Review Round-up: Is Loserville a winner?

Elliot Davis and James Bourne’s new musical Loserville received its West End premiere this week (17 October 2012) at the Garrick Theatre.

Set in 1970’s America, Loserville tells the story of Michael Dork (Aaron Sidwell), and his rag tag group of nerdy friends (played by Richard Lowe, Daniel Buckley, and Lil' Chris).

Michael sets his sights on creating the internet, but is distracted by beautiful and brainy Holly, played by Eliza Hope Bennett, who catches the eye of non-nerdy enemy, Eddie (Stewart Clarke) who threatens to take Michael’s work as his own.

Come on our hosted Whatsonstage.com Outing to Loserville on Wednesday 7 November 2012 and get your top-price ticket, a FREE programme and access to our EXCLUSIVE post-show Q&A with the cast & creatives - plus signed posters for the first 25 early bookers - all for just £32.50!

Michael Coveney
Whatsonstage.com
★★★

...performed with great dash and enthusiasm on one of the most amazing low-tech designs I've seen in a long while... the whole company in Steven Dexter’s production, are a cheerful, energetic bunch, and so well drilled in the ways of old-style Young Generation choreography by Nick Winston that merely watching them for two hours becomes physically exhausting... My two star gut reaction is only bumped along a little by the efficiency of the staging and the visual brilliance of pre-computer notebook and notepad scenery flipping picture boards... The visual stamp and coherence of the design are as watertight as the show itself, which remains ever more grounded the more insistently everyone pretends it’s taking off.

Charles Spencer
Daily Telegraph
★★

..the designs, with garish costumes and a backdrop of electronic circuitry, resemble a shotgun marriage between Playschool and Dr Who.The young cast dance and sing with astonishing energy, but can’t disguise the fact that their characters are walking, talking clichés. Aaron Sidwell is a likeably nerdy, needy hero, Stewart Clarke a comically repellent villain, while Eliza Hope Barrett makes an attractively spunky heroine despite being hamstrung by a totally unpersuasive plot twist... Steven Dexter’s cartoon-like production is relentlessly and brash and for much of the evening I found myself gazing longingly at the exit sign, desperate to escape this derivative pop-culture pap. The one thing that can be said in Loserville’s favour is that its off-putting title tells you all you need to know about the show.

Libby Purves
The Times
★★★

It’s an amiable follow-your-dreams tale with energetic disco dancing, likeable stars and a fantastic giant motherboard of a set by Francis O’Connor, nicely diluted with cartoonish pre-digital boards and placards...But to my ear the music is rackety, woefully unsubtle and utterly unvaried. There are 18 big numbers that all sound the same, except “What’s so Weird About Me?” in Act II. But what do I know? The nephew, my expert witness, assures me that mid-Noughties pop rock did sound like that, and was considered perfectly acceptable.

Henry Hitchings
Evening Standard
★★★

...Although the performances aren’t consistently polished, they are vigorous. Aaron Sidwell, who used to be Steven Beale in EastEnders, leads the way as the determined, awkward Michael, and there’s bright work around him from Eliza Hope Bennett, Richard Lowe and Stewart Clarke... The upbeat vibe is at times cloying, and the faux-American idiom never quite comes off. Nor is there much in the story that feels fresh; the plot is woolly, and the material seems like a mishmash of moments from every teen romantic comedy I’ve ever seen. But Bourne and Davis are undoubtedly skilful songwriters, and Loserville is likeable even if it’s unsubtle.

Charles Spencer
Daily Telegraph
★★

...the designs, with garish costumes and a backdrop of electronic circuitry, resemble a shotgun marriage between Playschool and Dr Who. The young cast dance and sing with astonishing energy, but can’t disguise the fact that their characters are walking, talking clichés. Aaron Sidwell is a likeably nerdy, needy hero, Stewart Clarke a comically repellent villain, while Eliza Hope Barrett makes an attractively spunky heroine despite being hamstrung by a totally unpersuasive plot twist... Steven Dexter’s cartoon-like production is relentlessly and brash and for much of the evening I found myself gazing longingly at the exit sign, desperate to escape this derivative pop-culture pap. The one thing that can be said in Loserville’s favour is that its off-putting title tells you all you need to know about the show.

Paul Taylor
Independent
★★

True, you could not accuse the piece of being a mere juke-box tuner. New numbers have been composed and a story-line devised. But for a show that supposedly celebrates distinctiveness - as two adolescent computer-nerds struggle above the jock-culture in a 1971 American high-school and win the race to send the first email - it never levitates into its own corresponding originality. Except, that is, through the droll, bright verve of Francis O'Connor's excellent design... The songs, on a first hearing, all sound more or less the same and are pounded out with bludgeoning loudness in Steven Dexter's soulless production.

Julie Carpenter
Daily Express
★★★

Shows don't get much perkier than this... Much of the comedy comes from the suggestion that Michael's best friend Lucas (Richard Lowe) is writing Star Wars and keeps stumbling upon inspiration... It's all upbeat pop and if many of the numbers feel the same they'll still appeal to boyband fans... Is it the best musical ever? No but it's feelgood and frothing with energy while the cast hurl themselves in with gusto. The result is as pick-me-up as a double espresso.

Related Content

Booking Tickets & Show Listings
	Loserville Listing Page

Internal Links
	Rock of Ages follows Loserville at Garrick? - 13th Nov 2012 gossip
	Loserville posts early closing notices at Garrick Theatre, 5 Jan - 10th Nov 2012 news
	Podcast: Bourne & co at #WOSOuting to Loserville - 8th Nov 2012 radio
	Loserville - 18th Oct 2012 reviews
	1st Night Photos: McFly, Adlington & cast enter Loserville - 18th Oct 2012 photos
	20 Questions with ... Loserville's James Bourne - 17th Oct 2012 interviews
	Show Pics: Elliot Davis & James Bourne's Loserville - 16th Oct 2012 photos
	Opening: Adrian Lester in Red Velvet, new musical Loserville & Soho's Terror - 15th Oct 2012 news
	Davis & Bourne's Loserville confirms West End transfer, opens 17 Oct - 23rd Aug 2012 news

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