Alden's avant-garde staging has not aged well and dancers filmed in close-up while gurning for the back of the Birmingham NEC is never good but it maintains interest if not involvement.
In a vague narrative Neil and Chris travel from boarding school to Heaven!
The setlist includes THIS MUST BE THE PLACE I WAITED YEARS TO LEAVE, IT'S A SIN, LOSING MY MIND, WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS?, MY OCTOBER SYMPHONY, I'M NOT SCARED, WE ALL FEEL BETTER IN THE DARK, SO SORRY I SAID, SUBURBIA, SO HARD, OPPORTUNITIES, HOW CAN YOU EXPECT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY?, RENT, WHERE THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME, WEST END GIRLS, JEALOUSY, ALWAYS ON MY MIND and YOUR FUNNY UNCLE.
Shelf or charity shop? A reluctant keeper - as you might have guessed, it's not my favourite PSB show; there's not much joy in the show and although it is designed as a through-show, the lack of audience involvement leaves it cold - only at the end with ALWAYS ON MY MIND are the auidence included in the show. But some of the imagery lingers in the mind and Eric Watson - a longtime photographer of the Boys - did a good job at capturing the flavour of the show. Favourite moments include Neil and Chris in their orange and pink dayglo suits - Tintin's Thompson Twins never looked so good, Chris' solemn hip-hop dancing in his shirt and pants to WE ALL FEEL BETTER IN THE DARK and Sylvia Mason-James' glorious version of RENT.
No comments:
Post a Comment