Saturday, 14 February 2015

Hit And Miss

I have seen three new musicals over the last couple of weeks that have all had something entertaining and occasionally exciting to present before a paying audience.  Heels of Glory by Tricity Vogue and Richard Link, Molly Wobbly by Paul Boyd and Happy Ending by Anat Gov and adapted by Hilla Bar, Guy Retallack with music by Shlomi Shaban and Michal Solomon.

Heels of Glory at the Chelsea Theatre - my first visit to this rather lovely venue - has its roots deeply planted in the London cabaret scene. Authors Vogue and Link have crafted an amusing show that celebrates drag, trans-gender identity and the subversive cabaret scene in one hilarious action-adventure musical. It gaily mixes The Avengers (the old ATV series, not that Marvel CGI nonsense) with Drag Race and while the recent outing at the Chelsea is very much a scratch performance, I look forward to seeing the show at its next stage.
The same could be said for Molly Wobbly at the Leicester Square. Certainly, my interest was piqued by the show, not least for its colourful production history since it began life as a ten-minute musical idea by Boyd. The first act of Molly Wobbly is exceptionally witty and well crafted, flush with strong production values and even stronger, committed performances.
The disappointment comes in the second act, where the dynamism falters in favour of cheap laughs, deus ex machina resolutions and a vaguely unsatisfying conclusion. The second half needs work, but the question is, will it get any work? Has the author frozen the show with this good-looking boutique production in the West End?  Let's hope not, as there is so much potential there.
I approached Happy Ending with trepidation, not least because it's a musical set on an oncology ward. I will say however, that after the first 10 minutes I had to check my publicity to see that it actually was a musical, as there hadn't been a song yet. In fact, there were only 4 songs in the whole piece and despite all the best intentions, four songs does not a musical make. It's not a bad play but it's a deeply flawed attempt at musical, that requires a lot more work if it is to move forward.

 

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