By Paul Loader

I have to confess that I first fell in love with treading the boards when I was 16 years old and I got to play one of the leads in the Hartcliffe School production of Westside Story. Sure I should have been studying for my O-levels at the time and subsequently failed the lot, but music and I began a love affair that remains true and loyal even today. 

True, like most people, going to the theatre to see a ‘show’ is a rare treat as unless you go alone it normally costs a packet to take your partner or family to enjoy the crushed knees and back agony afforded by the once spacious Victorian seating. 

However, unlike a trip to the cinema, a trip to the theatre is a memory that will last you a life time especially if the show is a blinder. 

Over the past few years I have experienced a fair few musicals with my partner in show crime, my daughter Emma, who has developed the same love for a big musical as I have, and I thought that it might be a good time to share a few memories with you as Bristol Rocks commits to reviewing musicals as well as concerts.
 

If memory serves me right, the very first musical I saw was in Bath as a teenager on a school trip and that was Godspell. I loved it, and everything I have seen since then has to pass the Godspell test. That of hairs rising on the back of the neck, a desire to laugh, cry and cheer all at the same time…….and….most importantly, leaving the theatre with a longing to give up playing in a band and to get into performing in musicals.  

So then, what would I recommend if the show ever returned to Bristol?
 

Dr Doolittle. No! It sadly left me cold. I enjoyed the Muppet characters in it, especially the pig, but I had a real sense that Philip Schofield, as much as I respect him as a presenter, did not have the strength of personality stage wise, to hold a whole show together.  It was one of those shows where I left feeling….’.was that it?’

Cliff. Absolutely not! Sorry about that Cliff fans. I was given the tickets through work (if a show isn’t selling too well the Hippodrome will often give some tickets to the NHS etc). I think that if I had paid for them I would have been really disappointed.

I think the show meant well, but it really felt like a vehicle for the up to date Cliff Richard look alike who I think was a Stars in Your Eyes winner. Even Emma wasn’t that impressed, and she really does love all stage shows and is rarely critical.
 

The show involved hanging a load of Cliff’s back catalogue onto the story line of fans queuing to buy tickets for one of his shows. If somebody gave you a ticket, it’s definitely worth a looksee. It’s not dreadful, just missing the mark a bit.

Now this isn’t a dig at the Peter Pan of Pop as Summer Holiday was totally brilliant! Darren Day before he became a total pratt in the jungle. 

They actually had a full size London Bus on the stage. Well written, bright, colourful, excellent cast…what can I say, if it ever comes back again, it is the ultimate feel good show.

Talking of feel good shows, you REALLY have to go and see The Return to the Forbidden Planet.  Now for those not in the know. The premise is that they base the whole thing on the 50’s sci fi film (staring in a role so straight it was hilarious, Leslie Nielson), The Forbidden Planet, which in turn was based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

The film has that loud Star Trek look, all vivid colours and Formica worktops. The stage show embraces this by using music from the 50’s and 60’s to emphasise the story line. Every single member of the cast plays a musical instrument, which they swap amongst themselves.
 

A brilliant moment was when the ships cook (called Cookie surprisingly enough) launches into a Van Halen esq guitar lead solo.

The well deserved encore involved the whole cast returning to the stage as a band and launching into some of the most popular tunes of the show.

It would make a great stage play without the music, but boy was it great with it.

Like the Rocky Horror Show, it will return, and like the Rocky Horror Show, you had better get in quick before all the tickets go.
 

Talking of the Rocky Horror Show….me and the girl just had to go and see the most famous rock show of all time.

Now I have to be careful what I say about this show as saying anything negative about it would be akin to insulting their dearly departed grandmother in some people’s eyes.
 

As you might expect, it was a right old spectacle. Loads of fella’s fulfilling their latent transsexual fantasies wandering around in basks and fishnet stockings (most looking about as feminine as WG Grace), the women dressed as French maids (I reckon Ann Summers must sponsor the gig as their sales must shoot up whenever this show is in town)  A variety of Goths, university students and….well….us really! People not wanting to be the only ones turning up looking like a right pillock so not dressing up and end up looking really……normal, which is the last thing you want to look like at a RH Show.

I would have to say that the experience is all about the audience, probably more so than the show. The authorities instructing the audience not to throw rice (at the wedding) or fire water pistols (during the storm), like this lot were ever going to take notice of that kind of instruction.

The crowd responds to what’s happening on stage, and you can really tell the seasoned show goers…..all I can say is…..”SLUT!”…….if you’ve been you’ll know what I’m talking about.
 

Something a little less right field but none the less brilliant was the Blues Brothers Review. Flippin excellent!

