Wild West End

Wild West End is a good-humoured satire-cum-celebration of the West End musical from the team behind sell-out show Fresher: The Musical.  

Jackie (a winning performance from Lawrence Haynes) wants nothing more than to write a musical, but he's stymied in his attempts by a gargantuan case of writer’s block (“Any theme will do, ah-ah-ahhh”). When the fabulously angsty fairy Linda (played with perfect comic timing by Laura Kaye Thomson) transports him to Sparkletown, the magical land of musicals, he must prove once and for all that he is a worthy heir to all things Andrew Lloyd Webber. As he does so he collects a motley crew of companions, including a sexually frustrated Dorothy, a homosexual Phantom and Lion King’s Mustafa – who just wants to live beyond Act One.

There is nothing especially profound in lampooning musicals, and Wild West End inhabits very much the same sort of territory as Shrek – except with more sex and sharper satire. While inevitably focusing on the eternal clichés of the genre, from jazz hands to the relentless hawking of over-priced merchandise (the subject for a splendidly witty re-write of ‘Who Will Buy’ from Bart’s Oliver!), the show feels pleasingly of the moment. And in the manner of the great 19th century musical satirists Gilbert and Sullivan, it casts a parodic eye over contemporary cultural trends – including Webber’s series of television musical talent shows.

Self-consciously corny, unapologetically camp and a real showstopper, Wild West End is a cut above its musical contemporaries.