★★★★

“Barber gives the character everything she has”

Jonathan Harvey and the Pet Shop Boys’ salacious, scandalous and searingly funny “Musik” is only an hour long, but it will take stage management twice as long each night to clear up all the celebrity names dropped. It’s a good thing, too, that we’re fully aware that this is a work of complete fiction (although we would love it to be all true) otherwise the libel lawyers would outnumber the paying audience. Mind you, my guess is that they’d be won over pretty rapidly by Frances Barber’s brilliant and hilarious delivery of Harvey’s script, that charts the outrageous life of a certain Billie Trix.

So, who is this Billie Trix? She was first introduced to the world in the 2001 musical, ‘Closer to Heaven’ as a retired rock icon and actress. Although the narrator, she had a relatively small part of the story. In 2019, Harvey and the Pet Shop Boys created “Musik”, the spin-off cabaret show that propelled Trix to centre stage, exploring her back story from her ignominious birth in war-torn Berlin to the present day. Not quite a ‘cradle-to-grave’ story, as she still manages to keep the latter at bay, against all the odds. Six songs pepper the narrative, opening with ‘Mongrel’. “Times were tough, but I was tougher…” she croons in her ravaged voice, “times were rough, but I was rougher”. Yet by the final song she is undeniably celebratory, belting out the fact that you’ve got to live your life for every moment (she certainly has). “We never know what’s round the corner” she says by way of introduction, “and that’s what gives me hope”.

And what corners she has turned, managing to find herself at the forefront of each revolution in pop culture; giving birth to the American folk revival, inventing ‘Disco’, inspiring Andy Warhol’s pop art culture, creating Madonna’s image and – in an update since its 2019 premier – unwittingly causing the global pandemic. She witnessed Vietnam, rejected the hand of a young Trump (good move), and got up to all graphically described shenanigans with the likes of Lou Reed, Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, Damien Hirst, Tracy Emin, Mick (and Bianca) Jagger, Frank Zappa, Shania Twain, Jean-Paul Sartre, even the Dalai Lama… I could go on. Trix is clearly delusional, and her memoir is fantastical. She is larger than life, arrogant, self-assured and psychotically callous and indifferent to opinion. But she is adorable, charismatic, and laugh-out-loud hilarious. Barber gives the character everything she has, bringing her to life and making her preposterous anecdotes totally believable… almost. With expert comic timing, Barber mixes over-the-top self-aggrandisement with dead-pan self-deprecation, conquering the stage and the audience with a performance Billie Trix could only dream of.

Terry Johnson directs the show with the pulsating pace of a Pet Shop Boys dance anthem. Barber talks and moves at 120bpm, seamlessly segueing into the musical numbers. The unmistakable Tennant and Lowe synth-pop backing does give a vague karaoke feel to the songs, but Barber’s crackling vocals adds the required depth, aided by Harvey’s and the duo’s scathingly clever lyrics. The songs are not necessarily what we’ll be taking home with us – it is Harvey’s razor-sharp writing, coupled with Barber’s fiercely formidable performance that will be truly remembered. Billie Trix insists that she is a ‘gift to the world’. A dubious claim. But there’s no doubting that Frances Barber is a gift to the theatre world. Her character is indomitable, her show unmissable.

7 MAGNIFICENT EGOS

Ye Olde Rose and Crown

★★★

“all quite irreverent, and refreshingly tongue in cheek”

There’s an informality about Lance Steen Anthony Nielsen’s comedy drama, “7 Magnificent Egos”, that manifests itself from the start. Walking into the auditorium is like wandering into a meet-and-greet session on the first day of rehearsals. The cast mingle, selfies are taken, and a haphazard precedent is set. This is going to be a fun evening. Already we suspect that Nielsen’s play isn’t going to take itself too seriously.

Although the actors are dressed as the characters from the 1960 movie, we are apparently in the here and now. Perhaps we are in some sort of afterlife, but the atmosphere – and references to Amazon and social media – suggests otherwise. In fact, we remain a little unsure of its setting throughout as it frequently, and swiftly, jumps from one genre to another, often at odds with what is being evoked. Part history lecture, part screwball comedy, part absurdist drama, part sketch show, part pantomime: all of these parts making up a rather shaky, unformed, but thoroughly enjoyable whole.

Fear not if you are unfamiliar with the original Western or even its stars. You’ll soon know them inside out. Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Horst Buchholz, Brad Dexter. We are taken behind the scenes to witness the magnificent clash of egos that famously fuelled – and very nearly sabotaged – the creative process behind one of the most beloved Westerns of the Silver Screen. Yul Brynner was looking for his first movie to direct while his friend, the actor Anthony Quinn, wanted a vehicle to star in. Quinn suggested a remake of ‘The Seven Samurai’. Enter producer Walter Mirisch, who wanted Brynner to star in the film and John Sturges to direct instead. Quinn was pushed out (who later tried, unsuccessfully, to sue). These conflicts were just the start. The real fights were yet to come.

Robert Vaughn (Tristan Pegg) adopts the role of narrator, confidently setting the scene like a seasoned MC, focusing on the irony with a barely suppressed smile. Each actor has their moment to describe and define their character, explaining their role directly to the audience. Nielsen plays fast and loose with chronological accuracy for comedic effect (Pegg manages to slip in a hilarious parody of Vaughn’s Napoleon Solo from ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’). A rather lengthy episode depicts the casting process of the film, during which the performers lean towards the safety of caricature and predictable mannerisms. Monos Koutsis, as Yul Brynner, overdoes the ‘King and I’ hand clap, but is otherwise a commanding presence. Similarly, Simon Berry is in danger of overplaying Steve McQueen’s cool – but has the voice and swagger down to a tee. Paul McLaughlin is ruggedly charismatic as James Coburn, shifting away from his deep tenor to also portray the film’s producer, Walter Mirisch. Just as slick is Alex Heaton’s transformation from Brad Dexter to the director, John Sturges, and although he doesn’t quite capture the command and quiet competence of Sturges, he does play it for laughs – which come thick and fast.

It is all quite irreverent, and refreshingly tongue in cheek – in a ‘Blazing Saddles’ meets ‘Morecambe and Wise’ kind of way. Surrealism rubs shoulders with inventiveness while running gags play leapfrog all over the dialogue. Fake moustaches, sombreros and inflatable cacti transport us to Mexico for the film shoot, where Rose Kaur – as fiery love interest Rosenda Monteros – comes into her own. Much of the second act depicts the rivalry between the ‘magnificent’ egos on the film set. It often feels forced, but as it becomes sillier and sillier, the show approaches its full comic potential. Some ruthless editing would get it there. Writer Nielsen also directs with a touch of indulgence that an outsider’s perspective could iron out.

An epilogue precedes a couple of false endings and by now we are wondering when the end credits are going to roll. There is a talented company on stage – and this show could be magnificent, without so much tumbleweed dragging it back. But when in full swing, it is a whole lot of Magnificent fun.

MUSIK

Wilton’s Music Hall

★★★★

“Barber gives the character everything she has”

MUSIK

Wilton’s Music Hall

Reviewed on 17th October 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Charlie Flint

Previously reviewed at this venue:

MUSIK

MUSIK

MUSIK

7 MAGNIFICENT EGOS

Ye Olde Rose and Crown

★★★

“all quite irreverent, and refreshingly tongue in cheek”