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Showing posts with the label Lionel Bart

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The moron premium live: The last days of Liz Truss @WhiteBearTheatr

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Watching a play about Liz Truss, Britain's shortest-serving Prime Minister, might seem as appealing as dental surgery. After all, you may be dealing with the repercussions of her fifty-day leadership, such as higher mortgage rates. You might also be familiar with the term "moron risk premium," coined by an economist to describe the impact of having Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng in charge. Consequently, revisiting this time in 2022 may not seem like an enticing subject for a theatrical production. However, writer Greg Wilkinson’s unique portrayal of select aspects of Truss’s life, alongside a standout performance by Emma Wilkinson Wright, makes this a compelling work. While Wright doesn’t physically resemble Truss, she delivers a performance that captures her mannerisms, awkwardness, and platitudes. The play is currently at the White Bear Theatre . Presented as a monologue, Wright performs at a desk, on it, or even in a chair while singing karaoke—one of Truss's ...

Keep it gay: Twang!! @TheUnionTheatre

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Any time of the year you can watch Oliver! on television. Lionel Bart’s musical take on the tale of Dickens made him a fortune and is memorable for its music and a slick movie musical. A few years later under the influence of alcohol and LSD he wrote Twang!! A notorious and expensive disaster than ran for only 43 performances, it would cost him his fortune. But rest assured the Union Theatre hasn’t resurrected a curiosity for the benefit of musical theatre aficionados. As amusing in its own way that would be. This Twang!! is new. Or at least with a story that makes some form of sense. With a new book by Julian Woolford and updated orchestrations by Richard John, it’s a chance to see a lost Lionel Bart musical. The premise is that after years of robbing from the rich and giving to the poor Robin Hood has lost his twang. It’s a bit like the Middle Ages equivalent of mojo. It’s now his merry men who do most of the heavy lifting. Meanwhile Much, the millers son, has run away from home. He...