The Stripper

Synopsis

California 1961, and there’s trouble in Pine City. This was a case for Lieutenant Al Wheeler. First call was delectable Deadpan Dolores, a strawberry blonde who worked at the Club Extravaganza. She didn’t usually keep things under wraps, so what was she hiding? With a nose for crime and an eye for the ladies, Wheeler will do whatever it takes to uncover the truth. Characters from Carter Brown’s classic pulp fiction jump off the page in this fast-paced musical from the writer of The Rocky Horror Show. Take 18 ice cool songs written and arranged by award-winning composer Richard Hartley added together with Richard O’Brien’s witty lyrics and you’ll be in adolescent pulp-fiction heaven.

Our Review:

Anne Morley-Priestman - 4 September 2009

There’s a double translation involved with the new musical based on one of Carter Brown’s stories featuring the American detective Al Wheeler. Making a play out of a novel is one thing, and not easy. Making it into a modern musical is even more complex. The opportunities to fail are multiplied.

The Stripper is set in California in the early 1960s. It’s a place where dolls dream of Hollywood and guys dream (some of the time) about dolls. Lieutenant Wheeler (Jonathan Wrather) is landed with the case of a self-defenestrated would-be actress who just happens (as the post mortem reveals) to have been drugged.

Investigations lead him to Deadpan Dolores(Emma-Jayne Appleyard), the night-club star of the show’s title. Thence to the Arkwright dating agency and on to a somewhat unusual florist’s shop. The plot thickens, the scenes change, the songs multiply – yet somehow it never properly takes off. It’s a skit on the skids.

That’s not the fault of the look of...

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Latest User Review

tom - 29 September 2009:

Really enjoyed the performance, much better after the interval, but a great show from all the cast and band, best of luck for the future ...

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