After watching American Idiot, the Green Day musical, this weekend, I've decided to create another blog entry reviewing what I saw.
Show: Friday, 8.30pm, WMC in Cardiff, 19/10/12
Some plot spoilers will occur here, so I'm just telling you now before you get all angry at me for spoiling it...
Now. As an angsty teenager, American Idiot to me was the album that all the non-Green Day fans bought and then decided they were fans of the band. So I never really took a great interest, but secretly enjoyed singing along to the album's title track if it was played on the radio or dancing along if we were out in a club. But after looking into it, the idea behind the American Idiot album went deeper than Green Day trying to be a more commercial band. Instead, it looked at the "new American dream" and how people went about pursuing it (which is incredibly evident just from listening to the lyrics).
Not being familiar with the entire album probably helped me when I went to watch this show, as I had no idea what a lot of the music would be like or what the ideas behind it were. I expected to be able to rock out - and this expectation was more than met.
The idea is this - three friends (Johnny, Will and Tunny) all live in a non-specified suburban town, and long for something beyond it. When Johnny gets cash to get out and go to the city, he asks Will and Tunny to join him. Will, however, is torn - his girlfriend Heather has just told him she's pregnant. Will stays, and watches his two best friends leave him behind. Johnny and Tunny aren't in the city for long before Tunny sees propaganda for the ultimate glory - joining the US Army. So off he goes, leaving Johnny in the big city all alone. That's when we meet Whatsername (the love interest) and St. Jimmy, an off the rails punk rocker with a pocket full of "pixie dust" and more. The rest of the show follows the three as they make decisions and end up back where they began their story. Johnny often refers to himself as the Jesus of Suburbia (another of Green Day's tracks that features in the show). The show opens to TV theme tunes, adverts and jingles, throwing us right in the centre of commercialism at its best (or possibly worst?).
At a glimpse, the entire cast are American themselves. Alex Nee played a fabulously arrogant yet angst-ridden Johnny, and was supported well by Casey O'Farrell as lazy Will and Thomas Hettrick as Army-bound Tunny. Alyssa Diplama, Jenna Rubaii and Kennedy Caughell all excelled vocally and otherwise as love interests Whatsername, Extraordinary Girl and Heather (Will's baby-momma). The only slight disappointment came in the form of St. Jimmy (Trent Saunders), who we (I say we, my two friends and myself) didn't feel was deranged, unhinged or demented enough to play such a part at times. His first entry should have been like the second coming of Jesus - instead it was more like jazz-hands and smiles (not the impression a drug-dealer would want to give, I'm sure). After hearing that Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has played the role himself, Saunders' interpretation wasn't kooky enough for me. Vocally, however, he was spot on each time. The company all had a chance to shine, with some taking on entire songs (such as Too Much, Too Soon as the act one finale) and having a chance to show off some killer vocals. The choreography was messy and contemporary, which fit perfectly with Green Day's sometimes erratic soundtrack.
Overall the show was different yet enjoyable - it wasn't so far from musical theatre that I felt uncomfortable, but the music itself was fantastic. A particular highlight was a very haunting version of 21 Guns, sang by the females of the cast as the leading men became vulnerable (especially Tunny, who has lost a leg by this point after returning from a war zone), and Letterbomb, which was a high-energy girl empowering number in which Whatsername leaves Johnny.
Personally, I would definitely see this show again, just to keep my inner emo-kid quiet!
I teach English, but I like to tell people what I think about stuff too.
Sunday, 21 October 2012
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
Jesus Christ Superstar... Do you think you're what they say you are?
So here goes my mini review for Jesus Christ Superstar tour that I saw at the Cardiff International Arena on Tuesday 2nd of October 2012.
If you don't want to know, please don't read. Otherwise, join me on my journey through reviewdom...
To start with, the concept behind an update to Jesus Christ Superstar (the famously 70s musical) left me slightly sceptical... However it really works on stage, with news reports (think the beginning of the Baz Luhrmann version of Romeo + Juliet), Tweets and news reporters covering the buzz around the Messiah. The set is basic - moving steps and projections to add to the feel of it. The show begins with the disciples versus the police in a London Riots-esque scene and follows a similarly grungy feel throughout (aside from the house where judge Pontius Pilate resides and King Herod's television studio).
Tim Minchin as Judas is obviously the star of the night, with no question. His Judas Iscariot is an angsty, slightly unhinged character whose journey to his own demise is a fascinating one to watch. His vocal is strong and consistent, who arrives into the heart of the action in an anorak, carrying a backpack. The stunning revival into "Superstar" works immensely well as he gets down with the angels in the hotpants who ask the thorn-crowned Jesus "who are you, what have you sacrificed?"
Mel C (aka Sporty Spice to anyone of a particular age) is a beautiful Mary Magdalene, with a soft vocal that really works for the part of the vulnerable follower of Jesus. She doesn't overplay the part at all, but her rendition of the famous I Don't Know How To Love Him was one of "those" moments in the show. A difficult and well-known song done wonderfully by the former Spice Girl.
Chris Moyles in his cameo as King Herod (who is played in the style of a Jeremy Kyle/Jerry Springer chat show host) is very comical, which is what the role calls for. Tuneful and camp, Moyles really gets his teeth into the part as much as you can in roughly three-minutes of stage and song time. The "public vote" results of LORD OR FRAUD revealed that Jesus had fallen out of the favour of the general viewing public, much to my amusement.
