Bend it Like Beckham: The Musical

This was another production to which I was pleasantly surprised.We went to see it as a family for my sister’s 15th birthday, and I could not work out how they were going to turn a gentle football/ Indian themed rom-com into an all singing all dancing stage production. Not least because the film soundtrack was very of its time, with no real stand out tunes that could be converted to musical theatre.

However, the creative minds behind the musical obviously had much better vision than me. The staging was incredible with revolving scenery that at one moment was Southall market, the next a football stadium, then the Bhamra’s lounge and even a German nightclub. The staging was also multi level so we could see the two main protagonists Jess and Jules in their bedrooms while their parents fussed and worried over them in their respective lounges below. The fusion of Punjabi culture and British London, football and musical theatre came together in such a colourful vibrant mix i think we were all taken aback at how effective it all was. It worked so brilliantly and with such creativity and skill my whole family were impressed, even my uncle for whom musical theatre is not his first love, and my slightly old fashioned gran for whom going to the theatre to see an ” football musical” didn’t seem to delight her, came away singing its praises.

The story is naturally identical to the film – Jess’ family want her to behave like a lady, give up football, find a man and be a good Indian wife, like her sister Pinky; Jules’ mum has similar worries regarding football and attracting a man, but instead assumes Jules is a lesbian and not interested in men at all. The plot thickens when they both fall for the same guy, specifically their football coach, Joe. Joe chooses Jess which adds complications both to Jess and Jules’ friendship but also Jess’ relationship with her family as she is hiding her football career from them, and her attraction to Joe, complicated further by him being demonstrably white, and very far from the traditional Indian boys they had in mind. It all comes to a climax with Pinky’s big Indian wedding which clashes with the end of the season match where an American talent scout comes to watch both Jess and Jules to offer them a place playing football professionally in America.

The fusion of Bhangra/Punjabi music with traditional West End theatre worked seamlessly, bringing Southall and the Bhamra family to life with aplomb. The score was beautiful and moving and in places uplifting,the lyrics fun, comical and inspiring, particularly the “Girl Perfect” training montage of the football team. However by equal measures the show proved its worth by going beyond the light-hearted nature of the film to become at once thought provoking and sad, when discussing the hostile behavior of Londoners to the first generation of the Bhamra family, (Jess’ parents and their friends) when they first moved over from Bangladesh to seek a new life of prosperity for themselves and their young families, and the sacrifices they made to get themselves the life they have now.

My one complaint would be that, while there are some definitive numbers, a lot of the time they are reprised over and over that during the 2 hour + running time I thought I could probably have got up and sung them too. “Girl Perfect” is sung at least three times, as is “Glorious” and “People Like Us” – although admittedly with a different angle each time but still. The music makes such beautiful use of the wide range of instruments and styles available, it’s a shame there weren’t more individual numbers. Credit where credit’s due however, the female soloist performing traditional wedding songs as Jess’ family prepare Pinky for her wedding day, was utterly beautiful and Sophie-Louise Dann’s solo “There She Goes” as a well-meaning mum who feels shut out of her daughter’s life brought a tear to my eye, not least out of sympathetic guilt that I may have done the same to my mum at a similar age. Indeed, all of the music was brilliant, it just seemed like there was too much repetition in what was ultimately a brilliant show.

A few other thoughts:

• The safety curtain on display before the show’s opening was the most vibrant and interesting I’ve ever seen – what on the surface looked like a traditional Indian piece of material was actually full of hidden motifs to the plot of the show – worth getting their early just to spot them all!
• Tony Jayawardena and Natasha Jayetileke who play Jess’ traditional parents were a fantastic double act, truly believable parents who at the same time provided a lot of the comedy and the pathos.
• Lauren Samuels I watched in Over the Rainbow when she was auditioning to be Dorothy in  the Wizard of Oz, although she was disappointed in that, she was fantastic in this with an amazing voice – and also an amazing six pack as she spent most of the show in some kind of sports kit and sports bra. Her football skills were none too shabby either!
• It was very strange to see this in a summer that has highlighted the leaps and bounds British women’s football in recent years – when this musical remains a product of the film’s time, circa 2000, where football was not considered a genuinely possible career for a woman, where Britain had no training academies for women, nor was women’s football taken seriously whichever walk of life you came from.
• Jamie Campbell Bower was better than I thought he’d be – the weakest voice in the company but for someone who was in Harry Potter and Twilight it’s not like singing was the foundation of his career. I maintain his best role to date was as a young King Arthur in C4’s Camelot which they never recommissioned after series 1 – big mistake in my book.
• Preeya Kalidas has an amazing voice! For someone who has only known her in Eastenders I was very impressed! I have to say less so by her speaking voice (which I know she was putting on) but it was a bit too overdone and shrill at times, but maybe that’s just me.
• The Sikh wedding celebrations looked amazing, so colourful and loud and musical, this was a fantastic piece of theatre, especially when merged into the football team match build up and subsequent celebrations.
• If you haven’t seen this, you should! Especially if you were a Noughties teenager and grew up with the film.

