REVIEW: THE BODYGUARD (UK Tour) @ Regent Theatre, Stoke

 

It's taken us a while to catch up with The Bodyguard,  the stage musical of the acclaimed 1992 movie.  It debuted in London in 2012 and has been on several UK tours since then.  However we finally managed to catch the current touring production at the Regent Theatre, Stoke.

To jog everyone's memory, the show - as in the movie -  is about 'the biggest star on the planet' Rachel Marron, pop idol supreme.  However her cosy world of topping charts and Oscar nominations is rocked when she recieves threatening letters from a mysterious stalker. Enter Frank Farmer, former secret agent and now bodyguard to the queen of pop.  They don't hit it off initially,  Rachel acting the full diva as Frank tries his best to protect her from the clutches of her stalker.  Meanwhile,  Rachel's lesser gifted sister has developed the hots for Frank, but so too has Rachel.  Sure enough the stalker comes out of the shadows and the race is on to catch him before he causes harm to Rachel and her family.

Now this show is a melodrama.  There is nothing subtle about it.  You get a fairly corny story with a little bit of thriller but basically its all about the music.  And what music.  The catalogue of the late great Whitney Houston is exploited to the full.  Wall to wall pop classics including 'Greatest Love Of All',  'I'm Every Woman',  'I Wanna Dance With Somebody',  'One Moment In Time' and of course the immortal Dolly Parton anthem 'I Will Always Love You.'

The current touring cast are more than up to the task of delivering the show to a packed house in Stoke. The billed Pussycat Doll Melody Thornton was absent on the opening night (filming duties for The National Lottery At The Musicals provided a schedule clash) and whilst hardcore Pussycat Doll fans may have been gutted, the rest of us took great pleasure in welcoming Samantha Mbolekwa to the stage as Rachel.  Samantha made the most of the lacklustre script but unleashed a powerful soul voice on the big numbers,  dancing up a storm in the process.  Emily-Mae as Nicki Marron equalled her for the vocal complexities,  both ladies the bright shining core of the show.  The ensemble were no slouches either,  James Groom as Sy Spector,  John Maculay as Bill Devaney and Marios Nicolaides as the Stalker all worked hard in bringing the story to life.  

Set and Costume designer Tim Hatley has provided a visual feast for the show,  which has to travel from small nightclub to a big theatrical event to out of town log cabin. A series of enormous curtains helping change the scene with the minimum of fuss throughout the evening. Mark Henderson's lighting design helps keep the mood at optimum level,  as the routines are delivered with energetic relish.

Director Thea Sharrock delivers all the beats in the show,  and it will undoubtedly be a crowd pleasing attraction as it makes its away around the country.  This is a superior touring show which does what it says on the tin.  If you are a fan of the original movie or indeed just love a bit of Whitney Houston,  this is the show for you.  You might even get to dance with somebody at the end.  

Rob Cope

 

 

REVIEW: THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (UK Tour) @ Regent Theatre, Stoke

 

It's always a risky business when a popular movie is adapted for the stage. Audiences love to see familiar characters, but if you get it wrong, they can be unforgiving. So a bold move by producer Bill Kenwright to transfer one of the most popular movies of the 1990s, The Shawshank Redemption into the theatre. Based on Stephen King's 1982 short story 'Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption', this is an unusally uplifting prison drama.

 

For those unaware, Andy Dufresne is sent to Shawshank to serve two life setnences for the (supposed) murder of his wife and her lover. Here he meets Red, a convinct who specialises in supplying (for a price) contraband items. The two become unlikely friends, and Andy's quiet conviction and inner strength become a fascination for Red. But Andy, a gentle and intelligent soul, becomes the victim of the prison system. The brutal guards - led by psychotic Hadley - and a gang of inmates nicknamed 'the sisters' repeatedly inflict sexual and physical abuse on Andy. One of Andy's passions is reading, and he is determined to get a better library in the prison. The elderly prison librarian Brooksie, having served five decades there, welcomes any help in improving the facilities at the hell hole of a state penatentiary.

 

When Andy asks Red to get him a rock hammer and a large poster of Rita Hayworth no-one could have imagined that over a period of 19 years these two items would form the basis of Andy's plans for a new life.

