Review: A KNIGHT'S TALE THE MUSICAL @ Opera House, Manchester

It came as a bit of a bolt from the blue, when we saw the announcement that A Knight's Tale was being presented as a musical. Given that the movie has rather large set pieces of medieval jousting,  this is not going to be the easiest of shows to stage. Based on the cult 2001 movie starring Heath Ledger and Paul Bettany,  Brian Helgeland's movie script has been adapted for the stage by Brona Titley and directed by Rachel Kavanaugh (responsible for the mostly excellent new Steps musical too).  

For those unfamiliar with the movie,  it centres on a jousting tournament at which squire William Thatcher impersonates his dead master Sir Ector, much to the concern of fellow squires Roland and Wat.  Buoyed by Thatcher's win,  they set off to enter more tournaments with William styling himself as the noble Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein.   Along the way they encounter  wordsmith and gambling addict (naked) Geoffrey Chaucer,  a flirty noblewoman Jocelyn and a decidedly rogueish Count Adhemar of  Anjou, who bests Thatcher in a joust but its the start of a simmering rivalry.

As this is a medival roadtrip with jousting set-pieces, it falls to set designer Tom Rogers to get around all the obvious problems with staging. This he does brilliantly (and no we are not going to reveal the tricks he uses).  Add the suitably medieval looking costumes by Gabriella Slade, and some stunning lighting by Howard Hudson and you have got yourself one seriously impressive vista.

The pivotal role of wannabe knight William is taken by Andrew Coshan,  he is dashing, has an amazing singing voice and is devilishly handsome with a twinkle. Perfect casting.  He is matched by Max Bennett as Geoffrey Chaucer, on the cusp of writing his 'Canterbury Tales' but for now happy to follow in the wake of the self styled Knight.  Bennett brings wit, and charm to the production, often being the conduit between the audience and the events on stage, as he talks directly to us. Whether naked or fully clothed, he gives a star performance. The ladies are not to be outdone either,  Meesha Turner is Princess Jocelyn with whom William can fall in love,  she is saucy and fiesty and won't be anybody's chattle.  William's squires Wat (Eva Scott, in a gender change from the film) and Roland (Emile Ruddock) circle the proceedings,  giving more humour to the evening.  Scott particularly delivers her punchlines with force, and when her romantic denouement is revealed, it is hardly a surprise.  Blacksmith Kate becomes a force of nature under the watch of Emily Benjamin,  she brings fire to the role (literally) and is a standout performance.  She has a wonderful set of pipes too.

Oliver Tompsett, rapidly becoming a West End legend, delivers once again as the odious Count Adhemar,  whether snarling at his rival, or singing a showstopper, Tompsett has that indefinable star quality that has seen his career flourish to great heights. Whilst not a huge role he manages to put his stamp firmly on Adhemar.  A word too for young Cristiano Cuino who portrayed 'young William' (on the night we saw the show anyway), a good solid performance from a future West End performer we'll wager.

 

Director Kavanaugh knows how to keep the pace going,  just as she did last year with Here & Now,  making this a romp in every sense.  Much has already been written about the eclectic nature of the score.  Naturally we get a burst of 'We Will Rock You' as admirers of the movie might expect,  but then it turns into NOW That's What We Call Random.  Take your pick from Chumbawumba,  The Proclaimers, Adele, A-ha. Bonnie Tyler, S Club 7, Ricky Martin... and so it goes on.  A few of the choices we may question,  but they are all staged wonderfully with enough energy to power the national grid.  It is infectious and as the evening went on, the audience warmed to the show massively.   We were all happy to get on our feet as the curtain call commenced,  a genuine admiration coming over from the 2000 people in attendence.

 

A Knight's Tale was always going to be problematic to adapt for the stage, but the creative team have for the most part got it spot on,  and this is yet another quality world premiere for Manchester on the back of & Juliet and Back To The Future.  And we have picked up a new verb: to 'Fong'.  We're looking forward to slipping that one into our conversations shortly.  In short, this is a Knight to remember. Joust fantastic.

 

Rob & Ian 

Further details can be found at the A KNIGHT'S TALE OFFICIAL WEBSITE

 

 

Review: MURIEL'S WEDDING @ Curve Theatre, Leicester (First preview)

 

The great ABBA revival of the 1990s was due to a number of factors, two of which were spectacularly successful movies from Australia. Both arrived in 1994 and featured ABBA as part of their soundtrack.  The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert has since gone on to became an LGBTQ+ legend, morphing itself into a hit stage musical across the globe. The other movie is perhaps the better watch all told,  the story of poor downtrodden Muriel Heslop from Porpoise Spit, Muriel's Wedding.  With a book by its original movie author P.J. Hogan, and all new songs courtesy of Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall,  the musical is being seen for the first time outside its native Australia where it premiered in 2017.  

