Michael Xavier performing in the West End Bares fundraisier All the Fun of the Bare at the Cafe de Paris, London. Picture: Darren Bell
West End Bares presented All the Fun of the Bare at the Café de Paris, London.
Although Broadway Bares, the brainchild of veteran Broadway director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell (The Full Monty, Hairspray and now Kinky Boots) has been around in New York for almost 22 years (supporting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS), its London answer West End Bares (raising money for MAD or the Make a Difference Trust) has only just had its third edition at the Café de Paris.
The theme of the soiree, the fun fair, was very much in the mode of recent productions like Barnum at Chichester and the current staging of Pippin on the other side of the pond, both glorifying in circus as a metaphor for life. Here it was more a metaphor for sex and it delivered aplenty, albeit always in a fun and tasteful way!
Artistic director Darren Carnall, a line-up of celebrity hosts (Brian Conley, Jane McDonald, Robin Windsor, Anita Dobson) and the entire cast of handsome West End performers made us laugh like clowns, blush like bearded ladies and wiggle like snake charmers. Starting with a reprise of this year’s Tony Awards opener ‘It’s Getting Bigger’, the show explored the different aspects of the fun fair world – the side show, ghost train, tunnel of love – in some clever numbers put together by nine different choreographers including Racky Plews (responsible for the opening).
The costumes, created by different designers, were always breathtaking and reminiscent of the burlesque world of Madonna’s girlie show in its tasteful tawdriness. The finale, an original song called ‘Bare It At the Fun Fair’, interpreted by Frances Ruffelle and the always excellent Michael Xavier on a night off from his Captain von Trapp duty at the Open Air Theatre Regent’s Park, was the other high point of this fast-paced show.
The only criticism was that there was not enough singing and a little too much talking, but this was first and foremost a fundraising benefit and one mustn’t forget what a good cause it was for.
So thank you to Theatre Mad and the Make a Difference Trust for a fun evening and to the entire company of brilliant West End artists for giving their time and talent to the project.
Patrick Honore
West End Bares also marked the launch of the Make a Difference Trust 2014 calendar which sees 12 top photographers taking Calendar Girls-style images of West End casts as you have never seen them before, shows such as Wicked, Les Miserables, The Mousetrap and Mamma Mia! have all dared to bare to support the cause.
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