It's been a long time since I wrote a blog. I've obviously been too busy eating and sleeping and stuff to post, so here I am, procrastinating and making up for lost time.
Since the beginning of 2013, I have seen a good few shows which (if you've read many of my posts from last year) is mostly what I blog about these days. Mostly because it's easiest to write about.
The first show of 2013 was A Chorus Line, which we saw about a week or so after it opened in London's Palladium Theatre on my 23rd birthday. Aside from a disappointingly ropey American accent from EastEnders' resident jazz-hand fanatic Christian (who's real name is something like John Somethingorother?), I really enjoyed it. The dancing was slick and the singing was great. A show I really love personally, and so it couldn't go far wrong in my eyes.
We have also seen Boy George's musical, Taboo, which played in Brixton Clubhouse. What a fantastic show, so underrated! The setting was great - a grungy nightclub that reminded me of a slightly better version of Swansea's Sin City (sorry, anyone over 30, I don't know what it was called way back when), full of decadence, glitter and cross-dressing - what's not to love? The storyline was gripping as you followed Billy's rise to fame as a photographer who gets caught up with a young Boy George (played brilliantly by Matthew Rowland). The cast followed the lead of the fabulous Paul Baker as Philip Sallon, a transsexual club promoter, and The Voice finalist Sam Buttery gave a grandiose performance as Leigh Bowery, an artist/performer/fashion designer, to name but a few of his trades.
Last night we saw a touring production of 9 to 5 in the Grand Theatre in Swansea, starring Jackie Clune, Amy Lennox, Natalie Casey and Mark Monaghan, all office workers in a 1970s American office building. The three girls think they've accidentally killed their boss and tie him up at home when he finds out what they did (trust me, it's a lot funnier than it sounds!). The entire cast were flawless, which you can expect on the final night of a tour. Amy Lennox's Doralee was fabulously country, and Natalie Casey's Judy was a brilliant comedic role with a touch of heart, which came across wonderfully in the big number "Get Out and Stay Out". Laughed all the way through - a highly-recommended night out!
Then, we come to Viva Forever! which we saw on the 2nd of March.
I suggest if you plan on seeing this show in the immediate future, you terminate your visit to my blog here. Right now.
And another warning: It's going to be dramatic. And very spoiler-y.
...
It was awful.
Truly the worst thing I've ever seen. I've seen a lot of productions in my time, amateur and professional. This was the worst. Written by Jennifer Saunders, this storyline is disappointingly lazy, so don't expect to be gripped by a tale that takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions. The performers were let down by this script, which filled time pointlessly with great numbers like "Too Much" which could have been used so much better elsewhere in the show, and then skipped over very important details such as, oh yes, the main character is adopted.
The premise is this: Viva and her friends enter a TV talent contest (Think BGT meets Popstars) and their judge is a worn-out old-hat Sharon Osborne-esque diva with a heart of stone. The Simon Cowell figure tells her how boring she is, so she decides to throw a spanner in the works on live TV - only one member of Viva's band goes through to the live finals. Predictably so, Viva is chosen, and goes on a journey (blink and you'll miss it) to the heady heights of fame, and falls in love with her Spanish vocal coach, the mysterious Angel. I say he's mysterious because you meet him about twice before they fall in love in Act Two. It's all very sudden. At the end of the show, there is absolutely no resolution. As Viva steps forward in the final round of Starmaker (I think it's called), she cuts the music, and begins with a very slow "I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want..." Then her ex-bandmates (who, wait a minute, I thought hated her?) decide to jump up from the audience and join her. And then that's it. No resolution to the show. No tear-filled reunion where Viva tells her friends how wrong she was to abandon them. No truce is called between the talent show diva and the Simon Cowell bloke. No winner of Starmaker is announced. Nothing. The part that irritated me the most was when the old woman judge (who's name I can't remember and don't even remotely care about) decided that she would get Viva's birth mother on the show... Her assistant lies and says the woman is here, and when the doors open there is no-one stood there...! What. The. Actual. ****?
This show was incredibly disappointing for me - not only as a musical theatre fan and a lover of jukebox musicals, but as a massive Spice Girl follower for most of my life. The storyline was lazy; the songs were unfamiliar; the premise unoriginal. Such a shame as the cast were really very good. Jennifer Saunders claims to have created a show all about friendship and girl power - this show delivered neither. Quite frankly, I'd re-write this show for them and expect nothing in return. It is an insult, not only to musicals, but to females everywhere. Jenny - stick to writing rubbish like Ab Fab in future, okay "darling"?
