Synopsis The show will feature the classic catalogue of Blondie tracks brilliantly woven into the much-loved fish-out-of-water story. Roberta Glass, a suburban New Jersey housewife, escapes her humdrum life by reading the personal ads placed by Susan, a street-smart New York City drifter, and her freewheeling boyfriend Jay. Through a quirky twist of fate, Roberta and Susan unexpectedly swap lives and are plunged into a madcap world of jewel heists, magic shows and rock 'n' roll. The collision of their identities takes them on a wild ride of transformation and discovery until they realise that just when you think you know when your life is headed, something magical happens and turns it all around...
Desperately Seeking Susan, the new musical based on the 1985 film of the same name featuring the greatest hits of Blondie, opened at the West End’s Novello Theatre last night (15 November 2007, previews from 16 October), with a cast led by Emma Williams as Susan and Kelly Price as Roberta, the roles created on screen by Madonna and Rosanna Arquette (See Also Today’s 1st Night Photos).
Set in 1979, Desperately Seeking Susan centres on bored New Jersey housewife Roberta Glass who spots a personal ad entitled “Desperately Seeking Susan” and heads off to Manhattan in search of the exciting Susan herself. Things get complicated when, after buying Susan’s jacket, Roberta is knocked unconscious. Awaking with amnesia, she assumes she is Susan, who is also being desperately sought by the mob.
Amongst the Blondie hits included in the stage version, conceived and written by Peter Michael Marino, are “Hanging on the Telephone”, “The Tide Is High”, “Heart of Glass”, “Call Me”, “Rapture” and “One Way or Another”. In addition to Williams and Price, the musical cast features the Leanne Best (Leslie), Mark McGee (Jay), Alec Newman (Dez) and Jonathan Wrather (Gary). The production is directed by Angus Jackson and designed by Tim Hatley, with lighting by Hugh Vanstone and choreography by Andy Blankenbuchler. It’s currently booking until 19 April 2008.
Another jukebox musical in the West End was probably never going to fare well critically at a time when journalists have been lamenting the takeover of traditional playhouses by musicals. The fact that in this case a back catalogue has been grafted onto a “plodding” adaptation of a film had overnight critics giving it two formulaic demerits. And, while the majority found the principal cast “competent” enough, they felt the production suffered from “uninspired” direction, “odd” design, “banal” choreography and overamplication that turns those Blondie hits into “a deafening irritant”. Most couldn’t resist weaving puns on the show’s title into their final judgements.
Michael Coveney on Whatsonstage.com (two stars) - “The only way to enjoy the show is to submit to the songs, which makes for a totally passive experience … Heavy on base, pulsating with sexiness and full of good harmonic progressions, these songs bring back an era even if they don’t make a musical … Kelly Price and Emma Williams belt out their songs with balls and dedication, but it is impossible to differentiate between them, really, apart from in their hairstyles. Perhaps that’s the point. Roberta’s Jacuzzi-selling husband is fleshed out, just about, by Jonathan Wrather, and Alec Newman is Dez the boy chasing the surrogate Susan through her adventures as a prostitute, prisoner and magician’s assistant. There are some feisty dance numbers choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler, but nothing to get too over-excited about, and Tim Hatley has designed sets and costumes that suggest the market aimed at by the show is not one for musical theatre but the retro-punk concert-going crowd. It’s the very sense of calculation in this that gives the game away: the show’s got no soul.”
Michael Billington in the Guardian (two stars) – “While the show fuels fantasies of escape, it would be much wittier if it followed the identity-swap to its logical conclusion: I'd love to see Susan settling down in the suburbs and proving that inside every punkette lurked a domestic goddess. The real interest lies in seeing how well the Blondie songs dovetail into the story. Some work deftly such as the use of ‘Dreaming’ to express Roberta's secret yearnings, and ‘One Way or Another’ to depict the mafia villain's frenzied pursuit of the life-swapping heroine. But unlike Mamma Mia! where the book was invented to cue the Abba songs, here you sense the strain of constantly fitting the numbers into a pre-existing plot. Instead of rising organically from the story, the songs feel grafted onto it. What the show finally lacks is heart. Angus Jackson's production literally keeps the action moving with the aid of a travelator. Tim Hatley's swiftly-sliding sets neatly evoke the shifting locales … The show feels like a business product calculatedly tailored to appeal to Blondie fans. What it never acquires is the ecstasy that is the musical's justification.”
Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph - “Watching this lamentable musical, in which the immaculate pop songs of Blondie have been pressed into the service of a plodding dramatisation of a so-so caper movie from the 1980s, I began to imagine what further horrors might lurk over the horizon … Unfortunately, wonderful though Blondie's hits are, they have absolutely nothing to do with the movie's plot in which a respectable but bored New Jersey housewife finds herself mistaken for a streetwise punk urchin on the run from a Mafia hitman … Andy Blankenbuehler, the choreographer, hasn't come up with a single exciting dance number, while the director, Angus Jackson, has no idea what to do with the ensemble in what is essentially a chamber piece. The songs meanwhile, including such classics as ‘Atomic’, ‘Call Me’ and ‘Heart of Glass’, are performed at maximum volume with a brutal, bludgeoning efficiency that is entirely devoid of either soul or affection … I fear that Desperately Seeking Susan will leave most discerning theatregoers desperately seeking the nearest exit.”
Nicholas de Jongh in the Evening Standard (three stars) – “I do not know whether Blondie's songs were even reasonably suited to the action. The seven-strong band ran to such a volume of sound that they drowned out the singers with cruel efficiency. The chorus never seemed much more than redundant … Still, the musical breaks free of familiar, romantic territory … Angus Jackson's ingenious production, which steers a slick, speedy passage through all the hokum, makes this musical version of the film less a romantic comedy and more of a film noir send-up, shading into Hugh Vanstone's stylised bursts of purple lighting. (Against) Tim Hatley's atmospheric design … Jackson stages the chases with a stylised brilliance on a circular revolve and on the gallery walkway where the harder you run the less progress you make … When Roberta abandons marriage to risk all with Dez, she finally achieves an exhilarating, feminist victory - love over materialism.”
Simon Edge in the Daily Express (two stars) – “It’s a cut above the normal boy-meets-girl pap of this genre and the principals are competent. Kelly Price is an enthusiastic Roberta and Alec Newman is likeable as her lover Dez, even if Emma Williams struggles to get near the effortless danger that Madonna brought to Susan on film. Andy Blankenbuehler’s choreography is also enjoyably moody, but Angus Jackson’s production is undermined by some odd design decisions. Most of the decor has been relocated to the mid-Seventies, while Susan’s outfit remains resolutely 1985. And some of the supporting acting is pretty lacklustre, depending on the goodwill of a laugh-at-anything audience. But the biggest problem is the music, a deafening irritant that gets in the way of the action and actively undercuts the tale of contrasting worlds, inasmuch as the Blondie tempo remains constant whatever the mood or scene. The programme boasts that the lyrics have not been altered because they are such a perfect fit. I’ll have to take that on trust: I could barely decipher an over-amplified word.”
Paul Taylor in the Independent – “Here, a delightful film has been adapted with clunky literalism (by Peter Michael Marino) and the resulting mess has been pumped with phoney energy by the uninspired direction (from Angus Jackson) and by the well-executed but terminally banal choreography (by Andy Blankenbuehler). Easing with finesse into Madonna's ripped tights, Emma Williams is in strong voice but fails to tantalise as a SoHo vamp. She and Kelly Price as the housewife from Squaresville who assumes Susan's identity are swamped by the idiocies of the adaptation. Take the glorious bit in the movie where Madonna dries her armpits using an upturned hand dryer in the toilets. Williams is allowed to raise her arm for all of three seconds in the vague direction of an unmodified machine. The moment does not work either as an allusion to the film or in its own right … Frantically seeking profit, this is a show that may have to be renamed ‘Desperately Avoiding Closure’.”
Desperately seeking ideas for a new musical, a roster of about fifty-five producers have come up with the idea of the 1985 Madonna screwball comedy movie Desperately Seeking Susan and thrown it on the stage with Blondie’s back catalogue.
I mean, how many plumbers does it take to fix a toilet, or how many blind men to tune a piano? The “book and concept” by Peter Michael Marino is ponderously faithful to the screenplay in which a bored New Jersey housewife, Roberta Glass, sensing a world elsewhere in the newspaper small ads, gets a bump on the head and a delusion that she has become the person whose life she envies, Susan, a punkish blonde material girl with attitude.
Angus Jackson’s production takes the wise precaution of turning the sound up so loud that it’s impossible a) to hear the lyrics or b) to know, when you do catch a phrase or two, whether they fit whatever is passing itself off as a dramatic situation.
The only way to enjoy the show is to submit to the songs, which makes for a totally passive experience. It’s some time since I put my Blondie on the turntable, but there are two numbers that are exceptional – “Atomic” and “Heart of Glass” – and I was very glad to hear them again. Heavy on base, pulsating with sexiness and full of good harmonic progressions, these songs bring back an era even if they don’t make a musical.
