[title of show] takes you back to a time before the fast paced social media where word of mouth for a positive show came from chat boards, video diaries or (god forbid) blogs. A simple staging makes it an ideal (and economical piece to stage), but it’s sweet and earnest take on just putting on a show, and putting it out there and taking a chance gives this show its heart. With a strong and energetic cast and endless musical theatre references, it’s hard to resist and it’s currently playing at the Southwark Playhouse . It opens with Hunter (Jacob Fowler) and Jeff (Thomas Oxley) as struggling young writers in New York City. An upcoming New York Musical Theatre festival, inspires them to write an original musical within three weeks to make the deadline. As they discuss ideas, writers block, distractions and endless other good and bad musicals, an idea for a show emerges. Which is about writing a show for a musical theatre festival. Their friends Heidi (Abbie Budden) and Susan (Mary Moor
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Theatre: Thrill Me
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Thrill me sounds like the name of one of Max Bialystock's little old ladies with a cheque (or perhaps if it were a little old lady it would be Thrill Me, Kill Me), but there was something intriguing about a musical based on the unlikely subject of a couple of homosexuals in 1920s Chicago who rob and kill for kicks. It is currently playing at the Tristan Bates Theatre.
I was familiar with the story first through the 1992 movie Swoon (which played up the gay aspects of the story) and Hitchcock's Rope (which played down them, unless you take an alternate reading of Jimmy Stewart's interest in the two young men). Both of these treatments managed to inject some entertainment and humour in the proceedings. This version takes itself a little too seriously and the music feels endlessly repetitive, uninspired and even at times superfluous. It is a pity when there were such great opportunities with the material, and not just because it is in the same period as Chicago. Despite the jazz age period there is little jazz and even less razzle dazzle, which makes it hard going through all this exposition at first. Perhaps if the book, music and lyrics were not all written by Stephen Dolginoff things might have turned out better.
Things pick up quite a bit however when the murder takes place and then the perfect crime begins to unravel. The work then seems to have a sense of drama and momentum about it. Perhaps the greatest strength of the show is that it provides a rational explanation and argument for what were a series of senseless crimes... And it had me wondering about the things I did for old boyfriends (thankfully none of them were homicidal kleptomaniacs).
This is a simple production but looks good with the haze and the lights and the performances of the two leads Jye Frasca and George Maguire are excellent. It is probably more fun to perform the show than watch it. The Polish woman next to Johnnyfox had some very unkind things to say about it although given she did not know the original story we wondered whether it was too homosexual for her tastes. It runs through to the end of the month. Notwithstanding my initial reservations, it turned out to be a mildly thought provoking and creepy night out at the theatre... Rambling boo is below...
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
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 security
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.
