Becoming Nancy - Birmingham Rep

[Mark]

Well, I loved it.
Here’s a new musical that is unashamedly British, unashamedly musical theatre and unashamedly gay! It’s Heartstopper meets Soho Cinders meets Oliver!

The cast - top notch! Joseph Peacock has a huge role, and he absolutely owns it, with the audience eating out the palms of his hands by the end. Supporting cast overall brilliant but must mention Rebecca Trehearn.

Some differences from Atlanta are a new opening number, and new finale number, and the loss of the “Oliver” inspired number in act two. The score is strong, with a particularly great “I want” song and I also love the act two opener.

Really hoping this goes on to have a huge success. I do wonder how commercially viable it is for a West End run without any “names”, but it’s certainly good enough quality wise to have that chance.

[ruggerlad]

Saw this tonight and completely loved it, in an age of intellectual properties and jukebox musicals how wonderful to see a new musical getting a brilliant reaction from the crowd.

Excellent performances, okay to good to excellent songs.

The issues of homophobia and racism were deftly handled.

It's very much a musical for the Heartstopper generation and there's no harm in that, such a lovely likability with the central characters.

On a more basic note the legs on the games teacher are reason enough to go

[Mark]

BurlyBeaR can we get a poll please

[BurlyBeaR]

Poll added

[thedrowsychaperone]

LOVED this - Such a heart warming show, even though the music doesn't ever quite reach the heights of some of Stiles & Drewe's previous works, there are still some corkers in there.

[Afriley]

This is gorgeous.

A wonderfully warm and earnest musical with genuinely great music, heart and clearly a lot of love put into it.

A theatrical equivalent of a hug.

Loved it!

[unseaworthy]

This sounds great - is there any talk of a transfer?

[david]

Well, from my viewing at yesterday’s matinee, the Rep has got a 5⭐️ show from director Jerry Mitchell and his team. I absolutely loved this one and from seeing the audience reaction at cast bows, so did the good people of Birmingham. This was certainly worth the early start to get to the city. It was also great to bump into fellow board member FrontroverPaul who was sat a few seats away. 

Elliot Davis’ book managed to strike a nice balance of humour and more hard hitting moments looking at racism and homophobia that delivers a positive message at its core. The production was well paced over the 2.5hr runtime (including interval) and being sat on the front row offered no sight line issue and plenty of leg space to stretch out. The entire cast were brilliant and I really couldn’t fault any of them at my viewing. With only a few shows under their belts, it was a really slick and polished preview. Having kept away from hearing the previously released songs until today, I really enjoyed the score from Drew and Styles, with some numbers from Davis and Terry Ronald. A nice mix of styles that worked well in helping to move the story forward. It was certainly a score I would be happy to listen to again. 

The biggest criticism I have is that it is only running until the 2nd Nov. If I had space in the diary I would be booking for this again in a heartbeat I think it is that good. If a WE transfer is officially announced, I am certainly making sure it goes on the “to see list. “. This one comes highly recommended from me.

[Phantom of London]

Well looks like the Birmingham Rep have a hit, by the responses on here!!!! 8 positive reviews against 0 negative. I hope this ends up coming down the M1, which l now looks now when not if, especially with a mega director behind it.

[mattnyc]

Oh, I hope this has a life after this run - I want to see it so badly, now!

[jd]

Loved it. The lead guy is a proper triple threat. They’re rare.

[FrontroverPaul]

I enjoyed Becoming Jane so much yesterday that I'm booking a matinee front row revisit in the final week. Well worth the 300 mile round trip from my home in Kent.

I almost did the same when I saw What's New Pussycat at the Rep back in 2021 but I was confident that would have a further life. Sadly hasn't (yet) happened.

This is even better !

[mrbarnaby]

Well it’s nice to hear such encouraging reports.
My only concern would be that physically, it looks like quite a big set- so that would really restrict venues it could fit into at the moment.

[Mark]

Oct 6, 2024 13:32:06 GMT mrbarnaby said:

Well it’s nice to hear such encouraging reports.
My only concern would be that physically, it looks like quite a big set- so that would really restrict venues it could fit into at the moment.

Staging and size wise no reason it couldn’t fit into most houses, it does have a rather large cast of 23 though so I guess that will dictate.

[Joseph Buquet]

I saw this last night, and it was very enjoyable. There was a lot to commend - the cast, sets, lighting, pacing and general energy are all great, plus some excellent songs. But unlike others who have commented so far, I definitely had some reservations (a lot of spoilers follow - so please stop reading now if you don’t want to see them!):

- Surprised this hasn’t been said more than it has, but the show’s similarities to Everybody’s Talking About Jamie are really striking. A central male character who is a gay school boy who plans to attend an event in a dress. Mother who is generally supportive. Father who is initially unsupportive. Mother has a liberal supporting female character who encourages the boy to be himself. School bullies object to the dress-wearing. Objection from parents to the dress-wearing. Boy has a female friend who is also marginalised in school for her race/religion, and they bond over their shared experience. Happy ending where detractors are talked around.

