Robert Sanders and James Sidgwick have created a lightly entertaining musical around superhero tropes and aesthetic, making for cute if not somewhat pantomime-esque hour and a half. If you love panto, that's great, but don't expect any
The world of Supertown is charming and bound to make you break into a grin.
The plot follows Ste (Matt Stirk), a hapless reporter in Supertown who's sick of the attention strapping hero Thunderman (Dan Austwick) gets from girls like Sally (Sophie Massa). Teaming up with the much-ignored superzero Zapper (Sidgwick), Ste aims to take down the hero of the town. The storyline makes sense and follows a good arc at a nice pace, allowing for character development in some sweet musical numbers from Stirk and Massa. Sidgwick is a comic talent and a great asset to the show, matching each occasion with an excellent sense of timing and tone.
There are some nice pastiches of superhero cliches such as Doctor Boctor (Jack Brindle) giggling and hobbling around the stage, and in some places such as the villain's motivation the musical subverts ideas and tropes we see in comic books and countless Marvel films. However, it's a shame that despite the female characters singing about wanting to be their own characters and not supporting roles, they don't get quite as much stage time as we would've liked. Claire Sidgwick provides some lovely comic relief as Dogwoman, a character who could be overwrought but is written well and contributes at just the right time.
It's a fun caper of a show, and despite some hammy acting the score is delightful and will have you leaving the theatre humming. The romance plot isn't quite as gripping as it might be, but the world of Supertown is charming and bound to make you break into a grin.
