Review: 9 to 5 The Musical

9 to 5 is based on the film of the same name from 1978 and is about how three secretaries get their own back on their male chauvinistic boss. The story has been toned down a bit as they no longer want to kill him but more to punish and rehabilitate him.

The musical has Dolly Parton written all over it which is not surprising really as she has not just given her name to the show but had a massive input into it from the music to the story and the characters.

In some ways the story is dated and very much a story of its time being set in the 1980s. Its quirky, corny and daft at times but it seems to work as one forgets political correctness and the equality of men and women in the workplace that we take for granted (mostly) today. 

Apart from the song 9 to 5 the tunes and lyrics are unmemorable. No great hits here. Thankfully we had at least 2 renditions of 9 to 5 to get the audience up dancing and singing in their seats. 

The star of the show was Brian Conley who played Mr Hart the male chauvinistic boss from hell. It was amazing how he held the audience in the palm of his hand with perfect comedy timing. Let’s face it Brian can’t really sing or dance to any high level, but it didn’t really matter. Even with those limitations I can’t imagine anyone else could have done the part of Mr Hart so well.  What casting! The double act scene with Roz (Lucinda Lawrence) as she fantasised about her unrequited love for her boss was probably the best scene of all. 

It took a while to get used to the Dolly Parton character but Georgina Castle who played the role of Doralee soon began to bring the audience with her on this journey. Well done also to Laura Tyrer who ably stepped in to play Violet in this performance.  Also, a mention for Amber Davies who ably played Judy. What a great line up of actors.

The stage setting, the music and the lights were West End theatre at its best and all brought to MK Theatre.

This will be a sell out show so do try and see it. It’s on until Saturday 28^th September.  

Tickets from www.atgtickets.com/Miltonkeynes or telephone 0844 871 7652 (booking fee applies)

Review: Avenue Q at Milton Keynes Theatre

Review: Avenue Q at Milton Keynes Theatre – Tuesday 10^th September

Back for a second run at Milton Keynes Theatre this puppet show could initially be mistaken for the muppets. But this is certainly not the Sesame Street that you’d want your children to watch any time soon.

The story follows Princeton who is a fresh-faced English graduate growing up and trying to find his purpose in life – a life of humans, puppets and some rather offensive songs which you can’t help but start singing along with. Who knew there would be a five minute song about what the internet is actually used for?

Intermixing puppet characters and human characters together on stage as if they co-exist in the real world worked really well. Initially I thought I would pay more attention to the puppeteers instead of the puppets but as the show went on the puppets stole the show with their great facial expressions that portrayed their feelings and intricate movements progressing the story (although some of these movements are a bit more risqué than others).

The set remains pretty much the same throughout – the only changes coming from different ‘doors’ opening to indicate a different setting and changes in lighting to portray a change of mood or pace. I feel this had mixed success as when some of the doors opened, they were quite small and it was quite hard to see what was behind each door.

The small cast were fantastic – many of them operating more than one puppet and seamlessly switched between each character making it appear there were more cast members than there actually were. Stand out character for me had to be Trekkie Monster with his crude songs and matching actions.

Avenue Q is at Milton Keynes Theatre until Saturday 14^th September.

Tickets available from https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/avenue-q/milton-keynes-theatre

An Interview with Richard Jones

This month Phonebox spoke with 2016 Britain’s Got Talent winner Richard Jones about his new show, his future ambitions and the proudest moment of his career so far.

“I think there’s something that all forms of magic have in common; the ability to make people smile”, Richard says. “It doesn’t matter what kind of day you’ve had or what’s on your mind, if you’re absorbed in a magic trick, it’ll always distract you from whatever you were thinking about”.

Having joined the Army in 2010 and spent three years in the parachute regiment, Richard got his big break in entertainment in 2016, when he became the first magician to ever win Britain’s Got Talent. Since then, he’s gone from strength to strength, becoming a highly sought out corporate entertainer, selling out tours across the UK and performing all around the world. He’s even a Gold Star member of the magic circle! He’s also had his own one off show on ITV, Operation Magic, which aired in 2017. But he’s never forgotten his roots and performed for troops in Afghanistan in 2018. 

