Tag Archives: David Eaton

Buttons: A Cinderella Story
★★★★

King’s Head Theatre

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Buttons: A Cinderella Story

King’s Head Theatre

Reviewed – 27th November 2018

★★★★

“a highly entertaining, titillating beast of a show”

 

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…. Especially now that Panto season has come upon us. That’s right boys and girls, the time for inneundos, “he’s behind you!”, and more glitter than you can shake a bauble at, has come around again. For the 12th year in a row, Charles Court Opera (CCO) are mixing up the Panto festivities with their imaginative retelling of a classic fairytale. Buttons: A Cinderella Story is full of the camp charm you would expect, but flogging saucier double entendres for its ‘adults only’ performances that admittedly don’t always hit the mark. Although some parts fall rather flat, this is overruled by the good … which is really very good. With inventive lyrics to songs and twists to the well-known story, CCO create a refreshing new take on the often stale Panto form.

Cinderella (Eleanor Sanderson-Nash) does not take centre stage in this telling. Gone is the glass slipper. Gone are the evil stepmother and stepsisters. Instead, we follow Buttons (Matthew Kellett), Cinderella’s teddy bear, who wishes he could be a real boy so that he could tell Cinderella how much he loves her. Poof! In a cloud of smoke Buttons’ Fairy Godfather grants him his wish. But, making Cinderella fall in love with him proves a challenging task. She has her heart set on marrying a prince. By luck the smug yet suave Prince Charming (Jennie Jacobs) has ridden into town with his manservant Dandini (Emily Cairns) but there’s an unnerving, darker side to his Royal Highness yet to be discovered. All comes to a head at the Prince’s ball, with romantic dilemmas, shenanigans galore, and a whodunnit mystery.

David Eaton does an excellent job in reworking the lyrics of existing pop songs to much comic effect. The reimagined use of Bohemian Rhapsody is inevitable with the recent release of the film with the same name. The new version of Thriller is a particular highlight, cleverly reinterpreting not just the lyrics but also the iconic dance moves to fit the storyline. Matthew Kellett as Buttons wins the prize for tugging on the audiences heart strings with his rendition of Radiohead’s Creep. Overall, the singing in the show is of an exceptional standard, with harmonies to die for.

Being an adults only performance, with no kids to do all the shouting back and participation, there was some reluctance from the audience to take part (some people almost forcibly dragged onto the stage). However, in spite of this, the audience did warm into spurting the usual comeback lines.

As much as an outrageous retelling was promised, the final product is actually rather tame. There are some surprising twists from the usual Cinderella story, however, it could have been made darker and stranger in other places. Nevertheless, this is still a highly entertaining, titillating beast of a show. It certainly beats some of the typical Panto fare that can be rather nauseating. Raucous festive fun to get you in the Christmas spirit.

 

Reviewed by  Phoebe Cole

Photography by Bill Knight

 

kings head theatre

Buttons: A Cinderella Story

King’s Head Theatre until 5th January

 

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:
Riot Act | ★★★★★ | July 2018
The Cluedo Club Killings | ★★★ | July 2018
And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens | ★★★★ | August 2018
Hamilton (Lewis) | ★★★ | September 2018
Canoe | ★★★½ | October 2018
La Traviata | ★★★★ | October 2018
No Leaves on my Precious Self | ★★ | October 2018
Beauty and the Beast: A Musical Parody | ★★★★★ | November 2018
Brexit | ★★★★★ | November 2018
Momma Golda | ★★★ | November 2018

 

Click here to see more of our latest reviews on thespyinthestalls.com

 

Hamilton (Lewis) – 3 Stars

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Hamilton

Hamilton (Lewis)

King’s Head Theatre

Reviewed – 6th September 2018

★★★

“it is this playful sense of fun, championed undoubtedly by director Benji Sperring, that saves the production from stalling at the starting line”

 

“We love Hamilton” intone the cast on a bare stage at the King’s Head Theatre in Islington, “and we found it hilarious that when Hamilton was first announced, loads of people thought it was a musical about Lewis Hamilton”. I’m not sure if this is really true, and not particularly hilarious, but somehow the misconception hatched the idea: “… wouldn’t it be funny to write a musical about Lewis Hamilton?” the cast then further expound. We are barely sixty seconds into the show and I think I already have the answer to the question.

Lewis Hamilton, arguably the most successful British F1 driver in the history of the sport, is less the subject but more of a vehicle, albeit a high-speed one, for a series of quips and smart references to the modern-day concepts of celebrity, media awareness and corporate sponsorship juxtaposed with and the age old ‘love versus career’ dialogue. If the jokes are occasionally a bit thin, the performances are consistently full bodied, and the four actors do rev up the material with their infectious energy. Although a sporting superstar, Lewis has been frequently described as running low on personality, but Letitia Hector pumps life into the character, fuelled by a sharp sense of irony and fun. Hector depicts Hamilton as a starry-eyed innocent, quickly apprised by the pantomime figure of his team member Fernando Alonso (Louis Mackrodt) and manager Big Ron (Jamie Barwood). “Drive less, smile more” Alonso advises, steering Hamilton headlong into the path of high-profile branding and trophy girlfriends. Cue Nicole Scherzinger; a skilled yet playful performance by Liberty Buckland, who somehow manages to turn caricature into a fully fleshed character.

In fact, it is this playful sense of fun, championed undoubtedly by director Benji Sperring, that saves the production from stalling at the starting line. Fiona English’s book relies on too few gags and David Eaton’s brilliantly scanned lyrics, while well-crafted and witty, are let down by unmemorable music.

There is an overall sense of ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’ that courses through this show, and maybe it hasn’t travelled well from Edinburgh to London. The haphazard nature, though, does give the show an anarchic edge and it is refreshing to see a company make just as much fun of themselves as the subjects, while riding teasingly close to the wrong side of our libel laws. Yet it also falls victim to these very qualities that do suggest a work in progress; with the chequered flag still a few laps away.

In the prologue, the audience are told that it has taken Lin Manuel Miranda four and a half years to get his hit musical “Hamilton” to where it is. This musical, though, has literally raced to get where it is. And unfortunately, it shows.

 

Reviewed by Jonathan Evans

Photography by The Other Richard

 

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Hamilton (Lewis)

King’s Head Theatre until 22nd September

 

 

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