THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
'Would Americans be interested in a Rock Opera/musical biopic chronicling the life of Tony Blair, the Labour Party's most successful prime minister?', the wise and shrewd editor of this fine publication wondered to me (by way of suggesting I review it).
'Most of my fellow Americans probably think he's still prime minister,' was my glib and perhaps unfair response.
There was a time, pre-Ricky Gervais, when on our Transatlantic land mass, hobbit like, we didn't much bother with the affairs of others. We've come a long way since the days when you probably could have sent Alan Rickman over in a cape and we would have believed he was the prime minister.
We've seen quite a few memorable prime ministers since, including an Old Etonian, Latin-speaking, straw-haired British Trump.
And one of the most ingenious things about famed British writers and comedians Harry Hill and Steve Brown's show, simply called Tony!, is that it manages, quite lucidly, to thread a direct line of relevance from Blair, to Blair's influence over modern Britain, domestic and foreign policy, and every prime minister since, including Boris.
A loud, distorted, rollicking romp through the rise of the New Labour movement in tandem with the eponymous former premier's ascendancy, this show is like Horrible Histories for the well informed adult.
Not for the politically faint of heart, this evening of entertainment is brashly and wittily irreverent in the spirit of Spitting Image, for theater fans who were around in the '80s or managed to catch the newest short-lived iteration of the sardonic puppet sketch show. Never unintelligent or mean, it pokes gentle to biting fun at everything from the British adoration of Diana (the 'People's Princess' as coined by Blair himself) to the media boogie man caricature of Saddam Hussein, portraying him here as a Groucho Marx-type of character who sings a cheery number with a chorus that repeatedly claims he's 'never done anything wrong'!
The performances are brilliant, with Jack Whittle perfectly capturing the eternally smiling boyish charm of the former PM, even at the end as he nihilistically shrugs and cheerily sings the refrain that 'the whole wide world is ruled by a__holes!' as a kind of defense of some of his most indefensible policies. Phil Sealey is balletically brilliant as a physical comedic actor, playing a buffoonish Gordon Brown as well as a host of other characters, throwing himself around stage with the deftness of Astaire, but with perfect comic timing resulting in utter hilarity, thanks in no small part to Francesca Jaynes' expertly plotted choreography.
Other star turns include Sally Cheng as, among other characters, Blair's former foreign secretary Robin Cooke. Cheng is also brilliant at turning her voice acting skills to comedy but also, oddly and unexpectedly, gets one of the few and therefore powerful pathos-stirring moments in the show when Cooke famously resigns as a result of the decision to go to war in Iraq. That pathos is dwelled on both at the point where we are presented with the fallout of the war – wisely not played all for laughs – and a little later on equally effectively in a revealing moment about Blair's legacy and the confidence he expressed in office about how history would remember him.
But I have no wish to spoil. It is a searingly brilliant night of fun, it's nostalgic, it's clever and it's surprisingly informative!
April 15 to May 21, London, Leicester Square Theatre
May 25 to June 3, Guildford, Yvonne Arnaud
June 7 to 10, Birmingham Rep
June 14 to 17, Cardiff New Theatre
June 21 to 24, Richmond Theatre
June 27 to July 1, Brighton, Theatre Royal
July 3 to 8, Bath, Theatre Royal
July 11 to 15, Chester Storyhouse
July 18 to 22, Malvern Festival Theatre
July 24 to 26, Darlington Hippodrome
July 27 to 29, Sedgefield Parish Hall
August 2 to 27, Edinburgh Fringe: Pleasance at EICC
October 2 to 7, Salford, The Lowry
Information & tickets: https://tonyblairrockopera.co.uk/
