Molly Wobbly

Phoenix Artist Club, London

****

Written and directed by Paul Boyd

Leanne Jones and Russell Morton

Making a long overdue arrival in the capital Molly Wobbly, Paul Boyd's smutty subversive paean to the vanity of cosmetic surgery finally opens at the Phoenix Arts Club. A search through these reviews will find the Edinburgh 2012 production version and subsequent CD already well commented upon and in a week when the satirical US import Urinetown is making a splash in Victoria, it's grand to see new British writing celebrated too.

Molly Wobbly's bizarre fable follows three married couples in a sleepy British village, all frustrated and unhappy with their lot and their sex lives until the arrival of a shock-headed freak, bizarrely named IThankYou, who suggests that the cure for the women's respective miseries lies in breast enhancement. The show's humour is cupped firmly (or wobbly) in an 18-rated style of "Carry On" crude, with some of the gags being eye wateringly brilliant and many of Boyd's melodies proving extremely hummable too.

The beauty of this staged concert version lies in the company that Boyd has assembled. A handful of newcomers combine with some stalwarts from the Edinburgh cast and notwithstanding the pre-recorded backing track, the vocal work on display is immense. All of the harmonies are glorious with Leanne Jones' spine-tingling 11 o'clock lament, Designed By Margaret Brown an absolute belter. Fans of former The Voice star Jordan Lee Davies should also head to the basement venue. Davies plays Kitten, a strange sidekick/henchman to IThankYou and his mellifluously depraved homage to casual gay sex, One Night Stand, is just as hilarious two years on from Edinburgh, notwithstanding Boyd’s nip and tuck to the lyrics. Kitten's torch song however, Guardian Angel, a number that is simply gorgeous on the CD and is possibly one of the best British musical theatre songs of recent years, loses some of its majestic impact against the over-amplified backing. An easy fix to remedy.

Russell Morton's IThankYou is a treat of a performance, whilst Kate England's repressed Presbyterian minister's wife also provides some well written laughs. Conleth Kane brilliantly reprises his camp hairdresser, alongside an Alastair Brookshaw who as Malcom, Margaret Brown's husband is a convincing spouse, henpecked by a wife (Jones) who is so much larger than life.

The venue ain't great (pub noise wafts in too often) but the performances are magical and the talent and innovation manifest by the show deserve a wider audience. Give Molly Wobbly a live band and a larger stage and she could truly reach her full potential.

With funny filthy lyrics, ridiculously skilled singers that are busting with talent and saucy scantily clad actresses, this is a show that speaks both to and about, us all.

Runs to 19th March

Saucy Jack And The Space Vixens

Leicester Square Theatre, London

***

Book by Charlotte Mann

Lyrics by Charlotte Mann and Michael Fidler

Music by Jonathan Croose and Robin Forest

Directed by Stuart Saint

Jamie Birkett

Michael Fidler, the creator of Saucy Jack And The Space Vixens suggests in his programme notes that we are all Space Vixens at heart. Whilst Fidler may be right, the fact that it has taken nigh on 18 years for his celebration of disco to arrive in London's West End, suggests that there hasn't been too much demand to explore that particular zeitgeist. Fidler also says that when he wrote the show he (rather arrogantly) envisioned a "Cheers" set in outer space. Well it's safe to say that that dream also, has yet to be realised. This show is a fantastic froth of intergalactic crime busting, set against a glitter encrusted culture of a disco beat and gratuitous fetishism and if you’re sober, it’s rather dull. If you've had a couple of beers then the show may well be brilliant, but then of course you run the risk of missing out on appreciating the truly outstanding collection of talent that Stuart Saint has assembled. It's a tough call.

The cast is actually magnificent. There is not one weak link and a handful of the company are outstanding. Ralph Bogard is Jack, an outrageously flamboyant and murderous character, who made up, resembles a hungover Steve Strange in his pomp. But boy can this boy act. He holds the audience in the palm of his hand throughout and like many of the cast, gives the material far more talent than it deserves. Wonderful too is Lisa Gorgin, who masters three characters during the course of the show and whose two big solos Vulva's Tango (subtle huh?) and Space Trucking are fabulous. Big up too to David Malcolm whose transvestite Booby Shevalle is the most convincing drag turn to have been seen at the LST in quite a while. Leanne Jones, gracing a London show for the first time since becoming a mum, proves that her vocal talents have only grown alongside her ample maternal curves and she remains, as always, a delight. Finally the Offies nominated trouper Jamie Birkett again proves herself the most versatile of actresses. Impressive glittered heels giving Birkett a statuesque aura never seen before and allowing this gem of an actress to dominate the stage in a glorious trio of speech, presence and song. 

Technically, the producers need to have performed much better. Too many words are inaudible and whilst the lyrics may well not be worth listening to, it would be nice to be given the choice. And whose idea was it to have a character who has been written around being a sax player, being then made to mime his sax playing to a backing track? That is a shameful piece of corner cutting and starves both the production and the writing of some rare passionate praise that it might otherwise have garnered.

Saint writes bravely in the programme of how developing this production gave him a positive focus in life as he battled cancer and notwithstanding this critic's gripes, if the power of disco offered him such a force for good, then it is to be cheered and celebrated for nothing is more important than such a journey of recovery. But showbiz demands that such sentiment be put to one side and as a piece of musical theatre writing Saucy Jack And The Space Vixens disappoints. To mis-quote a certain phrase, whilst this show does indeed remain unpolished, it has unquestionably been rolled in an awful lot of glitter.