The rest of the score is just so-so to mediocre, though Debbie Harry’s new song “Moment of Truth,” written with Chris Stein, has the unexpected quality of indicating the kind of show she might have written if she’d sat down and started from scratch: it actually manages to express the four main characters’ separate situations with poignancy and concision.
Kelly Price and Emma Williams belt out their songs with balls and dedication, but it is impossible to differentiate between them, really, apart from in their hairstyles. Perhaps that’s the point. Roberta’s Jacuzzi-selling husband is fleshed out, just about, by Jonathan Wrather and Alec Newman is Dez the boyfriend chasing the surrogate Susan through her adventures as a prostitute, prisoner and magician’s assistant.
There are some feisty dance numbers choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler, but nothing to get too over-excited about, and Tim Hatley has designed sets and costumes that suggest the market aimed at by the show is not one for musical theatre but the retro-punk concert-going crowd. It’s the very sense of calculation in this that gives the game away: the show’s got no soul.
OK, so it isn't Mamma Mia and the first half needs to be tightened up a bit.....but the music and story go together well, it's well staged, the singing and playing are of a very high standard and above all its fun! The last 10 minutes are terrific and both Kelly Price and Emma Williams are very sexy. Listen to the 'old white men' if you must, but you could go and make your own mind up instead! - Gareth James
28 Nov 07
I loved it. Can see how people think it's a bit trashy - it is. But doesn't stop it from being a good entertaining evening - it's great to hear the songs of Blondie in this environment! - Tom
20 Nov 07
We have been lucky enough to see most of the current crop of London musicals. This was far and away the worst, in every sense. Blondie did write some good pop songs but enought o sustain a 2 hour+ show like this? I think not. In any case, the over-amplified house band and the cast crush the life from the music. There is no correlation between the flimsy plot and the song lyrics. The dancing is bolted on and irrelevant. Sexy? Not even close. A huge disappointment. - Chris Kelly
19 Nov 07
it's the worst thing i've seen on stage, worst than daddy cool! I'm a big fan of the movie but this show has killed it. The funny lines are murdered by the 2 awful actresses, the choreographies are just the minimum expected. I've never seen such an awful acting and dancing. It looks like they have bought the costumes in primark and the shop assistant in the movie has become a vulgar transvestie...ridiculous. This show shouldn't be on stage and i can believe some people have waist so much time and money in such a bad production. This show is a really bad joke, so bad that me and my mate have had one of the best laugh of our life! one good thing: the singing. Is it enough? if only... - theyhavekilledsusan
18 Nov 07
Awesome. We loved the pace, the music and the cast. We will go again - Chris Martyn
17 Nov 07
Good grief! What is up with some people? Enjoy this upbeat piece of musically driven entertainment for what it is. The Brothers Karamazov it ain't. A great night out it is. - Brian
16 Nov 07
I went along to see this musical not knowing the story of Desperately Seeking Susan as I have never seen the film. I enjoyed this show and I thought it was performed very well by a talented cast of singers and dancers. Not too sure about the set though which seemed quite cumbersome as it trundled backwards and forwards and did nothing for the story but I relised this was supposed represent the 1980's and we did have awful decorating taste in those days so sometimes it did work well with the action on stage. The megamix at the end sent you out of the theatre wth a feel good feeling. So if you are a Blondie fan go and see it you will not be dissapointed. - ILS
13 Nov 07
Can I just add that there's now a mega-mix finale, but it's actually quite good fun. Unlike the rest of the show. - Boob
03 Nov 07
Wow. That guy must have seen a bad night. This thing rocks!! So exciting-funny and the music just kicks ass!!!!!!!Beautiful design as well!!GO. - David
26 Oct 07
Simply abysmal. The half empty theatre applauded politely at the end. The only good point about the show is that we are spared a megamix at the end.
The show contains a few laughs - most notably at the gangster hitman who so unthreatening it was hilarious. Unfortuantely, the comic character and scenes were anything but.
Save you money and let this disappear quickly. - Richard
Opened 22 May 1905, originally the Waldorf, became the Strand in 1909 and the Whitney in 1911, back to the Strand in 1915. On 8 Oct 1940 the theatre was hit during a bombing raid - the show went on! There had been an earlier Strand Theatre where the Aldwych tube station now is that opened in 1832. 1061 seats. Member of the Society of London Theatre. On 25 March 2003 Delfont Mackintosh Theatres Limited, which had owned the freehold of the theatre since 1991, took over the management of the Strand from the Louis I Michaels Ltd Group of Companies when their lease expired. Delfont Mackintosh is now planning a 1.5 million refurbishment programme to restore the theatre to its former glory. May 2005 opened as Novello Theatre.
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