Take two drag queens, a transvestite, a big bus and enough sequins and glitter to sink the titanic, put them together with a talented cast and a plethora of modern pop and disco classics in a big pink bus, and you pretty much have all the ingredients that make Priscilla a joyous night in the theatre.
If this performance did not clear all of the hurdles set by Shakespeare and the play’s daunting production history, it cannot be faulted on ambition and daring. The company has fully earned the right to be heard and seen again in this concept of the play and one hopes that it will be in a larger, more suitable venue.
This revue is great fun and well-produced, combining superb music and performances with an insightful journey through the history of Jewish musical theatre. The show has wowed audiences in Tel Aviv (talk about preaching to the converted!) but judging by tonight’s crowd it has made its mark in London as well.
Following its success at the St James Theatre, McQueen opens tonight at London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket for a strictly limited season until 7 November 2015. McQueen is a journey into the visionary imagination and dream world of Alexander McQueen, fashion’s greatest contemporary artist. Set on a single London night, it is more than a bio-play. It is stepping into the fairy story landscape of McQueen’s mind, the landscape seen in his immortal shows, where with a dress an urchin can become an Amazon, where beauty might just help us survive the night. A girl has watched McQueen’s Mayfair house for eleven consecutive days. Tonight she climbs down from her watching tree and breaks into his house, to steal a dress, to become someone special. He catches her, but, instead of calling the police, they embark together on a journey through London and into his heart. McQueen features Stephen Wight in the … Read more
Based on Rattigan’s experiences as a tail gunner during World War II, Flare Path paints an evocative portrait of life in wartime Britain for the life-and-death existence of the RAF bomber crews, and their wives and sweethearts who were left waiting their return. Set in 1942 against a backdrop of heartache and quiet bravery, Flare Path tells the story of former actress Patricia, the wife of RAF pilot Teddy, whose marriage is tested to the limits by the surprise arrival of Patricia’s ex‐lover and Hollywood idol Peter Kyle. An unexpected and dangerous mission over Germany puts Patricia at the centre of an emotional conflict as unpredictable as the war in the skies. Flare Path combines highly charged drama with a truly authentic taste of the fear, camaraderie and passion experienced by the men and women who fought to save their country, their families and each other. The cast of Flare … Read more
The dancing is really the one area here where there is a consistent, utterly stylish, utterly camp, utterly “too much” approach. The cast are all accomplished dancers and the routines ping with power and pleasure. Lane and Huddleston have done a superb job at ensuring uniformity of step and action; the group numbers are precise, with everyone exactly in time, all performing in riotous synchronicity. Both Thoroughly Modern Millie and Forget About The Boy are delicious and there is some seriously good tapping from George Hinson and Thomas Inge and the entire female cast.
Not everything in Grimeborn can work and while the commitment of all concerned deserves recognition, this adaptation cannot be considered wholly successful. As a better test of its worth though, I do hope further performances can be arranged with a full ensemble of strings, woodwind and brass. If all the main lines are present, the core of this delicate work can still generate the right kind of silvery shimmer.
Nadia Fall has misunderstood the play and, by seeking to make her mark on it, has come dangerously close to obliterating its impact. Bad casting and bad direction, however, is not enough to completely scupper Wertenbaker’s great play. In the end, the magical words she wrote come through – overcoming lightweight performances, an indulgent set, too grand a space and some interesting, but tiresomely intrusive, music.
