Silence! The Musical belongs to a new breed of postmodern ‘meta’ musicals that seem to be cropping up recently. From the ‘two guys writing a show about two guys writing a show about two guys writing a show’ of [Title of Show], to the comedic brilliance of Evil Dead: The Musical and Bat Boy: The Musical. It is a common trend for musicals to be tongue firmly planted in cheek, with a ‘musical theatre reference a minute’ style system. In fact, with recent examples, if you see the title [insert word]: The Musical, chances are you are going to be assaulted with slightly offensive, yet ultimately hilarious musical theatre (some other examples off the top of my head: Gutenburg! The Musical, Cops: The Musical, Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical, Reefer Madness! The Musical and Jerry Springer: The Opera).
I for one, don’t mind one bit. Many of these title have gone on to be new favourites, and Silence! almost joins them.
Almost.
I heard about Silence! through Playbill.com a while ago, due to the book having been written by [Title of Show]‘s Hunter Bell (I must admit here, I am an avid [tos]ser… and yes, I do realise how that sounds). When I heard that they were bringing the show back with the original director, but this time in London, I was a little excited. I purchased tickets as soon as I could and secured my seat for the first preview night.
I wasn’t sure what to expect. Above the Stag, a tiny venue situated behind London’s Victoria Palace, isn’t what I expected as a theatre. It’s a small converted room above the gay pub, The Stag. Thus the name, I suppose. It probably only holds max 50 people, and the stage size is tiny. I was expecting something a little larger, but this seemed to be perfect for what is, essentially, an incredibly low-fi, low-budget show. To produce the show with a budget anywhere above £10 would do the show a disservice.
Silence! has all of the elements to fast become a favourite of mine. It’s quite offensive, tongue-in-cheek and has a slight cult status. It features songs such as ‘If I Could Smell Her C**t’ and ‘I’d F**k Me’, and is written by said Mr Bell. However, something didn’t quite catch me with this show. It was funny, and it was well performed, yet it was also slightly forgettable.
I think the fault comes down to the show itself. There are a few decent tunes in there, but for the most part the joke doesn’t get past the title. Sections of the show seem to come off a bit like Silence of the Hams, possibly one of the worst films ever made. It is hard to get parody right, especially when the source is one of the most revered films of the past 20 years. The writers hit the mark in parts, and seemed to completely miss in others. However, the recent addition of the song ‘I’d F**k Me’ is probably the highlight of the show, with Fabian Hartwell doing a great job of being immensely creepy and pants wettingly funny at the same time.
In fact, the cast did a superb job, especially for a first preview night of a show that has been largely rewritten since it’s last professional performance Off Broadway in 2005. There was only one weak point in the cast, Shekella Dedi as Ardelia Mapp, who just didn’t have the presence and comic timing of the rest of the cast. She had a good voice, but unfortunately it was drowned out in her one diva moment towards the end of the show (a problem you’ll get when you don’t mic your cast). However, this was the preview night of a brand new show and she could have settled in later in to the run, so I shouldn’t judge. Tory Ross, recently seen on Broadway in 9 to 5 and Cry Baby, was perfect as Clarice. She had a great, strong voice, and maintained perfect character throughout. In fact, she’s one of the strongest comedic character actresses I’ve seen on stage in a while. Olivier Award winner Miles Western was perfect casting as Hannibal Lecter, the psychopathic psychiatric cannibal. His measured performance and icy stare were quite off putting, which made his delivery of songs like ‘If I Could Smell her C**t’ absolutely hilarious.
Silence! is a show that is thoroughly enjoyable to watch. However, don’t expect to walk away wanting to buy the cast album. Most of the songs are quite forgettable and probably wouldn’t work without the performer directly in front of you.
And my advice is don’t take you Gran to see this one…
Silence! The Musical is running till February 28 at Above the Stag Theatre in London. You can book tickets here.
