SIX – REVIEW

SIX

Arts Theatre, London

 

Reviewed by Katie Middlebrook

Seen March 10th, 2019

♚♚♚♚♚♚ (<- yes, stars won’t do it. Bring out the royal attire!)

 

“Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.” 

SIX The Musical is a brand-new musical phenomenon that everyone is losing their heads over and the soundtrack is storming up the UK pop charts. 

SIX was originally performed by Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society directed by Jamie Armitage before first playing in The Arts Theatre in December 2017. 

The story of SIX allows each of Henry VIII’s wives to tell their story individually of what they went through during their time as his wife. 

The show starts with the opening song ‘Ex-Wives’ and from the get-go the energy on stage is very apparent. The girl’s costumes have an aspect of old fashion to them but at the same time are very modernised. Each girl has an individual style which fits their character. A part of the costume I really liked is the little microphone holders where during dance numbers, the girls can still carry their microphones but without having to hold them. 

In-between each song the characters tell you are little bit about their story and set up the song before it starts. During these times you can really see the chemistry and friendship between the six girls not only as their characters on stage but also off. The banter they have on stage with each other and the way they deliver the lines had me sitting on the edge of my seat and smiling from ear to ear. 

The first of the wives to tell their story is Catherine of Aragon who was played by Jarneia Richard-Noel. The energy of the girls carries on into this song was a real joy to watch with some fun dance breaks between verses and sassy comments put in throughout the song. The interaction and involvement with getting the audience to clap and dance along with them was great. With the amount energy put into the song the audience are quick and eager to join in. 

The next song is ‘Don’t Lose Ur Head’ which is Anne Boleyn’s story performed by Millie O’Connell. This is one of my favourite songs on the soundtrack, so I was very excited to see this song performed on stage and it definitely lived up to my expectations. Millie’s sassy and engaging performance had me mesmerised from the start and was one of the stand out performances of the show. 

Next up is Jane Seymour’s ‘Heart of Stone’ so wonderfully performed by Natalie Paris. This is also another one of my favourite songs from the album and did not disappoint. Natalie’s outstanding voice and performance had me tearing up and giving me goose bumps with the emotion she put into her performance. 

The fifth song on the soundtrack is ‘Haus Of Holbein’ which is one of the comedy songs. The outfits, lighting and dancing in this song are all very cleverly thought out with parts of them glowing in the dark. This part of the show is set in Germany and I love how the girls all talk and sing in German accents to fit in with this theme. The lyrics, outfits, dancing and accents were hilarious and had me laughing, making this one of my favourite dance numbers in the show. 

Alexia McIntosh plays Anna of Cleves and definitely got down during her solo, ‘Get Down’. The lyrics in this song are hilarious and Alexia performs them so easily leaving the audience hanging on to her every word. 

‘All You Wanna Do’ by Katherine Howard is another one of my favourite songs (are you seeing the pattern here?! Ha!) This is performed by Aimie Atkinson. There is a certain serious side to this song with some of the lyrics being very powerful and this was shown through the choreography throughout the song. ‘All You Wanna Do’ is one of the harder songs to sing in my opinion and Aimie sings it with so much ease and sounded phenomenal. 

Last but not least, Catherine Parr tells her story with her song ‘I Don’t Need Your Love’. Courtney Stapleton, the alternate Catherine Parr, was the one to perform this song. Her voice and outstanding delivery of a meaningful song were fantastic. 

The finale ‘Six’ is where you really see what the show is about. Girl power. The all-female band all get a chance to showcase their amazing talent along with each girl getting a chance to show their outstanding vocals. 

SIX The Musical recently got nominated for five Olivier awards and after seeing this show I can see why. The talent on stage is absolutely breath-taking and I wish them all the luck in the world. I will be raving about it for years to come. 

The live pop-concert musical returned to the Arts Theatre, London in January 2019 after playing in venues around the UK such as Cambridge, Southampton, Glasgow and Edinburgh. 

SIX The Musical, “Divorced. Beheaded. LIVE in concert!” is at the Arts Theatre until January 2020 so grab the hottest ticket in town while you still can!

More information about the show and tickets can be found here.

 

Knights of the Rose – REVIEW

Knights of the Rose

The Arts Theatre, London

 

Seen July 5th, 2018

Reviewed by Jade Prince

★★★

I was really rooting for this show to be much more. Having seen this talented cast perform on numerous occasions and sounds epic each time, I had high hopes. Unfortunately, the music and vocals couldn’t carry the show alone.

Knights of the Rose is meant to be an epic Shakespearean tale of love, betrayal and sacrifice but a lot of this seemed under developed. The rock score was what made the show unique and exciting with music from Bon Jovi, Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler to name a few.

I do want to take a moment to appreciate the cast. Wow! These guys were great! Their voices were incredible! Pretty much every number sounded brilliant!

This biggest let down for me was the fact the show didn’t know what it was. It was right in the middle of being a serious Shakespearean play and a cliche rock playlist put to a story. The songs were used very literally throughout the show and several had the audience laughing within the first bar. A reaction along the line of “Oh my God, are they really using this song!”. I mean, with the literal use, the songs worked very well.

I felt that a lot fo the characters were under developed. One moment the princesses were madly in love, the next, not interested. And then through a drastic change in circumstance, about to marry a man you had know idea they were interested in!