Runs until 15th September

Molly Wobbly's Tit Factory Original Cast - CD review

****

Music & lyrics by Paul Boyd

Released by SimG Records

Orla Gormley and Leanne Jones address Tara Flynn



One of the pleasing aspects of a CD being released a couple of months after a stage show, is that it provides an opportunity to re-visit the production, re-imagine the songs and also to study the lyrics, melodies and vocals with more careful consideration. Songs that can take weeks to write and rehearse, often (but not always!) deserve more than a simple 5 minute playing time on stage to appreciate the work that has gone into their composition.

So it is with the original cast recording of The Lyric Theatre Belfast’s production of Molly Wobbly’s Tit Factory, released this week on the SimG label. The show premiered earlier this year in Belfast before a stay at the Edinburgh Fringe, receiving generally excellent reviews. A full review of the staged show can be found in this link. The briefest of synopses tells of three women, frustrated with their marriages and with small town life. The arrival of Ithanku (Russell Morton), a shock headed stranger  with hypnotic powers and a skill in  breast augmentation, offers each woman an opportunity to pour out their frustrations and their desire for a happier life and an improved figure . Add in the three husbands,  Ithanku’s henchman Kitten (played by Tommy Wallace) and the cast is complete in a production that is extremely camp and mocking of both sexuality and religion. This is not a recording for the easily offended.

As has already been documented, the show’s original cast are a delight. This CD however allows their vocal skills to be relished at a more leisurely pace and it is striking how pervasive the predominantly Irish cast’s brogue is upon their performances. In Edinburgh’s vast Assembly Room the softer nuances of the actors’ accents was not so discernible, but in the carefully controlled environment of a recording studio, they are a delight. Tara Flynn and Orla Gormley both hail from Ireland, whilst Leanne Jones piles on the years as a credible 42year old English lady of the shires.

The three husbands all perform excellently, although their roles are broadly confined to reflecting their respective wives' search for happiness and liberation. It is Ithanku and surprisingly Kitten, who deliver the most distinctive male contributions to the recording. Ithanku with his narrator-like role as well as being a protagonist, makes a contribution to numerous numbers. The Bricusse/Newley like song Trust Yourself To Me, (think of The Candy Man from Willie Wonka & The Chocolate Factory)  that promotes his talents as a cosmetic surgeon has lilting lyrics that are chillingly matter of fact about the nips and tucks.

Late into the plot, Kitten delivers two stunning performances. Guardian Angel is a number that has true torch-song potential on the cabaret circuit, whilst with One Night Stand which, so it is to be understood, is a well written observation on some of the sexual complications of casual gay encounters, he delivers a hilarious crowd-whooping showstopper. Similarly, earlier in the show with Presbyterian Ministers Wife, Paul Boyd assisted by Gormley’s enchanting performance, proves that the f-word can still be an eye-wateringly rich seam of comedy if mined responsibly.

This recording will be a fun addition to many a music library. Boyd has created a celebration of crude irreverence combining it with moments of true observation of the human character. The CD notes contain a detailed synopsis that contexts each of the show’s songs, so if one has not yet seen it live, the story’s narrative can still be understood.   The production’s success at Edinburgh was well deserved and it can only be hoped that this recording’s release will herald Molly Wobbly being performed at a London venue in the not too distant future. Pending such an opening and with all royalties being donated to the Terrence Higgins Trust, grab a copy of the album and enjoy the bawdy banter of this tale.

CD available from www.simgproductions.com

Molly Wobbly's Tit Factory - Review

Assembly Rooms. Edinburgh

****

Book, music & lyrics by Paul Boyd

Directed by Paul Boyd


A review of the Original Cast Recording can be found here

Russel Morton as Ithanku

Molly Wobbly's Tit Factory at the Assembly Rooms is a delightfully irreverent show that arrived in Edinburgh following a week’s debut run in Belfast. Smutty, vulgar and excellently performed, it draws upon a Carry On style of humour, and if the title wasn't warning enough, is best viewed by non-prudent adults.

Set in the sleepy village of Little Happening, the lives of three (un)happily married women are turned upside down when a green headed character, Ithanku, who bears more than a passing resemblance to Shock Headed Peter  ( he is named Ithanku for reasons too long to explain in this review)  and who possesses mysterious powers, buys a derelict building on Mammary Lane (snigger snigger).

If this all sounds a tad like The Witches of Eastwick, well in parts that's true, however rather than setting out to seduce the women of the town, Ithanku's mission is to augment their breasts. Much as in the way that Goldilocks was presented with three bowls of porridge of differing volume, so are the audience presented with three divas of varyingly sized decolletages.  Leanne Jones, an outstanding actress famed for exploiting her fleshy proportions as Tracy Turnblad in the West End's Hairspray, leads the line as beautifully voiced and largest breasted woman Margaret, the town's dressmaker. The medium sized lady in the cast is Tara Flynn who plays Jemma, married to an (inevitably) gay hairdresser, whilst Orla Gormley is Ruth, the smallest chested of the three, married to the town’s clock and watchmaker, having previously been wed to a man of the cloth. Her number, Presbyterian Minister's Wife, looking back to an episode in that marriage when she "shouted f*ck in the manse", is one of the show's lyrically comical highlights.

There is not a weak performance amongst the cast and in a production that appears to have been staged on a tight budget (shame about the music having been pre-recorded) the strength of the show lies within the talent on stage. Tommy Wallace, as camp character Kitten, is a riot in heels and lipstick, especially with his song Guardian Angel and Russell Morton delivers a fine turn as Ithanku, a bad-guy with some really complex issues.

Irish writer Paul Boyd has put together a crackingly camp confection of saucy jokes, rude songs and fine performances that include at one time or another, all of the cast in their underwear. He pokes fun at most strands of Christianity and also lifts the floormat on a number of taboos and social mores and in so doing creates a fun night out at the theatre. The show deserves a transfer to a London off-West End venue, ideally one that has an understanding of staging musical theatre, to share its filthy fun with a wider audience. A possible cult following awaits.

Runs until August 26th