I have to be honest I thought it was going to be a Blue Brother Band Tribute night. Not a bit of it. It was a full on show with a plot and everything…well, kind of!

They did advertise this event as the last ever….but should they decide against that I really recommend that you give it your attention.  My whole family (well the four of us) left singing away, with HUGE smiles on our faces and The Blues Brother CD didn’t leave my car stereo for weeks.

My Fair Lady was probably one of the best shows I have seen at the Hippodrome. Not very rock & roll I admit, but I left the theatre with a grin like a Cheshire Cat. Christopher Cazenove was a dead ringer for Rex Harrison playing Henry Higgins. Gareth Hale played Eliza Doolittle’s dad, and girl who played Eliza was either from Corrie or Emmerdale….but as I don’t do soaps I can’t tell you who or which.

Bottom line? The show felt like it had been staged by people who really knew what they were doing. The singing  was top notch, the acting was superb and the stage and lighting was a good as it gets. All in all, highly recommended.

Probably my biggest disappointment was Scrooge with Shane Ritchie.

Now I am a huge fan of the film musical version and Emma and I try and make a point of watching it every Christmas on DVD, it’s our tradition. So you can imagine that when the stage production came to Bristol, I got in there early and booked good seats.

I think one of the staff in the Hippodrome’s Box Office described the show the most accurately. Joyless.  The whole point of Scrooge is that he was a ‘covetous old sinner’ who found redemption and his joy at this is tangible.  Shane Ritchie felt like he was just going through the motions. A soap star who was riding high on the tide of his celebrity, without actually putting any effort it. He summed it up when returning to the stage after a rather muted curtain call and said  “Taxi for Walford”. It felt like he was biding his time until he was written back in.

I wonder what Tommy Steele in the West End production was like? I bet there was joy in that.
 

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was a spectacular and a half that’s for sure. The car flying really was feat of theatrical engineering. Gary Wilmot wasn’t as strong a singer as everybody seems to think he is, or perhaps I have missed something, I do that from time to time. However, it was a HUGE show, and I could see that the kids in the audience loved every second of it.  Truly Scrumptious!

Getting closer to present day we went to see Joseph.

Now we had seen it several years back, and it was amazing (as suggested in the title). The cast of singers were as good as you could get. The actor who played Joseph owned the stage, and the narrator (a Chinese actress if I remember rightly) was unbelievable. With a powerful voice and strong presence, she held the entire show together

So to the present day and this time Joseph was played by  the number 4 runner up in the BBC ‘Any Dream Will Do’ series, and the all important narrator gig went to the actually runner up (the Scottish kiddie that used to work in Tesco). The other big role, that of Pharaoh went to one of the finalists of the ITV Joseph equivalent, Grease.   

Now to be fair, these guys were all unknown, untrained and inexperienced. With that in mind they did an excellent job. However, being critical and comparing the show to my previous experience, I can best describe their performance as weak. Not bad, or rubbish, just lacking in experience. Give em a few years and they will be great. But not on the night I saw them.

However, nit picking aside, Joseph is a top musical and well worth an evening out at the theatre.
 

Finally, Mama Mia, the last show we went to see.

What can I say that hasn’t already been said by Bristol Rock’s very own Abba impresario? The feel good show of the year. You really would have to be Shane Ritchie as Scrooge not to like Abba songs, and in this show you get the lot. True they hang the songs around a very simple story line. But it’s a story penned by a Bristol girl and for that I am extremely proud. Like everybody else in the story I couldn’t stop grinning. I didn’t even notice the bum numbing cramp you normally experience in the Hippodrome (as the Victorians were a hell of a lot shorter than we are). And when the principle (elder) leads came back to the stage for a final encore, dressed in 70’s glam chic, lucre and white platformed boots and sang Waterloo I knew that my evening was complete.

What ever you do…..go and see Mama Mia, I loved every minute of it……..sad old rocker that I am.

So., what show would I really like to see? Gary Willmot is back with Half A Sixpence. Tommy Steele was great in the film. I wonder if Gary can pull it off? 

However THE show that I MUST must must must get to see, even if I have to travel to London, is We Will Rock You, written by Ben Elton with music by Queen.

Emma has already seen it and it blew her socks off. I am a fan of both Queen (naturally) and Ben Elton (I actually think he’s quite a good writer) so I think the combination should make for a good evenings entertainment. 

To conclude. With live music apparently on the decline in Bristol, maybe the future is going to be in musical theatre.  I’m never going to get a role in West Side Story again, at least not as one of the kids. Maybe I could pull off a better rendition of Scrooge than Shane Ritchie…..bah! Humbug!