The staging was rather nice. Two levels and sections which moved in order to show the scene changes from the castle, to the bar, to the battle field. One scene that really sticks in my mind was the battle scene in act 2 with the horses. I want to say it was the number “The War To Win”. This was a pretty spectacular scene! The horse head puppets were beautiful and the use of the mesh screen down stage was stunning. You really felt like you were in the heart of the battle with the pouring rain.

I have to say the writing really made you root for certain characters. At one point you wanted the so call ‘villain’ to be killed by the man he betrayed and just when you think it could happen, your hopes were crushed! It was nice to see that aspect wasn’t predictable.

I really need to take a moment to point out a flaw which I couldn’t stop noticing. The shoes. Oh, the shoes. The male shoes were fine but the female shoes were a no, no. They were modern high street shoes. It was as if they were going to get off stage, rip their historical dresses off and hit the town! They were definitely not in-keeping with the time period.

I think if it was developed more into a lighthearted Shakespeare rock musical it could enjoy great success. Or maybe it is there already? It is just needing some way to convey this to the audience.

Overall, this was an enjoyable show. I would recommend it but don’t go in there expecting anything flash. The music and vocal performance was really what made the show for me.

Knights of the Rose is playing at The Arts Theatre until Sunday 26th August.

Information on the show and tickets can be found at: http://knightsoftherose.co.uk

Also don’t forget to follow Knights of the Rose of twitter.

If you are still intrigued, we got to still down briefly with Katie Birtill and Rebekah Lowings at the press call. Check out the short interview here.

The Toxic Avenger The Musical – REVIEW

The Toxic Avenger The Musical

Arts Theatre, London

 

Seen October 25th, 2017

Reviewed by Jade Prince

★★★★★

If you are needing something to make you laugh, this show will certainly do the trick! Based on the film released in 1984, this rock musical combines dark comedy, romance, brutally honest truths about the world we live in and an epic score to give you a theatre experience you shall never forget!

The town of Tromaville, New Jersey, is turning into a toxic cesspit as it quickly becomes the dumping ground for the rich’s waste. When the situation becomes critical it is up to one unlikely hero to save the day, a hero by the name of Melvin Ferd the Third (Mark Anderson). His journey of self-discovery, self- acceptance and finding love is given a hilarious twist.

So, I went into this show with no knowledge of the story just the recommendation from friends saying that if I love Urinetown and The Rocky Horror Picture Show then I will also love this. They weren’t wrong! It is the perfect blend of the two with strong elements of Heathers -musical as well.

Initially it started off very cheesy and I didn’t know whether I was going to enjoy it. The opening number ‘Who will say New Jersey?’ was incredibly similar to the opening of Urinetown with the narration and bombardment of intentional jokes. The narration was not the main focus of the rest of the show which was nice. If my memory serves me right, it only happened again in act 2 briefly. The cheese quickly subsided and more well thought out jokes were thrown in. There were so many unexpected ones which really caught me off guard and brought out my ugly laugh! It was so refreshing to hear new jokes that I hadn’t heard before in other shows. Typically speaking a lot of shows do re-use jokes by rewording or changing the context slightly however these were completely different. Occasionally bordering on offensive but come on, we all laugh at the offensive ones!

The use of the set was great and the scene changes were subtle but worked so well. I love how the pipes hid a lot of the subtle scene changes. The three pipes on stage opened out to reveal either bookshelves (library scene), doctor’s cabinets, a coffee shop and a salon. This worked really well because despite the stage being on the small side at the arts theatre, without very much effort the scene noticeably changed. I absolutely loved the chase scene towards the mid half of act 2. It was beautiful. It involved the cast running from stage left to stage right and then backstage to re-enter on stage left to do it again during that one number. It helped to add another element of comedy to the show.

Before seeing this show it is important to remember that it does not take itself seriously at all! To be honest, it doesn’t take anything seriously, including other musicals. It pokes fun at other successful musicals however this was kept up to date and also incorporated into the set. Some of the show referred to were Hamilton, Hairspray, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Urinetown, Book of Mormon, In the Heights and Wicked. These were through a mixture of very obvious and very subtle hints.

The whole cast were incredible! The stand out performances were Emma Salvo (Sarah). The way she carried that character blew me away. Sarah is a blind girl, Salvo acted it so well. She never focused on any of the other characters present on stage and although could see everything that was happening, she was unable to react as it would break the illusion of her character being blind. A huge shout out to Ché Francis (Black Dude). His facial expressions and eyes were giving me life! Absolutely hilarious! I take my hat off to that cast and the way some of them had to double up or even triple up their character portrayal. Francis and Oscar Conlon-Morrey (White Dude) were fabulous with all their other smaller character roles. The speed in which they changed into them and how drastically different each one was blew me away. Another stand out moment during the show was Natalie Hope (Mayor/ Ma Ferd/Nun) and they way she handled ‘Bitch/Slut/Liar/Whore’. Every note was absolutely perfect, the acting of both characters was still there and the comedy.

This was a very enjoyable show. I highly recommend it to everyone. It is back in London after a sell out run at the Southwark Playhouse last year. Be sure to snatch a ticket for this show. It has a limited time left at the Arts Theatre and is booking until December 3rd. Tickets and more information available here: https://artstheatrewestend.co.uk/whats-on/the-toxic-avenger/