American Idiot: the musical

OK, cards on the table, I bought my friend tickets to this musical not expecting it to be good, but more of a nostalgia fest, and a bit of a laugh. It was all of those things (although possibly less of a laugh) and also, a really good show, with a well developed story: I was pleasantly surprised.

(I didn’t pay £32.50)

Ten years ago my friend Sophie and I were 15 and massive Green Day fans; we begged our parents to let us go to Milton Keynes Super Bowl ( I never understood why a more local and iconic venue, such as Wembley wasn’t available) to watch the American Idiot tour. Which we did, we had the Time of our Life and look back on it with fond memories still, therefore watching the musical when it came to town (and thanks to LoveTheatre’s reduced price tickets) was a no brainer.

It’s being staged in the London Arts Theatre, not a venue I’ve ever been to, it’s a lot smaller than I expected, but it’s really cosy with a nice foyer and cafe and a an old fashioned auditorium. Our seats were right at the back, the scenery was really dingy and dark, with lots of graffiti, street art and grime and when we first arrived, old TVs showing footage of 9/11, subsequent reactions and George W. Bush making stupid comments, memorably “you’re either with us, or you’re with the terrorists”.

The scene opened, predictably with “American Idiot”, and at first it was very strange adjusting to the songs you’ve heard so many times over, sang by Bille Joe in his very distinctive voice, suddenly being sung by someone else. When it first opened it felt a bit strange, not least because I think the guy with the weakest voice just happened to open the show – as it went on it turned out he wasn’t the lead so I’m not sure why he was chosen – but what I’m trying to say is once I got used to the new voices taking on Green Day it was a very good show! To their credit none of the cast were particularly “musical theatre” which is what I was worried about when I knew the songs were being adapted for stage, the three leads had strong punk rock voices, no boy band or musical theatre here.

The same goes for the plot. As a fan I’m aware the subject matter of the songs is not entirely uplifting but in a way the plot was even bleaker.  Opening on 12th September 2001, 9/11 having entirely passed them by, we follow 3 young guns, Johnny, Tunny (I was sure it was Tommy but Wikipedia says differently) and Will from downtown “Jingletown” who spend their days drinking, getting high, playing video games and generally letting life pass them by. They decide to go on Holiday, to try and improve their lives. Will chooses to stay behind after finding out his girlfriend is pregnant, the other two go on without him. After a month or two of getting drunk and taking yet more drugs, Tunny has enough, gets out, joins the Army and gets despatched to fight in Bush’s War on Terror in Iraq. Protagonist Johnny stays where he is and his life spirals out of control as he gets more and more involved in an underworld of drugs and partying, egged on by St Jimmy, who, it slowly turns out is Johnny subconscious, the dark side of himself.

Basically the whole thing gets bleaker and bleaker. Will can’t cope with young parenthood, his relationship breaks down, his girlfriend leaves him and takes the baby, Tunny goes to war, gets shot and loses his leg, and Johnny becomes a heroine addict. Along the way he meets a mysterious girl, the girl of “She’s a Rebel” and “Whatshername” fame, and falls in love- but even she can’t save him from himself. Things reach a fever pitch and everyone ends up back where they started, a lot of life experience and crappy times later. This is all set to the entire American Idiot album, in order, plus some extra material, some I assume was written for the show and some from later albums, such as “21 Guns” and “Know Your Enemy”.

The staging was incredibly creative, especially as the scenery never changed throughout, only the props and the activity of the cast. Highlights for me were the bus ride set to “Holiday”, the shadowy, UV effects of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and the heart wrenching “Give me Novacaine” and also “Wake me up when September Ends”. Despite a bleak plot, it was funny and touching in places as well as made brilliant use of the original Green Day lyrics. I really really enjoyed it. The grand finale, where the entire cast sang “Good Riddance (Time of your Life)” each with a guitar, was the icing on the cake for the 15 year old super fan within me.

