Billy Connolly quipped about operas “I like them, but I feel they’re two thirds too long” - this is how I consider musicals, hence my apprehension about seeing this production. Thankfully, it soon dissolved as the show transpired to be a fun, fast and sadistic farce.
Disney this isn’t - anyone who prefers their Snow White prancing about serenading woodland creatures may find this dark humoured adaptation too disturbing, but for all the cynics sick of a world obsessed with TOWIE and X Factor, this is the musical for you.
Once upon a time there was a woman called Deb White (Lisa Depuis): a self-centred, gerascophobic, washed-up tabloid queen who feared fading into obscurity. Solution? Reproduction of course! Welcome to a media-obsessed realm where children are “assets”, non-celebs are “dwarves” and social status revolves around “beauty”. Snow (Rachel King) is Deb’s “cash cow”, constantly paraded and berated to meet satisfaction, until she unintentionally outshines Mummy-dearest and becomes her rival...with dangerous consequences.
King’s Snow is deliciously ditzy and as nauseating as you could wish for. Depuis’ Deb is the sociopathic lovechild of Patsy Stone and Jordan. With her temper and vanity, you switch from adoration to detestation every time she sashays to the bar or belittles a crony. Both are embodiments of the modern celebrity: someone we love to hate, but who still momentarily earns sympathy. Ever wondered if celebrity obsession is destroying our society? This production does, and acts as a warning of what we could evolve into.
Wayne Hughes, Sean Westwood and Dee McGruddy complete an incredibly talented cast whose multiple costume changes transformed them into an assortment of loveably eccentric characters. Westwood (also writer/composer) has created a catchy, hilarious musical which deserves every success, and is culpable for the fact I have been humming “We love the money” for three days now.
Disney this isn’t - anyone who prefers their Snow White prancing about serenading woodland creatures may find this dark humoured adaptation too disturbing, but for all the cynics sick of a world obsessed with TOWIE and X Factor, this is the musical for you.
