Review: I WISH MY LIFE WERE LIKE A MUSICAL, King’s Head Theatre (Online)
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
We may only be days away from theatres reopening their doors and welcoming albeit socially distanced audiences back inside, but online theatre continues to create ways of staging productions and entertaining audiences still stuck at home. Filmed in an empty Kings Head Theatre, Alexander S Bermange’s I Wish My Life Were Like A Musical is a comical four-hander, looking at the highs and lows of being a musical theatre performer, from the early days of auditions to the final bows in a leading role.
Charlotte O’Rourke, Lucas Rush, Charlotte Anne Steen and Luke Bayer star in this funny little show, presenting a tongue-in-cheek look at the industry that they all clearly love, with over a dozen songs celebrating various aspects of a performers life. From audition struggles to a performer whose singing can often leave much to be desired, to the standby waiting by the phone only to be faced with a disappointed audience when they make their entrance and lament to the encore as the cast face tiredness when having to finish the show with a bang. Whether you are a performer yourself or a fan of musical theatre, with references to other shows scattered throughout, there is something relatable for everyone here.
This production, which runs at around an hour long, crams a lot into its shorting running time. With short snippets of dialogue between each musical number, we are taken on a journey through the ups and the downs of a performer’s life as they throw everything that they have got into making it into a big show and seeing their names on the billing.
The four cast members impress greatly in their multiple roles. Charlotte O’Rourke delights in her performance of a stage star who often struggles with her singing but doesn’t allow that to put her off from singing as much as possible. It can’t be easy to act like you can’t sing when you have a voice that can raise the roof! Lucas Rush shows off a natural flair for comedy, both as a somewhat hypochondriac performer who vows to battle through it, whilst telling the audience all of the reasons why his performance may not be up to par and as a fan who follows O’Rourke’s leading lady around obsessively. Charlotte Anne Steen’s rendition of I Wish My Life Were Like A Musical is heartfelt and beautiful, speaking both to the performers who dream of playing great roles in world famous musicals and to the fans of musical theatre who delight in watching such performances. She also impresses later on as a diva commanding the stage. Luke Bayer shows off his range as he jumps from lamenting being the standby to the star name everyone wants to see to playing a leading man who dreads the romantic scenes with a leading lady he can’t stand.
With only a couple of cameras used to film the show, there are minimal movements whilst still allowing for close ups throughout. It is beautifully filmed and is a great example of how less is sometimes more. The final scene is particularly effective, with the four members of the cast starting with their backs to the camera looking over the King’s Head Theatre ghost light before gathering around it to perform the closing number. The show may make fun and pick apart issues that performers on the greatest stages often face but at its heart, I Wish My Life Were Like A Musical is a love letter to musical theatre and ends on the touching note that no matter the issues, the struggles of auditions, the exhaustion faced after big dance numbers and all the hard work that goes into creating a show, it is all worth it.
***** Five stars
Reviewed by: Rebecca Wallis
Please note this review also features on the Musical Theatre Lives In Me blog page.
