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Bromance: The Dudesical – 4 Stars

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Bromance

Bromance: The Dudesical

The Other Palace

Reviewed – 18th October 2018

★★★★

“a gut-bustingly hilarious pop rock musical”

 

Brush up on your brocabulary because we’re heading to guyville. A place of bros, dudes, beer and chilli cheese fries. Bromance: The Dudesical is a gut-bustingly hilarious pop rock musical. It follows the story of Tom (Cellen Chugg Jones), Dick (Robbie Smith) and Harry (Richard J Hunt); three bros doing bro things. But on St Patricks day they come across Marty (Joshua Gannon), the opposite of a bro. We follow their quest of taking Marty on the road of bro.

First, I want to say, this show is brilliant. The music by Kyle Ewalt is genius. What starts off as a pop rock musical, skilfully glides through a plethora of music influences, from Disco to Country to Jazz. The lyrics by Michael Ian Walker and Kyle Ewalt are well crafted and add an additional layer of humour to the already hilarious script. My particular song favourite was ‘Heartburn’ performed by Harry.

With the wonderful material in play, the execution is pivotal. The five member cast succeeded in that regard. They are strong, full of energy and committed to what they are doing. Their energy pulsates throughout the entire fun, silly and irreverent two hour show; particularly in the stylised choreography. All were excellent, but the leading front bro for me was Robbie Smith as Dick. He is unstoppable in this role, creating a fully realised bro, commanding the stage and delivering the role with such humour and precision. A special mention must also go to Esme Laudat who faultlessly picks up all the female roles.

Despite everything that is going for this show, there are a few areas that need working on. There were a couple of stumbles with staging and words, and with the calibre of material and talent on stage, I expected better. The sound (Joe Morris) needs serious work; the mics of the performers seemed to cut in and out quite regularly and when they did work, the balance didn’t seem right, so you could hear some but not others. On a more positive note, the set design (Dan Gillingwater) in the small studio space of The Other Palace was very clever.

Bromance: The Dudesical is excellent. It has its problems, but they are easily fixable. I came out of The Other Palace, feeling uplifted by this show. Go check it out, bro.

 

Reviewed by Shaun Dicks

Photography by  Andy Keelan

 


Bromance: The Dudesical

The Other Palace until 24th October

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:
Eugenius! | ★★★★ | February 2018
Suicide | ★★★½ | May 2018

 

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

 

 

Suicide – 3.5 Stars

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Suicide

Suicide

The Other Palace

Reviewed – 17th May 2018

★★★½

“I loved the aesthetic of the piece, creatively and visually, however it felt a tad muddled at times”

 

Suicide is a new musical, exploring the growing issue of male suicide, which had a successful run at last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe; it has now been reworked and premieres at The Other Palace. It follows the life of John (Harlie Sutherland) a real estate agent stuck in his disappointing life, and his conscience (Sherwood Alexander as light conscience and Calum Sivyer as dark conscience). 

When you think of a musical titled Suicide, the last thing you would think of is comedy. However that’s what is provided here alongside a powerful and heartfelt message. The humour is at an appropriate level for such a dark subject, however it didn’t venture into the black comedy genre, which did disappoint me. Most of the laughs came from John’s conscience, where Alexander really shone. Not only was he a talented musician, he had a huge amount of versatility and so much presence, that he always caught my eye when he was on stage.

The piece has some very genuine moments littered throughout, alongside well timed comedic sequences. Although some sections seemed vague and therefore disingenuous, fortunately these were few and far between. I loved the aesthetic of the piece, creatively and visually, however it felt a tad muddled at times. The paper-thin look of everything really fitted in with the subject matter. The hanging noose also lent a foreboding and dark tone to the piece. The music was excellent – Robert S J Lucas created a very peppy and upbeat soundtrack to provide juxtaposition to the heavy narrative, although, like the aesthetic, it occasionally felt a little confused.

Overall, I really enjoyed the piece – It tackled a marginalised but very real issue. It not only tried to raise awareness, but also encourages the audience to reach out for help when they need it. It’s not exactly a ‘light’ evening of entertainment, but it’s important and enjoyable nonetheless and I look forward to seeing what the company do next.

 

Reviewed by Charlotte Hurford

Photography courtesy of show

 


Suicide

The Other Palace

 

 

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