Musik – Wilton’s Music Hall

Picture: Charlie Flint Photography

Musik continues at Wilton’s Music Hall, London until 25 October 2025.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

Last year, that substantial Venn diagram intersection of nightclub connoisseurs and fans of musical theatre were treated to a raucous and rowdy revival of Closer to Heaven at Battersea’s Turbine Theatre. This show – written by Jonathan Harvey and featuring music and lyrics by the Pet Shop Boys – first premiered at the Arts Theatre in 2001 starring Frances Barber as faded rock star narrator Billie Trix. In 2019, the Olivier Award nominee reprised the role to tell her fictional life story in a spin-off cabaret show Musik, first at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and now in London’s historic Wilton’s Music Hall.

Closer to Heaven at the Turbine Theatre was great fun, though I did find jarring the incongruity of the Pet Shop Boys’ pop-perfect lyrics emanating spontaneously from the mouths of ostensibly real characters. Being a cabaret, Musik has no such issues. Billie Trix is a fictional character singing pop songs from a fictional universe, and what great songs they are.

Musik’s music is more stylistically wide-ranging than the Pet Shop Boys’ greatest hits, but their signature danceable beats and catchy sense of melody are still very much present. In this production, Barber performs to backing tracks: a perfectly valid approach to lower-budget musical theatre, but a challenge for sound designer Luke Swaffield. Barber embues the burnt-out faded rock star Trix with a suitably dishevelled vocal character, but balancing her sometimes delicate tones over the loudly mastered backing is only sometimes effective, otherwise being slightly reminiscent of karaoke.

Still, when it all comes together, the songs are fantastic. ‘Ich bin Musik’ is funny but also a real bop, while the disco-infused ‘Soup’ – a song about soup – is as ridiculous as it sounds, and eminently danceable. Of all the songs, the closing ‘For Every Moment’ might be my favourite for its anthemic grandiosity. I already have a couple of playlists in mind to which I should add it.

Harvey’s book is superbly funny. Trix tells her life story, dropping almost as many names on the Wilton’s stage as she does mounds of cocaine. Those of us who have been waiting patiently for the long-promised West End Hedwig and the Angry Inch will find a lot to enjoy between the faded German rock star debauchery and relentless dirty jokes.

Barber is unquestionably skilled at commanding the room and the Musik’s hour of run time flies by. Unlike Hedwig, however, there is no audience interaction or improvisation here. This might be a relief to some on the front row, but it does seem like a bit of a missed opportunity. There is something of a disconnect when Barber loses an eyelash yet Trix continues on her scripted monologue without acknowledging it.

For all the show’s silliness, there are heart-warming messages about ignoring your critics, believing in your dreams and embracing the wide swathe of craziness that is humanity. As Trix, Barber also delivers frequent messages in support of the LGBTQIA+ community. Director Terry Johnson has struck a good tonal balance here, favouring the comic, yet still giving space for the important.

Speaking of important, Trix’s magnificent hat (courtesy of Stephen Jones Millinery) should at least get a co-starring credit. In fact, Lee Newby’s costume and set design in general is gorgeous. Retro elements are enmeshed within glossier disco touches, and Leo Flint’s video design gives the stage a great sense of dynamism, plus a few bonus visual jokes too!

Musik isn’t just for fans of Closer to Heaven or the music of the Pet Shop Boys. In no way smoothly perfect – like its heroine – Musik is nevertheless charming and an outrageously funny way to spend an evening. Spend some time in the Wilton’s bar before and after the show too and appreciate this gorgeous and historic building.

Ian Bowkett