The Last Ever Musical continues at the White Bear Theatre, London
The Last Ever Musical continues at the White Bear Theatre, London until 7 September.
Simon James Collier’s The Last Ever Musical intends to ‘hold a mirror up’ to the Fringe theatre world in a piece which aims to be satirical and thought-provoking, but is instead let down by a weak plot which, bizarrely, uses a tampon as a theatrical device.
The musical focuses on neurotic theatre producer Brian Wilts (Jonathan Barnes), who has wasted money on a number of bad productions, but has now been given the opportunity to produce a piece for The Femlette Feminine Hygiene Corporation.
Brian is joined by a host of other dysfunctional characters which include composer and lyricist Roxand Smarts (Leejay Townsend) who chooses to keep men as dogs in his bedroom; an attention-seeking casting director (Emma Kurij); a bohemian theatre director (Stacey Victoria Bland) and the main figure, Ms Harriet Pie (Rebecca Hood), a no-nonsense academic who has decided to branch out into playwriting.
The musical encourages the audience to laugh at the eccentricities of these theatrical types but, due to clunky dialogue, the characters remain simply as caricatures, especially in Act I. Barnes’ Brian is given un-inspired one-liners which fall flat and the actor seem to have been encouraged to play him as an arrogant fantasist who does not develop through the course of the production. This leads to a lack of engagement and empathy with a character who is heading towards breaking point.
Townsend’s Roxand Smarts also suffers from a similar problem. Although he is presented as an outlandish, self-defined ‘diva’ from the opening, the constant innuendos are tiresome. The decision to give the character an animal fetish is unnecessary and does not add humour, or purpose, to the plot.
However, there are some good points within the production. Hood is given sharp and witty dialogue which she executes confidently. Bland shows good comic timing as she tells the cast “to think of the trees; think of the oceans” when making directing decisions. Also, the references to Mark Shenton and other theatre critics are a nice touch which connect the piece directly to the modern world.
Director Collier and choreographer Omar F Okai make effective use of the small performance space in the audition sequence in Act I, which is a highlight. The characters appeal to the creative team using the overused, funny and emphatic language that we attach to the audition process.
The Last Ever Musical is a piece with potential in places, but due to its long dialogue and excessive subplots, it lacks impact and narrative drive.
Rebecca Gordon
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.