When I went: 21 May 2014

Music Owl Hoot rating: 3/5

Location: Savoy Theatre, London

Performers: Robert Lindsay (Lawrence), Rufus Hound (Freddy), Katherine Kingsley (Christine), Samantha Bond (Muriel)

Creative team: Jerry Mitchell (director and choreographer), David Yazbek (music and lyrics), Jeffrey Lane (book)

Approximate price: £80

Special points: Focus on humour

Best bit: Great Big Stuff

If I could change one thing: More killer songs

Review:

The musical:

This musical is based on the 1988 film and focuses on the humorous competitive antics of the characters of Lawrence and Freddy and their attempted manipulation of characters such as Christine and Muriel. The humour and lyrics are sometimes a little old-fashioned (case in point: the lyrics of Great Big Stuff) but there are enough genuinely funny moments to balance out this problem.

This performance:

Robert Lindsay, a self-proclaimed ‘bloody British legend’ (see Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s TV show Extras) was endearingly funny as Lawrence, while Rufus Hound was slightly more acerbic as Freddy. Katherine Kingsley sung and acted very well as Chrstine and Samantha Bond was very sweet as Muriel. The chemistry between the actors was strong but the performance never really took off due to the bland nature of some of the songs.