Naked Boys Singing! – Garden Theatre

Picture: NatLPho

Naked Boys Singing! continues at the Garden Theatre, London until 25 October 2020.

Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩

You’ve got to hand it to the guys at the Garden Theatre in Vauxhall. This is the team that brought the live musical back to London with Glen Chandler’s Fanny & Stella, followed up with a genuinely charming, critically-acclaimed production of Pippin. Against all odds they have created a safe, outdoor environment for performance and even as the nights draw in and further lockdown threatens, they continue programming new shows. Part of this line-up includes the Eagle Late series, which kicks off with the all-male revue Naked Boys Singing!

This show premiered Off-Broadway in 1999 and has since been produced internationally, including London where it ran at the Charing Cross in 2012 directed by Phil Willmott. This production was originally due to open at the King’s Head, but it never made it to press night, due to the big theatre shutdown in March. There were further delays to press night, when the Government insisted on venues closing at 10pm but a shift in start time keeps everything legal, with a little time post-show so that punters can drink-out to help-out.

To paraphrase the 1990s advertising executives, this show does exactly what it says on the tin. From the opening number ‘Gratuitous Nudity’ the cast of six lads bare all for the sake of their craft. The line up of songs created by a record number of writers are all fairly forgettable, with themes encompassing voyeurism, masturbation and sex work. Robert Mitchum, sung with unabashed charm by Nick Brittain touches on the way body image has changed over the years, while The Naked Maid has Jensen Tudtud lampooning a fetish for naked cleaning. There’s barely a serious issue raised, which is understandable for musical comedy revue, but eventually the single joke wears thin long before the end of the show.

Director Carole Todd has wisely not cast a company of body-builders to perform this show. In fact her devotion to real bodies over aesthetically enhanced actors is perhaps one of the high points. The exception is the statuesque Kane Hoad, who understandably gets to lead the number ‘Muscle Addiction’. As choreographer, Todd certainly keeps the cast on their toes with some nifty, comic moves but generally the singing is not a strong point in this production. Musical director Aaron Clingham has no problem with the fairly simple score, but there’s a noticeable lack of power and finesse vocally.

I doubt whether this will have a huge impact on ticket sales. There are quite a few laughs along the way, including a name-check for a couple of well-known London theatre critics, but as the opening number suggests: “It’s obvious what you’re here to see – gratuitous nudity.”

Corine Franks