Featured Post

Brief awakenings: White Rose The Musical @MaryleboneTHLDN

Image
A fascinating and daring act of defiance in Nazi Germany by a group of university students in Munich is given a slightly perplexing rock musical treatment in White Rose, the musical. Something seems amiss in this earnest and occasionally tuneful show. It lags more than it inspires, which is surprising given the tragic and compelling history of the real-life characters the show depicts. Given that young people are increasingly likely to vote for far-right parties across Europe, it’s an opportunity to look at a time when they had a different perspective on the future. Perhaps something has been lost in the translation or the larger space of the Marylebone Theatre where it plays.  The White Rose were a group of university students in Munich who sought to undermine the Third Reich through publication of a series of pamphlets urging passive resistance to the Nazi regime. Over a brief period between June 1942 and February 1943, they distributed their pamphlets across campus using ...

Theatre: Cabaret

It is a rare theatrical experience when somebody sitting next to you, who you have just met, gets up at the intermission and declares to you and all around "This is SHIT!" But that's what happened Wednesday night when I saw a preview of Cabaret. He left at that point but later on I heard another audience member mutter about who the lead actress must have slept with to get the role… Everyone knew they were in the presence of a megabomb. What can you say about a production where when the Emcee asks, "Where are your troubles now?" somebody in the audience calls out "In Islington!" I'm not quite sure what that meant but it was one of the few laughs of the evening.

It is odd really, as a few years ago I saw an excellent Australian production of the Sam Mendes version that was exciting, well acted, well sung, fast paced and interesting. Tonight had none of this. Rufus Norris as director managed to
  • Take a number of talented actors and squeeze incredibly mediocre performances out of them.

  • Add a few bits of nudity that didn't make any sense and also looked dull. By the time the finale came and the cast were again stripping down you could hear the sighs in the audience...

  • Add large dildos fashioned out of pantyhose and fake tits for various unknown reasons.

  • Add songs that were even cut from the original production (there was good reason why "I don't care much" didn't make it).
The production designer, working on must have been a £50 budget covered everything with a purple velvet which looked dull and cheap even from the second row. The costumes, when they weren't just a bit of minge, testicles and pimpled buttocks, also looked like they had been purchased from RoB and would have looked better off in a fetish bar.

As for the cast, Anna Maxwell Martin as Sally Bowles was a little bit too talentless and irritating. When the Nazis came to beat up Cliff I was hoping that they would also get Sally too. Alas they didn't so she did get to sing the finale. It wasn't pretty. James Dreyfus as the Emcee could sing, but not really any of the music as we know it. He was a pretty bland Emcee. Sheila Hancock also featured in the show too but was she any good? No. I guess even theatre royalty needs to work, what would do? Kander and Ebb's music didn't stand a chance alas. My nomination for this season's worst musical.

Popular posts from this blog

Opera and full frontal nudity: Rigoletto

Image
David McVicar's oddly modern production of Rigoletto is back at the Royal Opera House . This modern and minimalist dark production has evolved over the years. It is better lit now but there is still an orgy and full frontal nudity within the first thirty minutes. This enables anyone not in the stalls an excellent view of a flaccid penis and a nicely shaved bush. But as time goes it seems more and more superfluous to the main focus of this tragedy of a court jester who seeks revenge. Here is hoping that the production continues to evolve... Conductor John Eliot Gardiner keeps the music well paced. Dimitri Platanias in the title role sounded great and received a rapturous applause for his interpretation of the role. You get a sense more of the doting father rather than the court jester or cursed man here. Vittorio Grigolo plays the Duke and sounds too lovely to be the cad the role calls for, but it is hard not to like when he is on stage anyway. And it is easier to understan...
Read more...

Fantasies: Afterglow @Swkplay

Image
Nowadays no self-respecting gay play can be staged without full frontal nudity of some kind. It feels like the default response for the modern gay play now that gay rights are no longer an issue .   Afterglow, currently playing at Southwark Playhouse , serves it up in spades. From the beginning, three men are in a bed, naked. There’s what appears to be a very brief exhalation of ecstasy, before the obligatory rush to the shower. But the gratuitous nudity and excellent performances can’t conceal this is a pretty conventional and predictable story about a fantasy couple.  The three men in the simultaneous orgasm at the start of the piece are Josh, Alex and Darius. Josh and Alex seem to live in a New York world where they can afford a rooftop apartment in Manhattan while holding jobs as a theatre director and a grad student in chemistry. As writer S. Asher Gelman based it on his own experiences, perhaps gay plays with full frontal nudity are the way to achieve financial ...
Read more...

Play ball: Damn Yankees @LandorTheatre

Image
Damn Yankees at the Landor Theatre is one hell of a fun, sexy show. A great cast of dancers and singers give this show about a man who sells his soul to get on his beloved baseball team (and give them a chance of winning) new legs and balls. It also helps to up the ante with the sexiness with some healthy doses of cleavage and legs (and that's just the men). The musical is a retelling of the Faust story set in the 1950s when the New York Yankees dominated the game.
Read more...