Featured Post

I Miss The Mountains: Fly More Than You Fall @Swkplay

Image
Losing a parent when you’re still figuring out who you are and your place in the world seems like a bummer of a topic for a musical. But somehow, Fly More Than You Fall tackles grief and loss with a light touch, catchy music and enthusiastic performances. While it may not offer great insight into the exploration of grief, it gives pause for thought and a few laughs on the way. After all, death doesn’t take a holiday, and nobody gets out of here alive. We just hope it doesn’t happen too soon. It’s currently playing at Southwark Playhouse Elephant .  We first meet Malia as she prepares for summer writers' school. She aspires to be a writer and has a story in development. Encouraged by her mother to keep going, she is looking forward to the summer. But the summer school is cut short when her mother is diagnosed with stage four cancer. Back home so her mother can spend her last days with her family, Malia has to grow up quickly and find her voice while watching her mother slip away.  T

Great balls of fire: Miss Atomic Bomb @St_JamesTheatre


A starry cast and some wonderful production values make Miss Atomic Bomb a bit of a treat. It's currently playing for a limited run at the St James Theatre.

There is comedy... A bit of drama... Then more comedy and the occasional dropping of a bomb in this piece that focuses on the nuclear tests in Nevada. Oh and there is a beauty pageant to crown Miss Atomic Bomb in an attempt to make a doggy hotel a bit more classy.

Much of the source material is based on actual events. There were above ground nuclear tests that were a tourist attraction for Vegas. But what gives this piece its appeal is its star casting and ensemble who are working hard to show us a good time.




Catherine Tate is a glamorous beauty who wants to move to California. She has a wonderful accent and sings her heart out while wearing high heels and a push up bra. It's hilarious, particularly when she gets the chance to riff on the material and talk about the time she was on the sheep farm.

Florence Andrews is a delight as Candy Johnson, the sheep farm girl, who enters the beauty pageant to clear her grandmother's debt. She has great comic timing and a strong set of vocals. If only she had a twitter account...

Dean John-Wilson cuts a dashing figure as the heartthrob and runaway soldier, Joey. He is found by Candy hiding in her zucchini patch. And any show that has a man brandishing a zucchini as a weapon can't be all bad.



Simon Lipkin is hilarious as the hotel manager Lou. With his life on the line (and at the risk of getting shot by the mob boss who owns the joint), he sets of to turn his hotel into a classy place that also crowns Miss Atomic Bomb.

When Lipkin and Tate team up towards the end of the piece, this show really soars. The two have a wonderful comic timing and chemistry that makes you think of the potential this piece has.

But the piece unfortunately feels like it was written by committee and has enough material to fill several musicals over. There is a subplot on the farm with dead sheep. Another about an evil scientist. And even another about a relentless debt collector (Daniel Boys, who seems to be wasted in a role that sends up Javert from Les Mis). It can't quite figure out what sort of comedy musical it wants to be and most of the music is forgettable pastiche.

But the piece feels like a labour of love and even with its shortcomings, fans of the performers should see it. Others should hope there is a future rewrite.

Miss Atomic Bomb runs at the St James Theatre, which has to be the nicest West End venue by far with its comfy seats and clean bathrooms, until 9 April.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

First impressions immediately after the show with @Johnnyfoxlondon follow.  We said nice things...

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 security
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...