9 to 5 The Musical - Review

I love the film, I'm a big fan of Dolly Parton and musicals - goes without saying that I was going to see this and love it! I wasn't going to miss my chance to see this, I had to go on my own.
I had been waiting with cautious optimism that I would get the chance to see this, since its Broadway run in 2009; I first thought if it ever came over here I'd have to make another trip to London to see it, then the tour was announced and there was no Cardiff date I was very disappointed... until a Cardiff run was added to the tour.

The cast was amazing! Jackie Clune seemed to be channeling Lily Tomlin, and Amy Lennox held her own in the role that is essentially Dolly Parton. Both of them had great voices but the real surprise was Natalie Casey, I watched all series of Two Pints of Lager... (yes, even the last few) and I never imagined she could sing like that. Her '11 o'clock number' Get Out and Stay Out blew me away. The other surprise was Bonnie Langford, I've never seen her in musical-action and her voice and legs are amazing!

The music was all written by Dolly Parton, which means there wasn't a weak number in the entire show (biased review?!).

The show was funny and watching it reminded me of Hairspray, which is still the funniest musical I've seen, although how much of that was due to Michael Ball's performance is impossible to say.
I loved the set also, that whole 70s thing going on framing the stage and as a curtain. The whole show made me want to live in the 1970s (a frequent fantasy) and buy a pet rock!

So, the end of last I joined the online voluntary review website, The Public Reviews (it's all good CV fodder... plus, free theatre tickets -woo!), which means that my amateur reviews might get read by more than the three (probably imaginary) people who read this blog. With the end of the year being quieter on the theatre front, with the exception of Pantos, I didn't have much chance to do my first review until February this year.

Typical of me, possibly lacking momentarily common sense, for my first semi-professional review that was going to be read by people, and seen by the actual theatres/companies, I decided to review a three and a half, German opera - Welsh National Opera's Lulu, directed by David Pountney, who even I had heard of!

The Public Reviews - WNO's Lulu

It was long, bum-numbing, German, Aria-less opera with artistic nudity; but also exciting, interesting and oddly enjoyable. I was sitting next to posh, proper reviewers with their pens and notepads - I did feel rather out of place! It was only my second opera, and first review for the site - jump in at the deep-end, don't I.

The second review was for another WNO opera - Madam Butterfly this time. If, in this analogy, Lulu is Sky Arts, then Butterfly is BBC Four - much more accessible and more people can get it. I enjoyed it much more, and Lulu was a different experience but I don't think I could sit through it again whereas I'd happily see Madam Butterfly again!

The Public Reviews - WNO's Madam Butterfly






The rest of the reviews were in my beloved Cardiff's New Theatre:

The Public Reviews - Soul Sister
Amazing performance from the actress playing Tina Turner, but the show was less of a musical/play and more of a Tina Turner tribute show with scenes and video clips in between songs. The audience were on their feet for the last lot of songs!
The Public Reviews - The Ladykillers
I thought that the funniest play I saw this year was One Man, Two Guvnors; but The Ladykillers was amazing! I love the film and am so glad that the play was just as good. And Clive Mantle in a dress was the funniest curtain call I've ever seen! 
The Public Reviews - Go Back For Murder
The Public Reviews - The Rocky Horror Show
My fourth time at a Rocky Horror show, and 3rd best production I've seen - if you're wondering they go, from the best: Jason Donovan, 1998 (with Nicolas Parsons as my favourite Narrator!); David Bedella, 2010; Oliver Thornton, 2013; and Jonathan Wilkes, 2003. A subdued audience, as it was a Monday night.

One Man, Two Guvnors; Wales Millennium Centre

One Man, Two Guvnors was lauded on its original London run and welcomed with open arms on Broadway even though its humor is (largely) British. It's probably safe to say that this is the most successful stage farce in recent years, so a tour would seem obvious.

The only farce I can think that I've seen is the sitcom Frasier, all eleven series, many episodes consisted of hilarious misunderstandings, lies and people hiding in rooms; all being said this is a classy farce whereas OM,TG is just out and out farce, but it was just as hilarious non stop hilarious at that.
Being a farce the plot is not exactly easy to explain, but I'll have a go: Francis Henshall works for both Roscoe Crabb and Stanley Stubbers; motivated by hunger Henshall has to keep his 'guvnors' from finding out about each other. Crabb is in fact Rachel, Roscoe's twin sister, whose fiance is actually Stubbers who's hiding out in Brighton after killing Roscoe Crabb - hilarity ensues... I don't think I've explained it very well, I definitely haven't done it justice!

Through all of this is the performance of Welshman Owain Arthur as Henshall, I now understand the meaning of phrase (comedic) tour de force! James Corden, who originated the role, won Olivier and Tony awards for his performance, but while watching Arthur I honestly couldn't imagine anyone else in the part! The rest of the cast certainly held their own in the comedy stakes and while I imagine 95% of the ad libs and audience interaction were scripted, they made them seem totally improvised.

As well as the acting each of the cast took part in the skiffle band's interludes in between scenes. The band, The Craze, added an entertaining change to the usual scene changes in a play, and also acted as pre-show and interval entertainment, with original songs written for the play.

I loved the set, it seemed to be both simple cardboard cutout backgrounds and at the same time effectively conveyed the 1960s Brighton seafront, they were how I imagined how the sets actually might have been like in the plays of the 1960s.

Slapstick is funny but clever slapstick is hilarious!