A few other points:

• The theatre was the hottest theatre I’ve ever been in, probably because we had the seats at the absolute back. If you’re going, bear that mind and definitely do not bring a jumper, you won’t need it.
• “American Idiot” was the weakest number of the show
• “Letterbomb” worked perfectly as a jilted female lover’s anthem, sung with just the right amount of grit by Amelia Lily
• The lead man, Aaron Sidwell who played Johnny had the least Green Day sounding voice of the lot and occasionally strayed into the nasal
• The best voice accolade went to Steve Rushton, who played Will who, sadly, had the least solo opportunities. (According to Wikipedia he used to be in James Bourne’s band Son of Dork, sadly missed by all…)
• Aaron Sidwell it turns out, used to play Stephen Beale in Eastenders and even more bizarrely I remembered him turning up to a party in someone’s field I was at when I was about 17. He turned up hanging out of his mate’s sunroof, proclaiming “Stephen Beale is in da hoooooouse!!!”, I’m glad to say we’ve all moved on since then!
• UPDATE: Aaron Sidwell has since categorically denied this last fact on Twitter, in which case I assume I mis-remembered, and someone else announced his arrival in that fashion, in which case I apologise, it was a long time ago and as, I recall, a very messy night!

Sunny Afternoon – The Kinks Musical

This cheery musical with its loving homage to London town has recently won 4 Olivier Awards, and not without good reason.

I should say before I begin that when I went to watch this, we had £15 tickets which were on the balcony with a “restricted view” – and also restricted leg room, much to the chargrin and complaints of the more elderly audience members around us. One particular group actually complained and asked to be moved as they decided they could not sit comfortably in such conditions and demanded to be moved. My 6ft 3 boyfriend however has double their leg length and happily squashed himself into his seat for as he argued, “if you pay £15, what do you expect?” Well quite.

Anyway, caveat of restricted view and restricted movement aside, we really enjoyed the show. The restricted view wasn’t even especially restricted, we just had to lean forward when they went to far down the promenade from the stage. I had booked it completely ignorant of the fact that it was a biographical musical of the actual lives of the Kinks themselves, I thought it would go down the Mamma Mia route of telling a completely separate story, using the music of the Kinks. However, it worked well. The four main cast members had excellent chemistry on stage as the fractured young working class band just starting out, all wide eyed and getting ripped off by middle class music execs, and tracks their metamorphosis into a massive band with a huge following, able to call the shots and become divas in the process.

John Dagleish and George Maguire were fantastic as the ever competitive brothers, Ray and Dave Davies, with the latter turning to drink and partying to move out of his brother’s shadow, while Ray himself married young and became affected by fits of depression whenever he wasn’t touring or making music.

The musical is true to fact, charting The Kinks’ rise, their infamous tour of America where they were banned for fighting among themselves and with the US unions about the tax they were obliged to pay whilst in the US. It makes use of some of the Kinks’ best songs as it goes along, You Really Got Me, All Day and All of the Night, Dedicated Follower of Fashion, and of course Sunny Afternoon itself.

My only complaints would be that it adds too much emphasis on Ray Davies being some kind of child protegee and musical genius in his songwriting, which seems extra-saccharine considering Ray Davies himself was heavily involved in the production of the musical and the adaption of The Kinks’ songs for stage. Also, it is slightly too long, it gets a bit slow in the middle surrounding Davies’ darker days, building up to the crescendo of the success of Sunny Afternoon coinciding with the English victory at the 1966 World Cup – which felt like it would’ve been a fantastic finale – there was confetti and everything!

However, the play meandered on for another 30-40mins where the Davies’ fell out (again), bassist Pete Quaife quit and was persuaded back into the fold by Ray Davies, who promised him a role in an iconic tune, with a heavy bass line intro – Waterloo Sunset. The general hype and good reception of the album that followed Waterloo Sunset, led to a final scene where it was assumed the band had finally “made it” with a sell out show in NYC’s Madison Square Gardens with hundreds of screaming fans.

It was a fun filled finale with a real gig-like feel as the sound was cranked up to the max and the four band members pulled out all the stops for a convincing medley, included the legendary Lola (a personal favourite of mine).

It was just a shame it was a US ending, when all the while it had been portraying a thoroughly home grown talent, if it had ended with the British Summer Street Party finale of the Sunny Afternoon scene, it might’ve felt slightly more fitting.

But I’m being picky. Overall it was a fantastic feel good show that also felt like a gig, with all the classic Kinks songs thrown in. A must see – especially for £15, and if your legs are squashed, get up and dance!