Theatre Review: Little Shop of Horrors (touring)

My review of  Tara Louis Wilkinson's new touring production of Little Shop of Horrors is up at The Reviews Hub. You can read it here.  

Theatre Review: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (New Wimbledon Theatre)

Last year, the New Wimbledon Theatre proved conclusively that there’s nothing like a Dame when Barry Humphries as Edna Everage made a truly spectacular pantomime debut in Dick Whittington. From her first appearance hoisted across the auditorium, wearing a Union Jack frock, to the irreverent meta-commentary that she kept up on all aspects of the production Humphries’s greatest creation made last year’s Wimbledon panto a particularly special experience, wafting the show high on a series of barbed quips.

It’s a tough act to follow, to be sure. So this year Wimbledon have opted for star power and Hollywood glamour over Humphries’ honed theatrical expertise, casting Priscilla Presley as the Wicked Queen Morgana of Moravia in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, alongside Warwick Davis. Making one’s theatre debut at age 67 may seem equal parts brave and foolish. But, lest we forget, the still-luscious Presley proved herself more than game for a jape in the three Naked Gun films, whether spoofing the Ghost “potter’s wheel” scene or appearing swathed in a giant condom. And after a slightly stilted start she warms up nicely into her role here, clearly relishing the boos and laughs she elicits. She has a little trouble negotiating some of the references in Eric Potts’s script: allusions to Clapham, Nando’s, and even Olly Murs get endearingly mangled. But the odd moment of bewilderment only succeeds in getting us on her side. Mostly, she’s physically nimble, up for a spot of self-parody and lovely to watch (and, needless to say, fabulously costumed throughout), with a cougar-ish slink through “I’m Evil” her highlight of the night.

Director Ian Talbot stages some amusing set pieces throughout, with the first appearance of the Dwarves - to “Heigh Ho,” natch - a particular delight. And Potts’s script cuts down on flab and filler to deliver a surprisingly streamlined take on the Snow White story that still finds space to crowbar in a range of contemporary references, incorporating crowd-pleasing nods to I’m A Celebrity and the Olympics (an Ellie Simmonds running gag is especially choice) as well as a lovely X Factor “sob story” parody and (inevitable) Gangnam Style moment.

And surrounding Presley a highly competent cast does not flag. Lizzy Jay Hughes’s Snow White and James Austen-Murray’s pose-striking Prince are both pleasing, while Lee Carroll’s jester Muddles delivers his traditional schtick with flair. The real stars of the show, though, are Warwick Davis who presides over the Dwarves delightfully as Prof, and the aptly-monikered Jarred Christmas who’s simply super as the Queen’s reluctant Henchman, especially in an epic Geordie/Cockney routine.

The Queen’s final defeat seems a bit of an anti-climax, but on the plus side the show doesn’t outstay its welcome, keeping a snappy pace to the end. It is, inevitably, a tamer and more traditional pantomime experience than last year’s Wimbledon show but there’s more than enough charm and amusement on offer here to make this a panto to recommend.

Runs until 13th January.

Reviewed for The Public Reviews.

Theatre Review: 9 To 5: The Musical (New Wimbledon & touring)

Colin Higgins’s 1980 feminist revenge comedy Nine to Five provided Dolly Parton with her first screen acting role as Doralee, a secretary harassed and humiliated by her lecherous tyrant-idiot boss Mr. Hart, who joins forces with two of her female co-workers, Violet and Judy - each with her own grievance against the bossman - to take reprisals and settle the score. The title song, written and performed by Parton, received an Oscar nomination and a Grammy Award and it serves - unsurprisingly - as the opening number for Parton’s musical adaptation of the film, which has finally reached UK shores, touring before (one imagines) a hoped-for West End run.

With a book by the film’s screenwriter Patricia Resnick and 18 songs composed by Parton (only a couple of which have seen the light of day on her own albums), 9 to 5 follows the likes of Legally Blonde and Hairspray as the latest Hollywood comedy to get a musical makeover. And while the show has its problems - they include none-too-inspired choreography by Jeff Calhoun and a pretty witless book by Resnick - it proves fairly entertaining throughout.

Indeed, the material can only benefit from the spirit and energy that the best of Parton’s upbeat countrified pop songs provide, for 9 to 5 is a feeble, rickety concoction in terms of its plotting, a poorly structured piece that flirts with farce and black comedy without delivering the pay-offs of either and that even seems to violate its own feminist principles at the end by having a beneficent male character swoop in from nowhere to solve all the women’s problems for them.

The musical retains this paltry structure, alas, but I think the end result is considerably more enjoyable than the film. Tackier and livelier, it moves more swiftly through some of the crummier comic business - such as a dire sequence in which the women believe they’ve killed Hart and try to dispose of the body - and gives the viewer less time to linger over the clunking inanities.

The first half – which culminates in the women’s kidnapping of Hart - is the most successful. Parton herself appears on screen like the high-camp fairy Godmother of one’s fantasies to introduce the show and offer commentary (“A’hm dyin’ to see what’s going to happen next!”), and the songs are effectively employed to flesh out the characters and their situations. “Backwoods Barbie” - in which Doralee laments others’ appearance-based judgments of her - is a highlight, and Amy Lennox gives the most endearing performance of the lead trio, evoking Parton without slavishly imitating her. From her hairstyle to her vocal inflections, Jackie Clune as Violet channels Allison Janney (who played the role on Broadway) a bit too thoroughly, and Natalie Casey as the initially timid new recruit Judy has some funny moments but isn’t quite up to the delivery of the empowerment anthem “Get Out and Stay Out” (which is one of the poorer numbers anyway).

But the main reason to see 9 To 5 is the giddy dash of gleaming-eyed mania that Bonnie Langford brings to her role as Roz, the office mole who hides out in the toilets to eavesdrop on the women’s conversations, reporting what she hears to Mr. Hart, for whom she nurtures a secret passion. Langford packs a lifetime of theatre experience into her relatively limited stage time, establishing an instant audience rapport, and the sequence in which Roz confesses her obsessive love for Hart (“Heart to Hart”) is the evening’s undisputed show-stopper, with Langford’s vocal and physical prowess bringing the house down.

As bright and brassy as its co-creator, there’s no pretending that 9 To 5 is a great new musical, and it doesn’t even have the fully-fledged charm of Hairspray, say. But for Parton fans and those in an undemanding frame of mind it’s an agreeable time-passer - and something a little more in Langford’s powerhouse moment.

Reviewed for British Theatre Guide.