Russell Morton in Molly Wobbly at the Leicester Square Theatre, London. Picture: Darren Bell
Molly Wobbly continues at the Leicester Square Theatre, London until 14 March.
Star rating: 4 stars ****
If you like your musicals to be laugh-out-loud funny, quite ludicrous, seriously camp and brilliantly bizarre, then Molly Wobbly, running for the next seven weeks at the intimate Leicester Square Theatre’s Lounge, is definitely for you.
With its fabulous Ed Wood-esque, low budget cinematic introduction and the entrance of the character, Ithanku, played with oddball brilliance by Russell Morton, the show entertains you from the very start.
Like a scene from German expressionist 1920 classic movie The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the prologue sets the scene superbly for what follows, namely a rollercoaster ride of catchy songs, cheeky characters and outrageous innuendo, plus a mind-bogglingly ridiculous storyline.
In the programme notes, writer, lyricist and director Paul Boyd states that: ‘in finally making it to the London stage in 2015, Molly Wobbly has survived the lumps and bumps that all too often scupper original musicals.”
Had it not come to its wonderfully wacky creative fruition here, it would have been a sad day indeed for off-beat musicals. The original production, called Molly Wobbly’s Tit Factory, was commissioned back in 2010 by the Lyric Theatre Belfast, being based on a ten-minute musical that a few years earlier had been shortlisted for the Mackintosh Foundation’s Quest For A New Musical. A critically acclaimed run followed in 2012 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Such productions need a cast totally committed to the cause, and each member here brings plenty to the table, not least Conleth Kane as wonderfully OTT gay hairdresser Jake. Looking and sounding like a camp James Nesbitt with a blonde Shane Warne (Aussie cricketer) mullet, he’s almost a show in his own right.
This musical tells the saucy story of Margaret (Jane Milligan), Ruth (Stephanie Fearon) and Jemma (Cassie Compton), a trio trapped in loveless marriages and stuck with failing businesses and who, one by one, receive unexpected breast augmentations after a stranger (Ithanku) arrives on Mammary Lane in the town of Little Happenings. Cue the marvellously feisty number ‘Off My Chest’, a shameless, bawdy musical celebration of women’s assets, brilliantly executed by Milligan, Fearon and Compton – a kind of titty ditty if you like.
Like all the best female ‘supports’, this production does have some padding here and there, but most songs stand on their own eccentric merits, the vocals are impressive without exception, and the action rattles along at a perfect pace.
Even on the tiny stage, the choreography (Sarah Johnston) manages to be madcap and inventive and the production’s design, by Diego Pitarch, is inspired for such a small space.
Asked to choose a stand out number, I’d plump for ‘Trust Yourself to Me’ – as funny and entertaining a tune you could wish for in a Fringe musical, while the best line of all comes from Alan Richardson, as Kitten, when advising Margaret on some outfits. “You can’t polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter,” she says with acid tongue firmly in cheek.
As impressive as the entire cast is, it’s Morton, as Ithanku, who steals the show with his almost genius level contorted and ghoulish, spiky bright green-haired characterisation – his every appearance had me in fits, and it’s a very long time since that happened.
This has to be the best fringe musical in town – BRA none.
Derek Smith
www.leicestersquaretheatre.com
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