Well I did warn you guys a few months ago I would gush about this show. And gush I will. A lot.
Please stop reading now if you require absolutely no spoilers before going to see it, which I HIGHLY recommend doing so before it closes in June.
Now, as with Singin’ In The Rain, I had amazing luck with seats. Due to the unfortunate lack of sales (which, to be honest is because the price of the seats in the Stalls and Royal Circle is extortionate) they closed the Grand Circle (the top of the theatre and the £20-£30 seats, ergo most popular) and so upgraded everyone in the Grand Circle to the Stalls. Freaking amazing seats we got, and for over fifty pounds less per ticket than it should have been.
We did suffer with having a group of obnoxious women in the Stalls who were clearly drinking and had no respect for fellow theatre-goers. If you have paid to see a show, no matter what seat you are in or if you got upgraded, you CANNOT talk through a performance without getting yourself kicked out to a round of applause during the interval.
So HA to those girls, and I hope they never get to see the rest of the show.
Luckily they didn’t ruin the whole show or tarnish my opinion of it. Written by Jennifer Saunders and created by Mamma Mia’s Judy Craymer this was a fantastic blend of Ab-Fab comedy and songs used to great effect.
The story follows Viva, a young girl who lives on a barge with her Mum, and her girl group Eternity who are taking part in talent competition ‘Star Maker’, with the appropriate Simon Cowell/Sharon Osborne/mindless idiot judges. Along the way the band get a mentor, split up, Viva becomes a solo act and falls for a Spaniard.
Pretty standard rom-com fare, but with Spice Girls songs to illustrate each point.
The cast were fantastic. The girls, ‘Eternity’, were played by four newcomers who were all really good. A couple had fantastic voices, a couple were a bit squeaky for my taste, but then again what girl band doesn’t have a mix of tones. They harmonised well so that was the main thing. The main girl, Viva, was great and engaging, especially in the scenes between herself and her Mum.
The Mum, Lauren, and best mate Suzi were amazing and hilarious. Suzi is played by Lucy Montgomery who is a comedian and was in Tittybangbang, voiced Destiny the pigeon in Mongrels, and stars in the Ryvita adverts. Suzi is essentially Patsy from Ab Fab: likes to get drunk, isn’t afraid of being extreme, and is all over the boys. And Montgomery was tear-inducingly funny, especially when she does a Zumba class…honest its worth the money to just see that segment.
What was also worth the money was the use of 2 become 1 in a romantic scene between Lauren and her man-friend. Actually cried with laughter and hurt my eye trying to stop the mascara running.
The young lovers were Viva and her music coordinator Angel (pronounced An-hel, cos he’s Spanish). Angel’s rendition of Viva Forever was beautiful, especially as he played Spanish guitar – who doesn’t love a Spanish guitar? It was really sweet and not sickly at all.
The rest of the cast were fab. We had an Eastender playing Johnny, the Simon Cowell of the judges, with Simone, his rival, played with ferocity and fabulous comic timing. One of the assistants for Star Maker, Minty, stole basically every scene she was in hashtag hilarious girl. If you’ve seen it you’ll get that last bit
The choreography, musical direction and combinations of songs were really very good. There is an amazing dance piece set in Spain which had these giant puppet things and some fantastic Spanish dancing. It leaves me feeling so sad that this show is being cancelled.
The only explanation I can see for this show not getting the bums on seats it deserves is the over-pricing of the tickets. Make the entire theatre £30 a ticket, first come first served for best seats, with maybe the top of the theatre and restricted view half the price. Then so many more Spice Girls fans would make the trip to London. Unfortunately its not a show that will necessarily attract the tourists. Its definitely not for little ones, though I don’t understand why less men are coming to see Viva Forever than would go to Singin’ In The Rain or Mamma Mia.
What I hope is that they take this show on tour. Take the Spice Girls TO the fans, cos lets face it London is a very expensive day out, and often involves a hotel stay to boot if coming from further than 3 hours away.
I’ll just say, in case it doesn’t go on tour and Lucy Montgomery does not return, if you liked the Spice Girls or anything Jennifer Saunders does, GO TO THIS SHOW. Its funny, sweet, sing-along fabulousness with a cracking end that gets everybody on their feet for a final sing and dance together.
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