Review: CRUEL INTENTIONS THE 90s MUSICAL, The Other Palace

Photo credit: Pamela Raith

In line with the growing glut of musicals adapted from films and vice versa, the worlds of stage and cinema are once again intertwined in The Other Palace’s current offering – Cruel Intentions, a new production of the musical based on the 1999 hit film, based on the 200-year-old novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The genre of teen drama adapted from classical literature may feel to many like a peculiarly nineties format, bringing to mind Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You and Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet; and indeed this musical adaptation of Cruel Intentions leans into that period by branding itself as ‘the 90s musical’, and boasting a packed catalogue of jukebox hits from that decade.

The plot of this show does read like an 18th century drama, hinging as it does on the values of modesty, virtue and virginity. Lascivious step-siblings Sebastian Valmont (Daniel Bravo) and Kathryn Merteuil (Rhianne-Louise McCaulsky) connive to seduce various virtuous characters to respectively win a bet, exact revenge and generally leave a wake of destroyed reputations. It’s a knotty plot brimming with wanton lust and a dark edge of tragedy. Some characters on the outer edges of the web including the only queer characters Blaine Tuttle (Josh Barnett) and Greg McConnell (Barney Wilkinson) are somewhat lost in the scheming, until they muscle their way back into centre stage with a burst of ‘Sometimes’ by Britney Spears.

Co-creator Jordan Ross Schindler professes to be a ‘chronically nostalgic writer/producer’ and each of the songs in this show is greeted by delighted gasps and warm familiarity. You may not need to be a child of the nineties to relish the set list which ranges from Natalie Imbruglia’s ‘Torn’ to N*SYNC’s ‘Bye Bye Bye’, but it won’t hit with nearly the same wave of nostalgia that palpably swept through the thirty-somethings in the audience.

This show is a camp love-letter to the 90s and when judged as such, it ticks all the right boxes. The snippets and snatches from over 20 songs often burst out of nowhere, like a parody of a jukebox musical, but the musical team pulled an absolute blinder with their arrangement of ‘Kiss Me’ by Sixpence None The Richer – we could watch that scene on a loop on its own for 90 minutes.

Rhianne-Louise McCaulsky is the stand-out performer in this show as the deliciously devilish Kathryn Merteuil. Showing off some killer pipes, McCaulsky visibly revels in the role of the lust-driven, scheming bitch, and the audience revels with her.

Rose Galbraith is brilliant casting as the doe-eyed, naïve Cecile; childish and gawkish in her mannerisms even after her rude sexual awakening. Similarly, Abbie Budden is considered and poised as worthy and prudish Annette Hargrove, butting heads with Bravo’s smarmy Valmont in an elegantly choreographed enemies-to-lovers trope.

Polly Sullivan’s set and costume design is sleek and darkly sexy – with a gorgeous checkerboard revolve and with nods to 18th century dramatic grandeur with the use of chandeliers.

If you loved Heathers at The Other Palace, you need to come back for the similarly dark, seedy and mischievous Cruel Intentions. A perfect night out for both Christina and Britney fans.

*** Three stars

Reviewed by: Livvy Perrett

Cruel Intentions: The 90s Musical plays at The Other Palace until 14 April, with tickets available here.