 

Finding two actors to match up to the iconic on screen performances of Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins must have been difficult. But Bill Kenwright has managed to get two superb actors who are equal to the challenge. Ben Onwukwe has a flavour of Freeman, but very much gives his own reading of Ellis 'Red' Redding. He is our principal narrator of the evening, observing and getting caught up in the spiraling events at Shawshank. Ex-Eastender Joe Absolom is equally impressive as Andy, managing to capture the muted grit and amiable demeanour that Robbins managed so beautifully on celluloid. Mark Heenehan is a delight, as the slimey and corrupt Warden Stammas. Feathering his own nest with financial scams for which Andy is pressured into being book keeper. We never get to see his come-uppance on stage which slightly robs the audience of a pay-off for the character. Joe Reisig as Hadley is very much at home in the role, dishing out beatings to the inmates and generally being the scourge of the prison. On the other side of the line, Kenneth Jay as Brooksie, facing parole but terrified of life on the outside after a lifetime behind bars, is another lovely performance.

 

Director David Esbjornson manages to find the balance between the harsh environment of Shawshank and its less than savoury inhabitants, and the gentle beauty of the friendship between Red and Andy. Gary McCann has designed a realistic prison set, into which props and furniture are rolled on, which cements our belief in the story being told. This is complimented by Chris Davey's lighting design which enhances the mood of the scenes, and creates a clautrophobic atmosphere.

 

I have to say this screen-to-stage adaptation is one of the better of the genre. It's a classic story, tightly told and brilliantly brought to life given the confines of the stage. I would imagine that if you are like us, an admirer of the movie, you won't feel short changed by this stage production. The enthusiastic applause of the audience at the end ensured that Red and Andy's incarceration was not in vain.

Rob Cope

REVIEW: The Way Old Friends Do (tour) @ Birmingham Rep

 

This review is based on a PREVIEW performance

 

It seems that just when the world has reached ABBA saturation overload,  there is always something new inspired by the four Swedes (OK, three Swedes and a Norwegian as the play points out) on the horizon.   The new play The Way Old Frirends Do written by and starring Ian Hallard celebrates obsession, friendship and sparkly lycra. 

Schoolfriends Edward (James Bradshaw) and Peter (Hallard) re-connect when they discover each other using Grindr.  Childhood reminiscences inevitably return to Peter’s obsession with ABBA.  To cut a long story short,  memories of a disastrous school concert where they died a death singing ABBA results in an idea is hatched to form the world’s first drag ABBA tribute with Edward and Peter as Frida and Agnetha respectively.  Auditions to find the two male members of ABBA are less than successful with struggling actress Jodie (Rose Shalloo) cast as Bjorn and dotty rehearsal pianist Mrs. Campbell (Sara Crowe) gently persuaded to be the keyboard maestro Benny Andersson. All seems to be going well until the arrival of flirty 25 year old Christian (Andrew Horton), a senior member of the online chat group ABBAChat and apparently mega enthusiastic about the new tribute.  But Christian hides a darker nature which will threaten the apparently bright future of this new drag super group.

 

Director Mark Gatiss skilfully brings out the best in this Midlands based study of eccentrics. James Bradshaw carries the bulk of the comedic banter as caustic Edward, full of double entendre and quick put downs.  Ian Hallard is Peter,  bisexual and whose Nan (the voice of Miriam Margolyes) remains unaware of his penchant for men,  hiding the frustrations of not having a long term partner with his love of ABBA.  Lesbian Sally (Donna Berlin) remains Peter’s best friend and is shoehorned into the role of road manager when the group go on tour and shouldering the bulk of the problems caused by this ramshackle mob.  Rosie Shalloo gives Jodie a hippy sensibility,   happy to be earning a penny from her chosen profession... albeit always cast as men.  Sara Crowe’s terminally confused Mrs. Campbell is great fun throughout,  always on the verge of fathoming the events of the evening.   Andrew Horton as the eye candy Christian serves as something of a villain of the piece.  Horton possesses him with charm as all the best villains often have.  

At times the play comes over like an ABBA encyclopaedia with facts rammed down our throats from the career of the Scandi legends.   The show is very much a play of two halves,  the first with the bulk of the comedy, the second exploring the darker nature of Christian and his effect both on Edward and Peter,  the former with self destructive power.  This makes the play feel a little uneven at times,  and can be classed perhaps as ‘the a funny half’ and ‘the serious half’.  But by and large it is a pleasant ride, full of ABBA interludes during the scene changes and the sight of Peter and Edward as Agnetha and Frida has to be worth the price of admission.  The set and costumes by Janet Bird are spot on,  luring us into a time warp where the 1970s are fusing with 2015 (when the play is set).

 

For most of the plays two hour plus duration, the evening is great fun played to the hilt by a quality cast.   The performance I attended was very much a preview,  and tweaks undoubtedly will occur.  In these dark times,  we need a laugh and this is an evening full of them.   In the words of Mr. Ulvaeus:  take a chance, take a chance, take a chance-chance-chance...

Rob Cope