the birth of heavy metal. No one ever heard a guitar sound like that; they slashed their amp. We do it in the show to get that distorted guitar effect.”

Ray Davies guided the first production of “Sunny Afternoon” in London a decade ago.

This is the North American debut, and Horn returns in the starring role.

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“(Davies) took me under his wing as a mini version of him,” Horn said. “He’s not your traditional rockstar; he’s very insular. Where most people want to go out and drink and find groupies and things, Ray wanted to stay in and write and focus.”

The actor has a band named after himself, but this role is a constant challenge.

“I play the lead vocal in 26 songs, and also it’s a big dramatic play. But, all of that said, it’s the greatest part I’ve ever had,” Horn said. “There’s been a huge amount of focus and attention to detail to make sure every guitar, every drum, every base, every amplifier is period-specific. When you listen to these songs in this theater, you are hearing what it would have sounded like to hear The Kinks 60 years ago. They’ve got the weirdest songs, the weirdest characters. They have this early punk feel to them because they just pushed away every authority that ever came near them.”

Horn said people who didn’t know The Kinks will come away as lifelong fans.

“And people who come as huge Kinks fans are going to have an incredibly nostalgic moment of time travel, where they feel young again,” Horn said. “This is the way of celebrating this great band, this great strange bunch of misfits who made incredible music and had a great story to go along with it.”

“Sunny Afternoon” is at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater through April 27.

The title comes from a Kinks hit about an Englishman who lost his fortune, but he’s still got his “ice cold beer in the summertime.”