Featured Post

Bit parts: Garry Starr Performs Everything @swkplay

Image
Garry Starr Performs Everything is a bare-bones (and bare buttocks) tribute to the theatre. Theatre may be in trouble, and audiences are down, but Garry Starr aims to save the theatre and bring back to the masses every style of theatre possible. As long as each style involves wearing a transparent white leotard or a skimpy thong. And tassels. It's part comedy, part physical comedy and part perv at Gary's physical prowess. The sentiment "if you've got it, flaunt it" applies here. So here we are with a show that has been around for some years and is having its first proper London run at the Southwark Playhouse (Borough) through Christmas. The premise is that Garry Starr (played by Damien Warren-Smith) has left the Royal Shakespeare Company over artistic differences. He is now on a mission to save the theatre from misrepresentation and worthy interpretations by doing things such as a two-minute Hamlet, recreating scenes from a Pinter play using unsuspecting audience

Theatre Revisit: La Cage Aux Folles



Sometimes it is good not to be the first to see some things. In the case of the first preview of La Cage Aux Folles I saw in November 2007 it was hard to tell what would become of it. Particularly since many technical problems (like curtains not coming up and so forth), made it hard to watch. Well last year it transferred to the West End and became one of the big hits of 2008. Having finally caught it in a proper theatre it is easy to see its appeal. Some updated observations:

It is a family musical (of sorts) and the enjoyment of the show probably depends on how much you believe the performances by the two male leads. In this case, the run now has Roger Allam and Philip Quast in the lead roles and they can come up with the goods. Within moments from when they appeared on stage and started arguing you could believe that they were a couple who had been living together for over twenty years.

The group I was with were initially disappointed that Graham Norton had finished his run, but by the end of the show were glad they saw real actors and singers, even if there wasn't the novelty and curiosity factor of such stunt-casting.

The musical is still quite long, but the performances of this cast (particularly Allam), will make you overlook the fact that you don't get to intermission until around 9pm. The dancing is still scary but I was sitting back enough not to be intimidated by it (or by Quast's ad libs with the front row tables).

The music ranges from the sublime to the sub prime, and while it doesn't have a big dazzling bus and a deafening soundtrack like in Priscilla, it has a lot more heart. A show definitely worth another look. Good tickets are available at the usual outlets such as the Official London Theatre TKTS booth...

Popular posts from this blog

Opera and full frontal nudity: Rigoletto

Image
David McVicar's oddly modern production of Rigoletto is back at the Royal Opera House . This modern and minimalist dark production has evolved over the years. It is better lit now but there is still an orgy and full frontal nudity within the first thirty minutes. This enables anyone not in the stalls an excellent view of a flaccid penis and a nicely shaved bush. But as time goes it seems more and more superfluous to the main focus of this tragedy of a court jester who seeks revenge. Here is hoping that the production continues to evolve... Conductor John Eliot Gardiner keeps the music well paced. Dimitri Platanias in the title role sounded great and received a rapturous applause for his interpretation of the role. You get a sense more of the doting father rather than the court jester or cursed man here. Vittorio Grigolo plays the Duke and sounds too lovely to be the cad the role calls for, but it is hard not to like when he is on stage anyway. And it is easier to understan
Read more...

Fantasies: Afterglow @Swkplay

Image
Nowadays no self-respecting gay play can be staged without full frontal nudity of some kind. It feels like the default response for the modern gay play now that gay rights are no longer an issue .   Afterglow, currently playing at Southwark Playhouse , serves it up in spades. From the beginning, three men are in a bed, naked. There’s what appears to be a very brief exhalation of ecstasy, before the obligatory rush to the shower. But the gratuitous nudity and excellent performances can’t conceal this is a pretty conventional and predictable story about a fantasy couple.  The three men in the simultaneous orgasm at the start of the piece are Josh, Alex and Darius. Josh and Alex seem to live in a New York world where they can afford a rooftop apartment in Manhattan while holding jobs as a theatre director and a grad student in chemistry. As writer S. Asher Gelman based it on his own experiences, perhaps gay plays with full frontal nudity are the way to achieve financial security
Read more...

Play ball: Damn Yankees @LandorTheatre

Image
Damn Yankees at the Landor Theatre is one hell of a fun, sexy show. A great cast of dancers and singers give this show about a man who sells his soul to get on his beloved baseball team (and give them a chance of winning) new legs and balls. It also helps to up the ante with the sexiness with some healthy doses of cleavage and legs (and that's just the men). The musical is a retelling of the Faust story set in the 1950s when the New York Yankees dominated the game.
Read more...