Rachel Griffiths, Daniel Lapaine, Toni Collette and Bill Hunter in Muriel's Wedding (1994)

Muriel is the oldest daughter of Bill Heslop, local council senator and massive self publicist.  He's a bully, and frequently belittles his three children and timid wife Betty. Muriel dreams of a life outside her dysfunctional home, and loses herself in the music of ABBA dreaming that one day her life will be as good as 'Dancing Queen'. She is doggedly hanging on to a group of vile and shallow friends,who hate her, but its all she has got. She thinks she is part of the fashionable in-crowd. When her Dad sets her up with a sales rep job selling make-up,  Muriel sees her chance, taking the money he has given her for stock and instead following her wealthy girlfriends on a luxury cruise around the Indonesian islands.  Its here she bumps into former classmate Rhonda,  a no-nonsense fun time pal who helps Muriel realise her worth by ditching her circle of mean girls and hitching up with her for the holiday instead. Coming back home,  Muriel follows Rhonda to Sydney and sets up a new life, styling herself as Mariel. But are the dreams she has the reality she wants?  And when Rhonda finds that having fun is scuppered by illness, just what does the future hold for either of them?

Leicester Curve have teamed up with the original Australian producers Global Creatures to finally bring Muriel to the UK. And in doing so, they have taken the chance to update the show and give it a current flavour without damaging too much the expectations of the audience. Director Simon Phillips (who co-incidentally was also instrumental in bringing Priscilla, Queen of the Desert to the stage) helms the production, just as he did for the Sydney premiere. This is a revised production,  having had a number of musical songs replaced or moved around in the narrative, and an updated script by creator P.J. Hogan to incorporate the social media obsession. The songs of  Miller-Heidke and Nuttall contain enough ear worms to give Andrew Lloyd Webber the shits,  and when you also have a spate of songs by ABBA in the score, then you seriously have to up your game to compete.  'Sydney', an up beat homage to Australia's most inclusive city is a standout. But so is new song 'Ride Or Die', a song cementing Muriel and Rhonda's attitude to life. The composers find the beating heart of the characters whilst still painting the bigger picture of life in a provincial Australian backwater and onto the freedom of the big city. 

A new set by Matt Kinley for the British production gives us a circular frame in which to conjure up Muriel's world aided by a video screen with some great digital designs by Andrzej Goulding. The show looks fantastic, giving us the colours and vibrancy of modern Australia. Clearly a lot of money has been spent on this show, indicating that want it to have a life outside of Leicester.

 

 

The casting is first rate, none more so than Megan Ellis as Muriel. She immediately wins us over, the ultimate underdog, and her voice on songs like 'The Bouquet' is fantastic. She inhabits Muriel completely, making the character her own, tackling the ups and downs in her life head on.  "I am not nothing" she tells the horrible girls. Too true, you are something special girl. She is matched by the zesty performance of Annabel Marlow as rebel Rhonda Epinstall.  Together they make a fine stage pairing,  the fangirls who swoon over the Queens of Six are going to love these two.  

Elsewhere Darren Day channels a few of the late great Bill Hunter's mannerisms as the truly odious Bill Heslop, and Laura Medforth hangs around him being ineffectual and invisible as his downtrodden wife Betty, but she gets her moment to ABBA's 'S.O.S.' in a touching send off for the character. Speaking of ABBA, they appear like Swedish guardian angels throughout the show (emerging from cupboards, and manifesting as bridal shop dummies with their "Ya Ya" mock accents) urging Muriel forward. There are versions of seven ABBA songs in the show which is about right, any more would threaten to overwhelm the fine original music on offer. Helen Hill,  Lillie-Pearl Wildman,  Jasmine Peel and Daisy Twells deliver spot on vileness in the form of Porpoise Spit's beach bitches. Ethan Pascal Peters established himself as an audience favourite as geeky Brice Nobes, the would be suitor who fights for Muriel's affections only to have himself brushed aside in favour of a marriage of convenience to homophobic Russian swimmer Alexander Shkuratov, Stephen Masden providing eye candy in speedos.  His swimming coach Ken is all bluster and ambition, a nice performance from Chris Bennett.  As in the movie, the dynsfunctional Heslop sprogs are mostly hovering in the background but Jacob Warner, Joseph Peacock and Lena Pattie Jones convey nicely the world in which Muriel feels she is trapped, and of course Jones manages to get in THAT catchphrase on several occasions.

A top notch nine piece band (hidden from view) provide the production with its big sound,  this is at all levels a major theatrical event. By default (after a cancelled first performance) we found ourselves at the a British premiere. It is clear tweaks need to be made, ten minutes can be cut off the 2 hours 50 minutes running time without affecting the show, but that is what previews are for. Testing the water to see what is working, trimming and honing. The audience were on their feet at the curtain call and it was deserved,  the cast work incredibly hard to put the story over. However we felt a bit cheated when they quickly disappeared into the wings, a full on reprise of 'Sydney' so we could have a bop would have sent us home even happier.  Now Muriel has finally arrived in the UK, could a West End stopover be in the off-ing?  The signs are good. They may even have to alter the catchphrase to "You're not so terrible Muriel!"

Rob & Ian 

Further details of the production can be found at the official website of the musical which runs at the Curve, Leicester until 10th May 2025.

For musical theatre nerds, the song list of the new 2025 version:

 Further listening:

It can only be the original Sydney cast recording from 2017.  It even features a bonus pop remix of the show's anthem 'Sydney'. Fantastic performances especially from original stage Muriel Maggie McKenna, make this a fantastic showcase for the musical. Available to stream or download from the usual sources.