highly entertaining show with lovely performances by the leads. - peter woodcock
07 Sep 08
Saw this at the weekend and Connie Fisher was OFF - indisposed.Who said the show must go on? Although her understudy was great their was little chemistry between her, Kaisa, and Alistair McGowan. The chorus were totally unnecessary.Interesting to see a revival but lock it away for another 30 years the songs are pretty dire. Oh yes and sack the wigmaker! - Stuart
01 Sep 08
In the spirit of The Show Must Go On everyone at Sunday's matinee persevered despite having to battle against the constant pounding of booming "music" from a Ministry of Sound event next door. It wasn't a triumph over adversity though as Neil Simon's book is not good enough to sustain a two-handed romance between neurotic, self-obsessed New York songwriters. My wife can't stand Connie Fisher so I didn't tell her she was in it, but Connie was very friendly when we met her in the restaurant beforehand so that was alright. This is a good career move for Connie in a role which is nothing like Julie Andrews. She has alraedy proved she can handle comedy, gets to show off a pretty good Noo Yoik accent and is superb on her one stand-out song, 'I Still Believe in Love'. Alistair McGowan manages the difficult task of making Vernon likeable and, although not brilliant, sings infinitely better than Tom Conti, based on the original London cast CD. Everyone deserves enormous credit for rising above the appalling distractions to provide an enjoyable afternoon but it's surprising that the Chocolate Factory felt the need to revive this show. - David Baxter
25 Aug 08
Who the hell thought it was a good idea to revive this load of old tosh? The material is hackneyed and dated, the score sounds like it should be playing as muzak in a lift, the staging is unimaginative (the most boring use of a revolve I've ever seen) and Connie Fisher gives a shallow, unconvincing performance. Yes she's got a lovely voice but she's no actress, has zero charisma or sex appeal, and her accent was all over the place the day I saw it. A star? Oh come off it. Alastair McGowan gives a decent performance, although I think he'd be way better opposite a better leading lady. - jha
18 Aug 08
I must admit I thought this was pretty disastrous. Not because of the cast who really do their best with the thinnest of material, more because it seems a pointless revival. The whole focus of the musical is about songwriting and lyrics but the music is pretty poor, repetitive and bland. Full marks to Connie Fisher and Alistair McGowan for doing their best but this isn't the right vehicle for either of them - Martin B
15 Aug 08
I wish I could give 3.5.....I'd question the decision to revive this, but it's hard to fault the production. It's really a songspiel and just nine songs (some repeated) are padded out to a rather overlong 2.5 hours. Connie Fisher successfully proves there's life after Maria (and with an impeccable New York Jewish accent) and Alistair McGowan continues to succesfully establish himself in musical comedy. The 70s is perfectly captured by the design and costumes (those oranges and browns seemed all too familiar!) but most surprisingly by the choreography (I winced remembering that I once danced like that!). It's not great, but it's a lot better (as often!) that the (paid) critics would have you believe. - Gareth James
