20th Century Boy (Bristol Hippodrome)
Some 40 years after his glam rock heyday, Marc Bolan’s life story is here replayed as a musical featuring his best loved songs. Much of the audience were probably there first time round – this reviewer included – and look forward to fond memories of T Rextasy. Most of us are of course a little less glamorous now, although the acne has finally cleared up, and the red and purple boas on sale bring back some much missed 70s flamboyance. By the end of the show, the Hippodrome’s carpets looks as though there has just been a massacre in an ostrich farm.
20th Century Boy starts fifteen years after Bolan’s death when his son, Roland (played by Luke Bailey), now 18, goes to London to find out about the father he never got to know and seek out family and rock world figures who were prominent in Marc’s life. Family bitterness over the circumstances around the fatal accident that ended his life linger on down the years and give the backdrop to the story.
The good news for the show is that the music throughout is excellent. There are wonderful soulful vocal performances from Katia Saretini as Bolan’s childhood friend, teen star Helen Shapiro, from Lucy Sinclair as June Child, his wife, and Donna Hines as Gloria Jones his former backing singer turned lover and mother of Roland. The band, whilst not looking too much like the original T Rex (as I remember them), can do the music. They sound like the original group and give out great energy. The hits are all there, scattered throughout the story, and all stand up to the years. There are also some strong dance numbers that provoke an enthusiastic audience response. And of course, at the heart of it all is Marc himself, strutting and pouting like the true rock god he was, a charismatic music performance by Warren Sollars, who can actually do a very passable version of Bolan’s singing voice and looks the part.
The bad news is the script. The energy sags every time the songs stop and the dialogue starts up. We can hear the cogs grind as the plot plods along, trying to bring to life the drama of a group of people whose lives have been shattered by the tragic death; it plays out as poor soap opera, and fails to bring any of its characters to believable life, despite the efforts of the cast. Bolan is here, as he apparently was In real life, a fickle egomaniac, ready to drop those who supported his career when they no longer suited his needs – a difficult character to make likeable. The sentimental climax just doesn’t have enough emotional truth to draw us in and it is a relief to get to the show’s finale, reprising the hits and getting everyone up and dancing.
It's a shame that the cast is lumbered with writing that too often dampens down the fun of this evening, but anyone who likes Bolan’s music will enjoy reliving the panache and exuberance of the early 1970s, waving their boas and singing along to "Hot Love".
Is anyone working on Slade – the Musical?
– Tony Clancy
