Review: LE GATEAU CHOCOLAT - MUSICALS MAYHEM, Soho Theatre
Drag icon Le Gateau Chocolat brings a musical concert with a glamorous twist to the stage. An hour crammed packed with all your favourites from Les Miserables to Grease.
Le Gateau Chocolat has worked on a range of projects in the past, spanning opera, drag and cabaret. His last approach to musicals was A Night at the Musicals, which he did successfully with Jonny Woo back in January 2023. This performance marks his grand return to the venue.
The set design is colourful, looking like the most glamorous walk in wardrobe splayed out in all its glory. The closed suitcases at the sides of the stage glimmer creating a sense of intrigue and anticipation about what's to come.
Le Gateau Chocolat has the most incredible baritone voice and he is truly talented at voice control, which makes the songs he sings enchanting to listen to.
His costumes are both stylish and uniquely creative, although they don’t always seem to match the theme of the songs he sings. That being said, there is a furry costume, which was a very clever idea, that allows him to easily switch between Cats and The Lion King.
The Disney segment is the true highlight of the show. The way he plays with the lyrics in the songs is utterly hilarious. He somehow makes Ariel, pre-legs, look even more naive and clueless by leaving words out and he makes Elsa even more of an iconic Queen than she already is through his witty use of word emphasis and changing of meaning. His version of Elsa sassily tells you to “let go” of what's dragging you down in life, making the drag make sense for this musical song.
However, the show, despite being only an hour and thus fairly fast paced, isn’t overly entertaining outside of the Disney highlight. The Grease sing-a-long would have been a lot smoother and more fun if he’d put words up instead of telling the audience what the words are and then singing them himself. The closing song, unfortunately, doesn’t fit the theme. Whilst The Snowman is very much a Christmas classic and does have music in it, we wouldn’t describe it as a musical. This means that this show doesn’t end on a musical theatre note, despite it being the theme of the show, which left us coming out of the show feeling a little disappointed.
Fun and vocally brilliant but uninspired.
** Two stars
Reviewed by: Megan O’Neill
