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Showing posts with label Paul Jacob French. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paul Jacob French. Show all posts

Tuesday, 29 July 2025

Theatre review: Burlesque

I haven't really been following all the gossip about the troubled production of Burlesque, but I did suspect everything might not be going swimmingly early on when Todrick Hall was initially announced as one of the stars, then as the director and choreographer, and finally as one of the co-writers. Given that those things would ideally be worked out in the reverse order, it did give the impression of a temp getting hired to help out on a project for a couple of weeks, then ending up running it a few months later when everyone who actually knows what they're doing quits, why yes I do speak from experience. Also Hall has publicly stated that the show got rushed into the Savoy when it suddenly became available and nobody was prepared for it, so that was a clue as well. Anyway the finished product only really shows signs of its troubled origins when the lights are on and there's people on stage.

Thursday, 17 April 2025

Theatre review: Midnight Cowboy

Technically not a screen-to-stage adaptation as it's officially based directly on the novel by James Leo Herlihy, Midnight Cowboy is regardless a musical that's fated to be compared to the beloved 1969 movie; which I actually haven't seen, as it turns out, but Ian's a fan and informs me that Max Bowden's performance as Rico 'Ratso' Rizzo is... shall we say not entirely uninfluenced by Dustin Hoffman's performance in the film. Bryony Lavery (book) and Francis 'Eg' White's (music and lyrics) adaptation follows Joe Buck (Paul Jacob French) from Texas (or possibly Arkansas) to New York, where he intends to make his fortune selling sex for cash. Given his homophobic comments early on it's clear that one of the many ways he's deluded himself is in thinking this will involve vaginal sex, but he's soon disabused of this notion.