He’ll be taking brand new tricks and some old classics across the country until the 13^thSeptember and going further into the future, he also has ambitions to take his show abroad someday. What has been the proudest moment of his career so far? Richard tells us affectionately, “I think the final of Britain’s Got Talent when I got to join my mentor, the veteran Fergus Anckorn, on stage is the time I’ve felt most pride. Fergus was the longest serving member of the Magic Circle and also an amazing soldier. I looked up to him so much. He passed away a few years ago and I miss him terribly but I’ll never forget that moment”. In Richard’s top two performances are the Royal Variety Show and performing for the troops in Afghanistan, as well as performing in his hometown of Braintree, in a show that all his family and friends were able to attend.

Richard tells us his favourite trick is one that Fergus taught him and is the only one where he’s willing to break the code of the magic circle to reveal how it’s done. You’ll have to watch the show to find out what that is!

Finally, we asked him about his desert island disc and he has a surprising response, “There’s one song in particular that I always play when I’m feeling a bit nervous and about to go on stage. It’ll make you laugh but it’s ‘Footloose’ by Kenny Loggins. It’s so upbeat that it always cheers me up and I feel totally psyched up to perform at the end of it!” We have to admit that sure is a good choice for a feel good song! 

Richard brings his nationwide tour to The Core at Corby on Friday 13th September. Tickets are available via: www.richardjonesmagic.co.uk/tour-dates

Review: Les Misérables at Milton Keynes Theatre

I’m not sure if this review needs much more than, ‘Wow! Go see this immediately!’…But I will try to be a little more descriptive as to why you should go, at least for those of you like me that do not know the story as well as you should, even if it has been packing out theatres worldwide since 1985!

The musical is based on Victor Hugo’s great 19^thCentury novel, Les Misérables and is set during a period of great social and political unrest in France and living conditions of the poor were grim. The musical begins with our hero, Jean Valjean, who was arrested for stealing some bread to feed his sister’s baby and imprisoned for 19 years. He is granted leave, breaks his parole and begins a new life. Fast forward 8 years and he is now the owner of a factory and finds himself indebted to one of his workers, Fantine, and will do whatever he can to take care of her young illegitimate daughter, Cosette, living with the terrible Monsieur and Madame Thénardier. Fast forward another 9 years, the revolution is on the rise, Cosette has grown up and a young rebel student Marius has fallen in love with her. His friend Eponine (the Thénardier’s grown up daughter) is secretly in love with him and a tricky love triangle begins. Act two sees the revolution continue, tragic deaths and a marriage all of which will keep you on the edge of your seat right until the end.

The story is dark, melancholy, helpless at times, funny at others and really transports you to life in early 1800’s France. The show moves so quickly, one enthralling song after another. Many of the songs have simple tunes that you find yourself humming along to by the second verse, especially Master of the House which is good fun! The acting and singing was absolutely superb and although the entire cast were completely perfect, I must give particular mention of course to Killian Donnelly (Jean Valjean), Nic Greensheilds (Javert), Katie Hall (Fantine), Martin Ball (Monsieur Thénardier) and Sophie-Louise Dann (Madame Thénardier. Lyrics were enunciated very clearly so you can easily follow what is happening. The live orchestra completes this show with beautiful music to set the scene and leaves you humming the tunes all the way home. 

The staging was magnificent, it changed seamlessly from one scene to the next. One moment you’re in a factory, the next in the backstreets with the ladies and their clients and the next at the Thérnardier’s dodgey pub or the barricades, you hardly even notice the set changing. The show has been refreshed for the 21^stcentury and now includes a background screen with some digital moving images (based on paintings by Victor Hugo) that tie in flawlessly with the set without taking away from the forbidding atmosphere of the times. 

For tickets: Best availability Monday to Thursday performances. Call the theatre’s dedicated Les Misérables booking line on 01908 547669 (open Monday to Saturday, 12 – 6pm) or visit: https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/les-miserables/milton-keynes-theatre/. Check daily for returns and last minute ticket releases.

Review: Tom Gates Live On Stage

This week, the brilliant world of Tom Gates has been brought to life on stage at Milton Keynes Theatre. Translated into 43 languages and with over 8 million copies sold worldwide, this series is a huge hit. Tom Gates is a series of illustrated stories for older children by graphic designer-turned-author, Liz Pichon. 