All the supporting roles are sung fantastically by Alex Hanson as a Hoff-alike Pilate (except talented), Pete Gallagher and Gerard Bentall as councillors Caiaphas and Annas (respectively) and apostles Peter and Simon played by Michael Pickering and Giovanni Spano. I particularly liked Pilate's entrance in Act 2 before Jesus is sent to Herod - he enters in sports gear, followed by a personal trainer and exercises (gently) throughout the number, unsure of why someone from Galilee (because I know where that is) has been brought to him for trial.
However, my only disappointment was Ben Forster in the role of Jesus Christ. From the beginning, Ben is tired and has the expression of exhaustion on his face (where I imagine that the Jesus at the start of the show still has some optimism about the journey ahead). His talk-miming during Tim Minchin's opening number Heaven On Their Minds is very distracting, like a small child in a bad school production. His accent is an annoying muddle of various American ones - he's clearly been on YouTube looking at the Broadway revival version for tips and watching the Ted Neely film version in bed every night before sleep. He's got a long way to go yet. The role is too crucial to have been cast brilliantly from a public vote TV show - sorry Lord Lloyd Webber. Considering he is literally in the title role, Ben barely registered on my "Superstar" radar. Perhaps with enough training he could be a great performer, but I left feeling unsatisfied with his performance.
Christ's death was particularly weak during the Crucifixion scene, especially when Tim Minchin rocked out during Superstar just before it. If I wasn't overly-familiar with the show I wouldn't have been too sure of what was happening at that point - not ONLY at that point, but at various other points too as Ben's annunciation wasn't great. Maybe this was a result of the crazy American accent?
Overall, the show is a fantastic one. For everyone who didn't make it to a nearby arena (especially at those prices) the good news is that you can ask Santa very nicely if he'll bring you the DVD on Christmas Day. I also purchased a hoody and programme, but not a CD (because it's only a digital remaster of the original, not of the tour version which is also out in time for the Festive period). The modern take really works and it was a night I'm not going to forget in a hurry.
If you don't want to know, please don't read. Otherwise, join me on my journey through reviewdom...
To start with, the concept behind an update to Jesus Christ Superstar (the famously 70s musical) left me slightly sceptical... However it really works on stage, with news reports (think the beginning of the Baz Luhrmann version of Romeo + Juliet), Tweets and news reporters covering the buzz around the Messiah. The set is basic - moving steps and projections to add to the feel of it. The show begins with the disciples versus the police in a London Riots-esque scene and follows a similarly grungy feel throughout (aside from the house where judge Pontius Pilate resides and King Herod's television studio).
Tim Minchin as Judas is obviously the star of the night, with no question. His Judas Iscariot is an angsty, slightly unhinged character whose journey to his own demise is a fascinating one to watch. His vocal is strong and consistent, who arrives into the heart of the action in an anorak, carrying a backpack. The stunning revival into "Superstar" works immensely well as he gets down with the angels in the hotpants who ask the thorn-crowned Jesus "who are you, what have you sacrificed?"
Mel C (aka Sporty Spice to anyone of a particular age) is a beautiful Mary Magdalene, with a soft vocal that really works for the part of the vulnerable follower of Jesus. She doesn't overplay the part at all, but her rendition of the famous I Don't Know How To Love Him was one of "those" moments in the show. A difficult and well-known song done wonderfully by the former Spice Girl.
Chris Moyles in his cameo as King Herod (who is played in the style of a Jeremy Kyle/Jerry Springer chat show host) is very comical, which is what the role calls for. Tuneful and camp, Moyles really gets his teeth into the part as much as you can in roughly three-minutes of stage and song time. The "public vote" results of LORD OR FRAUD revealed that Jesus had fallen out of the favour of the general viewing public, much to my amusement.
All the supporting roles are sung fantastically by Alex Hanson as a Hoff-alike Pilate (except talented), Pete Gallagher and Gerard Bentall as councillors Caiaphas and Annas (respectively) and apostles Peter and Simon played by Michael Pickering and Giovanni Spano. I particularly liked Pilate's entrance in Act 2 before Jesus is sent to Herod - he enters in sports gear, followed by a personal trainer and exercises (gently) throughout the number, unsure of why someone from Galilee (because I know where that is) has been brought to him for trial.
However, my only disappointment was Ben Forster in the role of Jesus Christ. From the beginning, Ben is tired and has the expression of exhaustion on his face (where I imagine that the Jesus at the start of the show still has some optimism about the journey ahead). His talk-miming during Tim Minchin's opening number Heaven On Their Minds is very distracting, like a small child in a bad school production. His accent is an annoying muddle of various American ones - he's clearly been on YouTube looking at the Broadway revival version for tips and watching the Ted Neely film version in bed every night before sleep. He's got a long way to go yet. The role is too crucial to have been cast brilliantly from a public vote TV show - sorry Lord Lloyd Webber. Considering he is literally in the title role, Ben barely registered on my "Superstar" radar. Perhaps with enough training he could be a great performer, but I left feeling unsatisfied with his performance.
Christ's death was particularly weak during the Crucifixion scene, especially when Tim Minchin rocked out during Superstar just before it. If I wasn't overly-familiar with the show I wouldn't have been too sure of what was happening at that point - not ONLY at that point, but at various other points too as Ben's annunciation wasn't great. Maybe this was a result of the crazy American accent?
Overall, the show is a fantastic one. For everyone who didn't make it to a nearby arena (especially at those prices) the good news is that you can ask Santa very nicely if he'll bring you the DVD on Christmas Day. I also purchased a hoody and programme, but not a CD (because it's only a digital remaster of the original, not of the tour version which is also out in time for the Festive period). The modern take really works and it was a night I'm not going to forget in a hurry.