Photo credit: Rosie Moore The Social Sort
Burlesque has finally arrived at Woking Theatre where it was originally due to start its UK tour in July. Rarely has a musical suffered so much adverse publicity with stories of financial problems, cast injuries, unpaid suppliers and cast members, changes in the creative team, and still become the hot ticket for legions of largely female fans of the original 2010 film and the music of Christina Aguilera. For all of the stories that dogged the West End run and start of the tour, there was a sense of high anticipation and excitement before the show, like being part of a 1000 person strong hen party! Even the ten-minute delay to the start before the announcement that Macy Dermody Blythe would play Ali and Emma Lloyd would play Queenie was greeted happily before the energetic and lithe cast burst into the opening song of ‘Welcome to Burlesque’.
The stage version of the film has Ali going to New York where she meets Tess (played by Faye Brookes) who runs a failing nightclub where burlesque (not striptease we are told) is performed. Tess’ club features Nikki (Vanessa Ela Young) , Daphne (Leah Pugh), Peaches (Freya Baddeley) , Pearl (Kizzi Pink Simpson) and Queenie, plus four frequently topless male dancers overseen by Sean (Ryan Carter). The sub plot is that Tess’ estranged husband Vince (Davide Fienauri) is trying to gain control of the club and tries to enlist one of the dancers, Nikki, to steal her cash from the bank. Ali develops a relationship with the bar tender Jack (Tyler Davis) before seizing the chance to become a burlesque dancer herself.
We have seen the narrative of mother-daughter relationships in the brilliant musical Gypsy culminating in ‘Rosa’s Turn’. We have seen the seedy, sexy world of nightclubs in the wonderful Cabaret with Emcee in ‘Money’. We have seen the amazing ensemble routines of Chicago like ‘Cell Block Tango’. All are female led narratives. Burlesque is a mish mash pastiche of all of them but in those musicals, the characters are better developed, the dialogue more engaging, the plot and storytelling more interesting, and the songs are truly, emotionally powerful.
There are thirty-five songs listed in the programme, with a credit to Todrick Hall as lyricist, music or vocal arranger on over twenty of them, yet he gets no creative biography. Around ten were in the original 2010 film. A combination of a poor sound mix, which sometimes creates a hollow sound and other times a muffled vocal, together with poor diction in American accents and breathless delivery, means it is hard to understand the lyrics or distinguish between many of the tunes. We are not even sure that all thirty-five songs remain in the current show. Occasionally, a song stands out but the overall effect is a series of glitzy pop videos delivered in garish, brash lighting with cartoonish projected images linked by a thin narrative. We enjoyed the ensemble routine in ‘Fabulous’, the developing relationship and comedy between Ali and Jack in ‘Too Soon’, and the “cookie scene” with a naked Jack in his apartment, and were amused by the boy band parody with Jack and four male dancers in ‘Natalie’. But in the end, there is no standout song that you recall as they take their bows.
Steven Antin wrote the original screenplay and adapted it for the stage as well as producing it. He writes in the programme about the “extraordinary creative team” with an “expanded world, deepened characters and a fresh theatrical heartbeat”. The cast certainly work hard to deliver that vision, with some good choreography from Robin Antin whose credits are in the world of music with the Pussycat Dolls, alongside a more traditional musical theatre choreographer Aaron Renfree replacing the West End choreographer and director, Todrick Hall. It feels that the flawed creative process and trauma that brought this to the touring stage has left its mark. Yet the audience seemed to love it, whooped often, laughed with MC Sean, and admired the movement and dance of the ensemble. So if you are a fan of original 2010 film and the music of Christina Aguilera, you will probably enjoy this theatrical version as it tours the UK or when it returns to the West End, as it surely will if a full house at Woking is anything to judge it by. But we’d prefer to see a stronger, more interesting narrative, more authentic dialogue, characters to care about and music to remember. When you get those elements, you have musical theatre to be remembered for all the right reasons, not the creative process that brought them to the stage.
*** Three stars
Reviewed by: Nick Wayne