Theatre Man Paul Phear gives his take on new musical Loserville - plus listen to him chat to the cast
Is new musical Loserville a winner? - here is what our Paul had to say...
Here’s something bright, new, and I think for the right audience very exciting. Loserville traces its roots to an album by ex-Busted band member James Bourne, and it doesn’t stray far from the tried and tested geeks versus jocks, boy meets girl themes.
Small town America in 1971 and Michael Dork (yes, that well signposted) is trying to make computers talk to each other while Holly Manson has beauty, brains and a secret.
There’s no Grease style pastiche in the music, it all sounds very 2000’s power pop and as far as I could tell on first listen there’s no breakout song, but Holly and Michael’s duet in a planetarium is a very pretty moment in act one. Some of the jokes, particularly with a pair of Scandinavian students fell flat. The majority of the laughs come from former reality TV star Lil’ Chris and Daniel Buckley as a pair of Star Trek obsessed sci-fi fans. Unlike many other ‘teen’ musicals this cast are believably close in age to the characters they play, and there a couple of outstanding new talents ready to be spotted.
I enjoyed the cartoonlike set and clever scene changes which unfold from a variety of ring binders, note pads and giant pencils, reminding us that this is a long time before laptops and eBooks. The preview I saw at the Garrick was packed with teenagers and they screamed their delight at the energetic finale. This connected generation won’t be shy in spreading the word, in fact it’s perhaps the world wide web that our hero is struggling to invent that’s going to make this show a success.
I’d give this family friendly show a decent 3 star rating but the Glee loving generation it’s aimed at would surely give it the full five, so shall we split the difference? 4 shining planetarium stars for Loserville.
Hear my web chat with two of the show’s cast, Eliza Hope Bennett (Holly) and Aaron Sidwell (Michael) here....
