Desperately Seeking Susan

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...

Our Review:

16 November 2007

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 on...

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Latest User Review

Gareth James - 28 November 2007:

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!...

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