Dressing the House
The title refers to the Box Office practice of selling theatre seats in such a way that a low audience tunout doesn’t look quite like the trainwreck it is, definitely half full rather than half empty.
Last night, the Bradford Alhambra rooked rather empty, even though it was fairly well dressed. I’d estimate it was only a third full and the staff had reacted accordingly, selling the programmes and souvenirs from the sweetie counter. It was surprising that it wasn’t very full, as the show was Our House, the Madness Musical. The show ran in the West End for only ten months, despite winning 2003 Best Musical award.
How do you make a Musical based on random songs of a Band? Well, think of Mamma Mia!, We will rock you, Never forget…
I’ve seen the DVD of the 2003 stage show and this revival is roughly the same show, with some changes of staging to suit a national tour. THe set consists of lots of doors set into brick wall legs and the back wall along with a fair number of movable door frames of various types. The cast is highly energetic and there are a number of very lively big dance numbers.
There are two “names” in the cast. The Dad of the main character (Joe Casey) was played by Steve Brookstein who won the original UK talent show X Factor series in 2004. I didn’t actually recognise him at first as the stubble had gone and he wasn’t singing in the style of his chart successes. The Mum was played by Gwyneth Strong, well known as Cassandra Trotter from Only Fools and Horses. I recognised her but Karen noticed that she didn’t actually do any singing.
The star of the show, however, was the car used for the song driving in my car. It wasn’t Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (indeed it was an old banger) but it rode on roads, tunnels, up in the clouds and even on a roller-coaster!
The plot line relies on parallel threads in the form of a moral maze and some very rapid quick changes of costume for key actors, particularly Joe Casey. Here the doors came in handy, for many of them were reversible with white (for the good Joe) and black (for the bad Joe). Sometimes good and bad scenes took place simultaneously, with a ringer playing the other Joe. The plot isn’t contrived quite as much as Mamma Mia! was to fit the songs, with the noble exception of Night Boat to Cairo that opens the second half. (We knew they were going to play that as the Musical Director wore a Fez as the lights went down). How do you fit in a subterranean Phantom of the Opera style scene with a gondola tillered by a wierd Egyptian? Go to see the show, it is obvious with hindsight!
Had the house been full and buzzing, I would have expected some dancing in the aisles, indeed I’ve done it (and blogged about it) with Karen and David at the City Varieties but it was a bit too restrained to do that.
I can recall a similar contrast more than a decade or so ago, BD (Before David). On a Saturday evening, we went to see Godspell, reworked for the 90s. It was a shadow of the original 70s version and the people stayed away in their droves. I actually wept a tear that such a super show could get reworked with Kylie-esque new arrangements and be so dire. (The slow songs were excellent but the fast ones way too electronic). Then, two nights later, we went to see Return to the Forbidden Planet on a Monday night. The theatre was heaving and they rocked.
Godspell is being revived on Broadway so might shine again. It hasn’t really gone away in all this time. Return to the forbidden planet is timeless, being a sci-fi rock & roll version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. How could you improve on that?
There is an infomercial about the new Our House but I can’t embed it here. Instead, take a look at it over at Steve’s place, or a wonky one at the show website (click on Video).