This story, written specifically for the stage, is aimed at children although is fantastic fun for the whole family. I am told (by a couple of true Tom Gates experts) that the show is funny, energetic, lively, colourful and just what they expected Tom Gates to be if he was a real-life boy. Following Tom, his friends at school and his family at home (including the scary older sister Celia) we get to see the highs and lows of being a ‘smiley face’ or a ‘sad face’ student - Tom just has to make sure he makes it on the School Trip Of A Lifetime! Just don’t doodle on the wrong wall (face palm.)

The staging was ultra-modern and unlike anything I’ve seen before which included a large digital animated screen that changed to show different scenes or bring Tom’s doodles to life. It really was super clever and you will be fascinated by the screen as well as the fantastic actors that made this show so fun. 

The genre will appeal to most children and adults alike, with lots of silliness, a bit of rebellion and plenty of live music too. We love chips, when do we want them? Now!

Catch Tom and his friends this week at Milton Keynes Theatre until Saturday 11^thMay. www.atgtickets.com

Review: Greenday’s American Idiot

American Idiot is on its 10^th Anniversary Tour and is in town at Milton Keynes Theatre this week until Saturday. We went along to last night’s performance for the opening night of this Tony and Grammy award winning show.

The story follows three boyhood friends on their search for meaning in a post 9/11 world. They live in ‘suburbia’, bored and frustrated with life and so they head out on their own to try and make something of themselves with quite tragic consequences. The show is based around Greenday’s Grammy Award winning album American Idiot and is in the style of a punk-rock opera with minimal dialogue. Songs include American Idiot, Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Wake Me Up When September Ends.

The show is quite niche – perhaps not something your average musical fan would enjoy so I went in with an open mind, as a huge fan of Greenday (I saw the band perform this album live at The MK Bowl back in 2005). This isn’t your typical All-American-Dream, glitz and glam musical, in fact it is the complete opposite with a fair amount of hopelessness, dark and dreary settings, anarchy, sex, drugs and rock and roll. I couldn’t help but feel the show did lack a bit of ‘soul’. To see punk rock bands live (or any live music for that matter), is unlike any other experience, the sheer energy and emotional atmosphere on stage and in the crowd cannot be matched in a theatre production and acting rebellious certainly isn’t the same as actually being rebellious. However, that is where we must remember this is not meant to be a Greenday gig. This musical is its own entity, theatre productions have a whole host of their own excitements and this show has plenty of them, fans of Greenday can still thoroughly enjoy the music, lyrics and epic guitar riffs. Likewise, musical fans can enjoy something completely different and experience a taste of Greenday’s catchy songs. The cast were brilliant and all had a great stage presence for their own characters, there’s no lack of talent in this cast, great singers and performers and they all looked awesome in their costumes.

The stage set was great and it really transported you to the grubby homes and lifestyles of the characters. Having the band situated on the upper level of the set as a permanent feature throughout the show was really effective – especially as a punk-rock opera where musicians are just as important to the show as the cast. The show and music are as relevant today as they were 15 years ago when the album was first released.

The show contains lots of swearing, drug use and sexual references, so certainly not one for kids! But I would highly recommend seeing this one. Tickets available on www.atgtickets.com and the show runs until Saturday 27^th April.

Review: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat

Having seen Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at least three times already I feel as though I know the script! Obviously, I think it is a lovely feel good show that has all the perfect elements of an Andrew Lloyd Weber musical. I like especially the fact that it is nothing but singing and dancing; there is no `talking` as such. The biblical story of Joseph, loosely interpreted of course, is narrated by the wonderful Trina Hill who holds the whole show together. Unlike some musicals there is actually a story to support the songs albeit a simple one! This is an ideal show to take all the family to.

Having seen previous incumbents playing Joseph, Jaymi Hensley is as good as it gets. He had a very strong voice almost operatic in its quality. The eleven brothers of Joseph were brilliant, bringing so much energy to their roles. They were both entertaining and humorous. There were also so many local children in the Joseph choir that I could hear several parents chatting about them during the interval. The children were an absolute delight and really enhanced the whole show.

The stage set up and lighting were of the usual high standard we expect from a musical at MK Theatre. We mustn't forget the Joseph Orchestra who were excellent. It`s good that live music is still being supported in our theatres. This is a show not to be missed. It`s going to be a sellout. Joseph is on untill Saturday 13th April.

Tickets from www.atgtickets.com/Miltonkeynes or telephone 0844 871 7652 (booking fee applies)