STAGING THE SEVENTIES.	Simon Walton dusts off his platforms and spandex for a theatrical twin trip down memory lane with two of London’s top shows. Looking for an introduction to theatre in the West End, dahling? Look no further than the wholly unholy alliance of Michelle Collins from East Enders, Harvey from So Solid Crew, and Javine, straight from Heaven - if Heaven is a place populated by lithe writhing songstresses with whiplashes for eyelashes. And to the venue: Shaftesbury even sounds like a theatrical word. No surprise then that the theatre is every bit as dramatic as it should be. One of the older West End theatres, it is bang up to date without sacrificing any of it's charm - though the pigmy-sized counter in the bar may not appeal to any of the hunched over and head-bruised staff in any charming way.
http://www.exceteragraphics.com/potw/broadway/

 

Makeovers of a far more radical sort for the music of Frank Farian - the brains behind a string of teutonically tuned troupes, all featuring himself in a lesser or greater part.

Daddy Cool is a raucous romp through the back catalogue camp of Boney M and the production excesses of Farian, all wrapped up in a loose love story between younger members of feuding families. Less Romeo and Juliet, more West Side Story, and all the more enjoyable for it.

Some hi-brow reviewers have given Daddy Cool a mild caning, for being a shallow plot woven around twenty staples of late seventies disco.

Newsflash to criticland - that's pretty much what the audience were expecting and pretty much why they're dancing in the isles every night.

Come to Daddy Cool for two hours of athletic prowess, loud disco, some wicked urban rapping you'll not hear the like of outside a Brixton Academy open mic night, a shooting, and a glimpse of Javine pole dancing.

Take a chance on Daddy Cool, take a chance take a chance on Mamma Mia!, complete with exclamation mark.

For hit songs, let's face it, Benny and Bjorn have got Frank Farian licked. The disco-meister is more recognisable than given credit for, but the Abba songbook is etched into the world's collective memory.The set isn't as complicated, the dancing not as athletic, and there isn't any rap at all, but Mamma Mia is a guaranteed easy sell. Only one family, very little feuding, but a ubiquitous love story, and it's already stood the test of time.

The Prince of Wales - the venue for this Abbaesque arabesque - has been more recently modernised that the Shaftesbury, and has the congratulatory plaques to prove it. Abba's songs simply congratulate themselves by finding new context for familiar lyrics. The odd groan at a contrived set up was probably down to audience guilt at having been there, done that - and hummed the songs themselves.

Mamma Mia! Relives those familiar Abba moments of everyone's lives; Daddy Cool is a bit of Shakespeare, seasoned with Rodgers and Hammerstein stirred up by Boney M. If that's not high-brow enough, well, there's always the pole dancing.

Report by Simon Walton

---