08th Oct2017

The Toxic Avenger (Theatre)

by timbaros

THE TOXIC AVENGER THE MUSICAL 1 Mark Anderson as Toxie Phorto Irina Chira

There’s a monster loose at The Arts Theatre in London; it’s toxic, it smells, and it’s completely hilarious!

It’s “The Toxic Avenger,” the show that was originally a movie (circa 1984) and just last year played at The Southwark Playhouse to rave reviews. Well, “The Toxic Avenger” is getting revenge by coming back to a much larger theatre, with a superb cast!

In a nutshell, the show takes place in New Jersey. You know the place, people only pass through there to get to the bright lights and big city of New York. Well, New Jersey is where the denizens of Manhattan dispose of all of it’s waste – not just garbage but everything and anything that they don’t want, New Jersey, unfortunately, gets.

But in a town called Tromaville, New Jersey, which gets the worst of the wasted, there is nerd and aspiring earth scientist Melvin Ferd the Third (Mark Anderson), his mom Ma Ferd (Natalie Hope), Sarah the blind librarian (Emma Salvo), and host of other characters played by Ché Francis and Oscar Conlon-Morray, named appropriately as black dude and white dude. But when Melvin decides to find out who is responsible for the vats of toxic waste in Tromaville, he plans to put a stop to it. His investigation leads to the Mayor (Hope again), but when she finds out Melvin is on her case, she gets her two goons to get rid of Melvin, and they throw him into a vat of toxic sludge. But Melvin does not get killed, he comes back bigger and better than ever – he’s been transformed into “The Toxic Avenger” (a/k/a Toxie)!

Toxie attempts to get his revenge, but in the meantime blind librarian Sarah has a thing for him because she thinks he’s French (though when Toxie was Melvin he had a huge crush on her but she rebuffed him). Meanwhile the Mayor is still up to no good and vows to kill Toxie no matter what it takes. But hilarity (and lots of physical comedy) ensue; lots of running on and off the stage by the cast, Sarah doing everything she can to get with Toxie, and the brilliant Hope has a scene with herself as both the Mayor and Ms. Ferd – and one time she’s on stage as both characters! It’s a tour de force performance! Will Sarah and Toxie find love with each other? Will the corrupt Mayor have her way and turn Tromaville into more of a toxic waste dump? Will the front row of the audience escape unscathed? You will have to find out and buy tickets to this must-see show. And did I mention that it’s a musical? Everything you want and more is this show! And the cast are brilliant! It’s hard to single out any one performer, but I’m going to. Of course Hope gets the most exercise (and laughs) as both the Mayor and Melvin’s mother, but it’s Salvo’s performance that is most memorable because she’s playing a bind woman, and it’s so believable! And she’s so funny! Kudos to the cast, and production team, including director Benji Sperring, for bringing us a show that’s one not too miss. It’s got everything a musical should have; escapism, fantasy, great story, amazing performances, and some rocking songs. Buy tickets for this show now!

From Joe DiPietro and David Bryan (original founding member and keyboardist/vocalist for Bon Jovi), the Tony Award-winning team behind the hit West End musical ‘Memphis,“ “The Toxic Avenger The Musical” is now playing at The Arts Theatre in London until December 3, 2017.
https://artstheatrewestend.co.uk/whats-on/the-toxic-avenger/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyPyZ8Jzd1gIVB5UbCh3pcQKkEAAYAiAAEgL_GPD_BwE

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22nd May2017

Judy (Theatre)

by timbaros

Judy! 11 - photocreditIt’s Judy Judy Judy in the new show aptly titled Judy now playing at the Arts Theatre in Central London.

We are treated to Judy Garland in three pivotal stages of her life. There’s the young Judy before her Wizard of Oz role – ages 13 through 16 – brilliantly played by Lucy Penrose. Then there is Palace Judy – the time in Garland’s life when she was performing on Broadway at the Palace Theatre, age 29 – with Belinda Wollaston in the role. Then we’re treated to CBS Judy – the 47 year-old star (played by Helen Sheals) who, unbeknownst to all, was in the last year of her life while having her own television show on America’s CBS network.

