TUTU at the Peacock Theatre

★★★

“all six dancers look mighty fine in mini tutus and costumes, and all have beautiful classical technique – and legs”

Tutu is dance-theatre from the French dance company Chicos Mambo, performed by a company of six male dancers who don’t take themselves too seriously.

The evening opens with what is certainly a female silhouette (Corinne Barbara), wearing a white tutu as she spins. The curtains open and the six male dancers of the company, wearing huge pink tulle trouser tutus, dance and lollop and fall to a classical ballet soundtrack.

There were some stand out dances, as the scenes moved from classical to contemporary, aerial to ballroom with a nod to Strictly and Dirty Dancing, to street dance and a Russian female gymnastics team with hoops and ribbons, all performed by the six lovely dancers, with individual physiques and characters.

The title Tutu is a nod to ballet’s most classical costume and all six dancers (Marc Behra, David Guasgua, Julien Mercier, Kamil Pawel Jasinski, Vincent Simon and Vincenzo Veneruso) look mighty fine in mini tutus and costumes, and all have beautiful classical technique – and legs!

What does not land so well is some of the very French comedy within the piece – with some difficult moments to watch involving a leak prop and tutu like vegetable headdresses on the dancers.

Tutu is choreographed by the French company’s Artistic Director Philippe Lafeuille. Tutu was created ten years ago, but this is its first residency in London, and it does feel somewhat dated. Chicos Mambo was created in 1994, when it would have been a genre defining dance company, with its clever subversion of gender norms in dance. But today, if male dancers are to take on the female dance steps en pointe in female costume, then they need to dance it better than the competition! It worked and was fun when the male company looked in pain dancing en pointe but to pastiche and try to take it to the next level, is just not possible, unless they can surpass the classical female ballet dancer, which they can’t, however hard they work. The aerial ballet solo, literally never got off the ground, firmly placing the dancer en pointe at the end of his not so beautifully arched feet. You wanted him to fly – but maybe that was the message a male dancer can’t fly en pointe….

Some of the more exciting scenes were those that didn’t necessarily include slapstick moments, like the Nappy ballet with the company all in nappy tutus being babies taking their first steps and moves in a beautifully funny choreographed piece – which sadly fell flat as the babies did, when it ran out of ideas. A lovely Dance of the Cygnets’, with the quartet dressed in duck costumes with beaks, again with very funny and clever choreography! A stunning Swan Lake solo, purely of the sinewed muscular back and arms of a dancer, as the back frame and quivering arms worked their magic, with strong lighting by Dominique Mabileau, assisted by Guillaume Tesson.

The highlight of the evening, for me, was the stunning solo from the bearded dancer, dressed in mini tutu and a rugby helmet. This was classical dance interspersed with the physically macho and vociferous grunts, as he flipped into the New Zealand All Blacks Māori haka war dance. It was unique and caught your breath as he switched between the two, becoming confused and fused into one. This would have been fabulous to have developed this concept with the full company….

The Artistic Director Philippe Lafeuille came out to take a bow at the curtain call and stayed on stage getting the audience up and dancing and singing. And with his beautiful French accent he told us that when life is not so good be happy and be TUTU-fied. It was a shame that this fun and lovely moment with him had not been the warm up act.

TUTU at the Peacock Theatre

Reviewed on 1st October 2024

by Debbie Rich

Photography by Michel Cavalca

Previously reviewed at Sadler’s Wells venues:

CARMEN | ★★★★ | July 2024

THE OPERA LOCOS | ★★★★ | May 2024

ASSEMBLY HALL | ★★★★★ | March 2024

AUTOBIOGRAPHY (v95 and v96) | ★★★ | March 2024

NELKEN | ★★★★★ | February 2024

LOVETRAIN2020 | ★★★★ | November 2023

MALEVO | ★★★★ | October 2023

KYIV CITY BALLET – A TRIBUTE TO PEACE | ★★★½ | September 2023

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER AT 65 | ★★★★★ | September 2023

DANCE ME | ★★★★★ | February 2023

TUTU

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★★★★

“The show is impossible to compartmentalise – part operatic revue, part vaudeville – and total pleasure”

Five sensational opera singers share the stage in this hard-to-pigeonhole musical entertainment presented by Spanish company YLLANA (Artistic Directors David Ottone & Joe O’Curneen).

If any clue is in the title (locos = crazy), the gaudily colourful costumes confirm that this show is going to be wild. Alfredo (Jesús Álvarez, tenor) enthusiastically introduces us to the ensemble dressed in a fetching bottle green fat suit. Carmen (Mayca Teba, mezzo soprano) looks like an extra from the musical Cats, Franelli (Michaël Koné, counter tenor) is straight out of a Prince pop video. The men’s faces are painted white so that they resemble commedia dell’arte characters and all is enhanced by powerful lighting in dramatic reds and blues.

The five performers are part of an operatic troupe and we see them on stage and behind the scenes. Enrique (Enrique Sánchez-Ramos, baritone) gives singing lessons to Franelli, encouraging him to sing more manly whilst evading his amorous advances. Ditsy Maria (Maria Rey-Joly, soprano) has a crush on Alfredo and we watch their tentative steps in courtship. But Alfredo has troubles of his own, considering suicide as he acknowledges his fading talent and his enlarging waistline.

There is no dialogue at all. Intentions and feelings are portrayed through operatic aria, gesture, sighs, mime and more than a little clowning. The performers sing live to a recorded orchestral track and over the course of the show we hear hits from all the operatic greats: Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, Bizet et al. But the gimmick here is that interspersed into the mix are bits of popular music too. Who knew that Rossini could segue so well into Mika’s Grace Kelly? Or Carmen into Whitney? One doesn’t need to know all the sources of all the tunes, but certainly it increases the fun when you’re able to recognise something and enjoy the a-ha moment.

All the singers get their moment in the spotlight and everyone nails it. Enrique’s Figaro is the highlight of the evening, although Maria’s Queen of the Night runs him close. And it’s fitting that the climax of the story should culminate in everyone’s favourite aria, Nessun Dorma from Alfredo.

Love, of course, will win out. Alfredo overcomes his inner demons with a lusty rendition of My Way and accepts the love of Maria. Enrique comes out of the closet to pair up with the pop-loving Franelli. Only Carmen remains uncoupled until she consummates her flirtation with a gentleman in the front row by bringing him onto the stage for the encores.

For me, the English language pop megamix which ends the show seems tagged on, and without the subtlety of what has gone before, but it brings the house down.

This multi-talented cast not only sing superbly but also act, mime, clown and boast expert comic timing. The show is impossible to compartmentalise – part operatic revue, part vaudeville – and total pleasure.

TUTU at the Peacock Theatre

★★★

“all six dancers look mighty fine in mini tutus and costumes, and all have beautiful classical technique – and legs”

TUTU at the Peacock Theatre

Reviewed on 1st October 2024

by Debbie Rich

Photography by Michel Cavalca

Previously reviewed at Sadler’s Wells venues:

TUTU

TUTU

THE OPERA LOCOS at the Peacock Theatre

★★★★

“The show is impossible to compartmentalise – part operatic revue, part vaudeville – and total pleasure”

THE OPERA LOCOS at the Peacock Theatre

Reviewed on 8th May 2024

by Phillip Money

Photography by Lighuen De Santos

Previously reviewed Sadler’s Wells venues:

THE OPERA LOCOS

THE OPERA LOCOS