Miss Atomic Bomb is glamorous, funny and thoroughly wicked. Ignore the doom merchants, of which there have been plenty. The night after the press night, which I couldn't make and seems to have gone badly, the show was firing on all cylinders.The musical is set in that most surreal of worlds, the communities which grew up around the Atomic test sites of the 1950s. The extraordinary naivety of those who saw these areas as not only a necessity but something to celebrate like a trip to Disneyland would be tragic if it weren't so absurd. Instead of running as far away as possible Americans were actually drawn to the Atomic test sites investing it with a chic factor that allowed neighbouring Las Vegas to turn from a dump to a glamorous destination.
The only hotel that seems to be missing out on the boom is The Golden Goose and the Mafia expect Lou to make it a success after they bump off his boss. Younger brother & army deserter Joey inadvertently gives Lou the idea of an Atomic bomb themed beauty pageant and he hopes that Candy, the woman who has hidden him, a sheep farmer, will win. She has a best friend, Myrna, who incongruously is a stylist.
One of the best new musicals I've seen in a long while
Mirroring classic musical comedy GUYS AND DOLLS Myrna and Lou become a sort of Nathan and Adelaide to Joey and Candy’s trailer trash Sky and Sarah.
There's a ton of other sub-plots bolted on, arguably too many but all performed with a crazy Marx Brothers energy that's irresistible.
The cast features some of the west ends most talented young performers. Simon Lipkin is so handsome and funny that someone ought to give him a sitcom. His immaculately timed and sung performance is all the more of an achievement when you consider he's playing opposite TV star Catherine Tate, who's on such top form she could easily have stolen every scene.
Florence Andrews and Dean John-Wilson are as sexy and tuneful as you could wish for in romantic leads. Daniel Boys and Charles Brunton contribute such fantastic star turns in largely superfluous roles that I really hope they don't get written out when this show deservedly moves on to new venues.
Gabriel Vick and Adam Vick’s script is as funny as you would expect from veterans of the Reduced Shakespeare Company. Bill Deamer directs with his usual wit and panache, everyone is great looking and there are even moments of tenderness amidst the comic mayhem.
All in all a treat and one of the best new musicals I've seen in a long while.
Akhnaten is the third opera in Philip Glass’s “Portrait Trilogy” which consists of three operas describing in more or less abstract terms the lives of individuals whose thinking could be said to have changed the world, the other two pieces being Einstein On The Beach (1975) and Satyagraha (about Ghandi, 1979).