Firetop

Last night Suzie_Q and I had free tickets to see the new Boney M musical ‘Daddy Cool’ at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London. The downside to free show tickets (which we often obtain) is that you invariably find yourself seated in the upper circle with no leg room and a view not suited for sufferers of vertigo. Free tickets are not to be sniffed at though - there’s little room to complain when you’re saving £50! The major downside to the upper circle at the Shaftesbury Theatre was the stifling heat - it was like a sauna; as hot as the tube in summer time and I needed two bottles of water just to stay hydrated. Thankfully Daddy Cool was well worth the trip even if a little slow to get going.

The last west end show Suzie_Q and I attended was Mary Poppins, it cost me an arm and a leg for tickets and was disappointing – so bad in fact that at the break we debated whether we should leave to get some dinner. So it was with much trepidation that I watched the opening scenes of Daddy Cool. A small boy ‘Sunny’ (for reasons obvious to Boney M fans) was living in Jamaica with his Grandmother and received a note to return home to his mother in England. The Jamaica setting provided the opportunity to fit in ‘Hooray Hooray it’s a Holi Holi Day’ (I kept hearing Hoseasons Holiday – that’s branding for you) and Brown Girl in the Ring… Tra la la la la.

The set for these opening scenes looked a bit makeshift; the hanging back drop resembled a junior school montage, even the small house looked like it had been made by GCSE woodwork students. The storyline was ‘ropey’ to say the least; Suzie_Q and I had a glance at each other to say ‘oh no, not another poor / low budget show’. This was not to take anything away from the fabulous acting of the small boy playing Sunny – it just seemed that the opening of the Daddy Cool plot lacked credibility and was rushed. Clearly you cannot expect to make a perfect story form a series of non related disco anthems, Queen’s ‘We will rock you’ manages to do it rather well though.

Fortunately Daddy Cool got dramatically better once Sunny returned home to England and grew up into a music loving young man. The general plot is
a) Sunny has a rap group, who competes against a rival group / gang.
b) Sunny falls in love with the rival group leader’s sister.
c) There’s some historical bad feeling between Sunny’s mother and said rival leader’s mother ‘Ma Baker’ (played by Michelle Collins of Eastenders fame) because they both loved Sunny’s father ‘Daddy Cool’ back in the days of 70s disco.
d) Everything turns out OK in the end (if again a little rushed in the final scene).

Amongst the popular Boney M numbers on offer I think I counted three songs originally by Milli Vanilli and one by No Mercy ‘Where do you go’ - sung tongue in cheek and very amusing.  The non-Boney M scenes were most enjoyable for me; some fantastic modern dance choreography, combined with mind blowing human beat box and rapping (I thought the voice guy from Police Academy had arrived). I’d go and see the show again if only to hear the rapping of Harvey from So Solid Crew – I’ve always loved listening to a good MC though. Popstars contestant ‘Javine’ was also a very impressive singer, couldn’t be faulted.

Towards the end of Daddy Cool the special effects get better and better, the scenery and stage props look like something you’d actually expect from a West End show, very impressive – with ‘hot’ artificial fireworks used to add to the carnival effect. Quite bizarre when recalling the poor props on offer in scenes one and two. 

I definitely recommend a trip to see Daddy Cool even if like me, you don’t care too much for the music of Boney M. Just when you think the show is over, it isn’t; audience participation beckons with a chance to sing and clap along to the more popular Boney M numbers once more – with one or two original members of Boney M appearing on stage at the end. For time planning purposes give yourself 3 hours at the show itself, finishing at around 10:30pm, not that you’ll notice though because the time really flies by!

Technorati Tags: daddy cool, west end show, so solid crew, boney m, shaftesbury theatre

Bookmark to: