Tough to love or an express success? The critics weigh in on Burlesque in the West End

Alex Wood, WhatsOnStage
★★★

“A show like Burlesque isn’t meant to live or die by its plotting, which is why it’s so frustrating that there’s so much of it in between the big, heavyweight, crowdpleaser numbers. A sharpie and a few hours of tough love could easily shave 20 minutes off the show and leave little worse for wear. Antin, who also wrote and directed the original film, seems so focused on meticulously mapping out every plot detail in painstaking detail right the way until it matters most – with the second half of act two veering close to being a slight mess.

“Things really do come to life during Hall’s choreo-heavy moments. Act two opener “Express”, when Ali finds her feet in the club, or Tess’ big 11 o’clock number, sufficiently bring the house down.”

Arifa Akbar, The Guardian

★★★★★

“Todrick Hall’s choreography is a sensation, with jaw-dropping athleticism, balletic moves and circus acrobatics, while Marco Marco’s “more is more” costumes deserve an award. Hall, also the show’s director, is an absolute blast as a performer. He doubles up as Ali’s old gospel teacher and Tess’s right-hand man at the lounge, blowing Stanley Tucci’s benign gay best friend of the film out of the water.

“Ali’s slow-burn romance with Jackson (Paul Jacob French) is cute when it could grate, with French providing a fantastically funny number in Natalie, in which he dumps his ever-absent ex-girlfriend by phone. The song seems coyly to poke fun at the earnestness of the film – an endearing send-up. The show as a whole bares it artifice every now and again, but without indulging in knowingness.”

Claire Alfree, The Telegraph
★★★★

“It features an absolute knockout performance from newcomer Jess Folley in the Aguilera role of Ali – the church-going girl from Iowa, who against the odds turns around a struggling Burlesque club in the city.

“Granted, Antin fumbles his own plot, although mercifully Hall has responded to reports of audiences staggering out of four-hour previews by cutting the running time to two hours, 45 minutes. Half the story has been jettisoned and new bits added with precious little care for plausibility.”

Alice Saville, The Independent

★★★

“Everything about this story is deeply predictable. But oddly, it doesn’t feel boring, thanks to fantastic vocal performances and plenty of metaphorical and literal fireworks. As Ali, Folley has a refreshing edge, her faintly jarring gawky mannerisms in the first act giving way to formidable vocal power as she finds her inner diva (‘I will not be upstaged by some sl*t with mutant lungs,’ hisses fuming club queen bee Nikki). And as Tess, Orfeh has a strong, strident alto voice, belting through numbers that deserve more time to unfold.”

Clive Lewis, The Times

★★★

Paul Vale, The Stage

★★★

“Broadway actor Orfeh, making her West End debut, steps confidently into Cher’s shoes as Tess. Her mellifluous, been-around-the-block mezzo vocals belt out knowingly “Welcome to Burlesque”, but there’s a sensitivity there too, as she sings of the daughter she never knew. As Ali, Folley is an absolute smash: naturally easy on stage with great comic timing, but possessing a powerhouse voice that soars through the auditorium.”

Nick Curtis, The Standard

★★★

Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out

“It’s very silly and very loud: Folley is a sensational singer but across a three hour, 30-song night her weapons-grade vocals are so piercing and so constant it feels like being trapped in a warzone. She is also saddled with some astonishingly unflattering wigs and costumes in the second half, genuinely some of the worst I’ve ever seen on stage. And the book’s glib fourth wall breaking becomes draining, not least because it soon becomes apparent that almost nothing is allowed to happen on the stage without Hall’s Sean making a quip about it, some of which are bewildering. The tenuous topical asides about Baby Reindeer and the Coldplay jumbotron incident are agonising. “