The intertwining of Judy’s lives in this show is both fantastic and fabulous. It’s also tragic because Judy died at the age of 47 in London due to an overdose of barbiturates in 1969 (a few days later the Stonewall riots kicked off). Judy had such a tumultuous life, and it didn’t make matters any better in that she was an extremely insecure, and nervous, woman. Young Judy’s father (played by Joe Shefer) ran a cinema, but he also had a predilection for young boys. Her mother Ethel (Amanda Bailey) was an extremely controlling stage mother. But Palace Judy’s life isn’t much better. In her 20’s she takes various drugs just to help her get through each day, and even though she married five times, it was Sid Luft (Harry Anton) who was the one who really cared for her. But CBS Judy (who actually opens the show with a rounding version of ‘Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries’ – sung brilliantly by Sheals) seems to be on the right track – she’s got a hit television show – but the network keeps on demanding more and more from her, and the bills keep piling up. It’s too much for a woman as fragile as Judy to take, and even though her death is not played out on stage, we all know what’s going to happen to her next.

Judy is excellent. It’s all due to the three women who play Judy, they are all very good – but it’s Penrose who shines a bit more because she plays the version of Judy who is young and innocent, and Penrose conveys that excellently. When all three sing ‘Almost Like Being in Love’ – it’s an event! And when all three get together to sing the finale – ‘Over the Rainbow’ – there’s not a dry eye in the house.

Director and writer Ray Rackham, along with the rest of his crew, have staged a musical that tells the life of Judy Garland who was larger than life. And the parallel timeframes used in this production is genius. Cleverly, the musicians also act in the show, including Judith Kramer, who plays CBS Judy’s assistant. This same production was at the intimate Southwark Playhouse last year and it’s good to see that practically the same cast and crew were brought back to stage this show in a bigger theatre for more people to watch it.

Judy is a fabulous and fantastic show. It’s only playing at the Arts Theatre until June 17th, so catch it as soon as you can. Tickets can be bought here:
https://artstheatrewestend.co.uk

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09th Nov2015

Lovesong of the Electric Bear (Theatre)

by timbaros

_w_kIINyrk05qdvM9oQeNsgc_E-rrWF6pR0x6LwtCE0,At35341H8GxfRT4nit3Pi0Zu5kCAadcd9TsaN6zDqm8Alan Turing’s life is told, with the help of his teddy bear, in the new play ‘Lovesong of the Electric Bear.’

Yes, you read it right. It’s a teddy bear called Porgy (Bryan Pilkington in a teddy bear suit) who guides Turing (and the audience) through the events in his life. From his life as a young boy in France, where he was a bit different from the other boys, to his time in Bletchley, where he created his machine which broke the German code during World War 2. It’s a strange and unusual little show, currently playing in the small studio upstairs in the Arts Theatre on Great Newport Street, redesigned to look like a codebreakers bunker.

It’s a true story, written by the late Andrew Wilson. Turing evidently did have a teddy bear, and it’s the teddy bear in the opening sequence who awakens Turing from his deathbed and takes him through the journey of his life. It’s an incredible journey, a journey we all know very well from last year’s hit film ‘The Imitation Game,’ which starred Benedict Cumberbatch as Turing. Not much new information on Turing is provided in this production, but it’s the viewpoint of the teddy bear giving advice and opinion on every move Turing which makes is interesting to say the least. And it’s quite funny, and surreal, especially when Turing (played stoically and confidently by Ian Hallard) starts ‘dating’ Joan (an excellent Laura Harling), and he takes her to meet his parents, but it’s always the bear who is in the background giving advise and musing about Turing’s wrong decisions. And it’s also the bear who advises Turing to get far away from the rent boy (Chris Levens, very good in all the roles he plays in this show) that eventually brought upon Turing’s downfall. And of course we all know how it ends, and that’s the sad part, there was nothing the bear could have done for Turing, in the play and in real life. Turing’s was a life cut too short, he was a man too far ahead of his time.

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