Matthew Parker Archives - thespyinthestalls.com

★★★★★

“plenty of humour is accessible to the most casual West End attendee”

I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical takes you on a whistlestop musical tour behind the scenes of the West End. Written by Alexander S. Bermange, who also performs the piano accompaniments live on stage, it is catharsis for every (wannabe) performer.

Wilton’s Music Hall is one of my favourite venues in London for its dilapidated glamour, and it is the perfect location for I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical. Even traipsing up the Victorian staircases puts a spring in your box step.

The audience enters the performance hall with the curtain up, a black baby grand piano to stage right, three large be-glittered stars across centre stage, and a curtain rail hung with sequinned jackets. Even before the lights went down I was expecting a strong dose of camp. This is delivered in delightful abundance.

The musical opens with a pitch-perfect prologue ‘The Opening Number’ that stays just the right side of copyright law. It introduces the audience to the format of the show which could be summarised as a ‘How-to Guide’ to surviving in musical theatre – but as the show makes clear, probably not thriving.

There are plenty of references in Bermange’s lyrics that are like easter eggs for the most avid musical lover, from the deification of the now mononymous Idina to referencing the poor cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella who were (allegedly) dismissed with a tweet. However, plenty of humour is accessible to the most casual West End attendee, with excellent direction from Matthew Parker. I have never seen anyone get quite as intimate with a steamer, as did Sev Keoshgerian in a particularly hilarious number.

Songs make fun of key milestones within a musical performer’s career, as well as the characters met along the way. Once agent showcases were sent up, I sank into my seat, fully expecting critics to get eviscerated. When that moment inevitably came, I was barely prepared for its deadly accuracy.

(Top) hats off go to designer Sorcha Corcoran, who cleverly uses costumes and props to add to the production. The cast don hats in a song about musical superfans, and this simple addition immediately places them as characters from four well known musicals. This headgear is paired with primary coloured raincoats which fondly emphasises the trainspotter-like zeal of the most enthusiastic obsessives.

The stellar cast of Jennifer Caldwell, Sev Keoshgerian, Rhidian Marc and Julie Yammanee do the excellent songs justice. Highlights include Yammanee delivering I Love to Sing that has shades of Glenn Close for all the right reasons. Each song is enunciated perfectly, and every actor hits their vocal jokes. Choreography is on the simple side, but remains high energy throughout, even through the inevitable encore. Of course there is an encore!

In an era where audiences at the largest musicals are hitting the press with notoriously bad behaviour and performance rates insulate even less against a cost of living crisis, I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical serves as an especially pertinent reminder to humanise the triple threats amongst us. However, it never gets too glum. I leave humming the tunes, and tapping my feet in the toilet queue. To bastardise Oklahoma! Oh, what a beautiful evening.