All of these aspects are common to both shows, and the parallels are so strong that I’m not sure Nancy needed to be made. What more is it bringing?

- There were also some similarities to Carrie - except instead of using pig’s blood, the bullies turn up to the school dance in balaclavas with bottles they’ve urinated in and spray people to express their dissatisfaction (is that a thing??!!).

- I guess it’s not trying to be subtle, but a lot of the handling of the issues it’s trying to address is heavy-handed, cringeworthy and cliched. Probably best demonstrated with one of the lines used to describe the homophobia and racism, something like: “If you’re bent or black, you’d better watch your back”.

- It’s definitely not for anyone who has a leaning towards gender equality - not sure how appropriate it would be for a boy to be chosen as the female lead in a show which doesn’t really have any other female characters of note. They could’ve played it differently by maybe having a girl initially chosen, who ultimately dropped out. But the “we don’t have any girls good enough for this role, so we’re asking a boy” wasn’t great, I didn’t think. Yes, a girl was chosen to play Bumble - but it’s obviously not the same. Maybe have a girl playing a different major role?

There was also a really odd scene where David’s aunt makes a mournful remark to David’s mum about her own infertility, and David’s mum replies by singing a song ABOUT THE WONDERS OF CARRYING A BABY!! Very strange - the aunt just leaves the room, and the mum keeps singing about how amazing it is to have your own baby.

And then there’s poor Abigail Henson, whose story is never resolved (as far as I could tell) - she was just jilted, and didn’t seem to deserve her own happy ending in the same way the boys did.

- There are some great songs in there. I already knew On the Night Bus, and love it, and there were a couple of other songs I particularly enjoyed. While the rest of the songs were pretty good, they weren’t GREAT - they needed a lift to take them to the next level, and to be really convincing on a musical level.

- The lead is excellent, but is not convincing as a 16 year-old (sorry….)!

I know these comments might make it sound like I didn’t enjoy it, but despite its flaws, I absolutely did - the time flew by, and I’d certainly listen to a number of the songs again. So I’d definitely recommend for an easy and enjoyable trip to the theatre - especially as others who have seen it haven’t in any way had similar reservations.

Also - first time at the Birmingham Rep, and what a fantastic theatre. Comfortable seats, great leg room and a great rake throughout. Other theatres, take note!

[andypandy]

I'm happy to hear the success of this - I'm eager to see it.

But with The Prom, la Cage, Tootsie, Kinky Boots, Jamie, A Strange Loop, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Rent and Pricilla Queen Of The Desert - do we need another similar themed show?

I suppose we do )))

[Mark]

In the words of Roger Elizabeth De Bris - Keep it gay!

[Phantom of London]

Well did say I hope it does come down the M1 in an earlier post, but I’m now doing exactly that but going up the M1, well by Avanti really.

The front row tickets are a steal at £30.

However surprised by the REP websites, with its hefty booking fee, offer of lounge access and pre order beverages, all very ATG. The layout of the theatre is completely different to how I remember the REP, when I was Blue/Orange, it certainly wasn’t in a proscenium shaped theatre. So is this being staged in the REP or The ATG Alexandra. Just a nagging doubt.

[ruggerlad]

Is it overtly similar to Jamie?

The dress is because he wants to be Nancy rather than wanting to wear a dress like Jamie does, who wants to be a drag queen.

It's blanket racism in Nancy rather than specific picking on one character in Jamie

Jamie is un supported by his teacher, David is very much supported by his.

Mum fine with Jamie being gay, David's isn't.

Other than being a gay character at school I don't see masses of similarities tbh

[fiyerorocher]

Oct 6, 2024 18:48:35 GMT andypandy said:

The Prom, la Cage, Tootsie, Kinky Boots, Jamie, A Strange Loop, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Rent and Pricilla Queen Of The Desert

The only thing a lot of these have in common is queer themes? I'd never compare The Prom and A Strange Loop for anything else, for example. And despite its reputation, musical theatre is still lacking in queer shows (look at the current line up on Broadway and the West End), so I'd say yes, we absolutely need more of them.

[theatrenerd]

Oct 6, 2024 19:26:55 GMT Phantom of London said:

Well did say I hope it does come down the M1 in an earlier post, but I’m now doing exactly that but going up the M1, well by Avanti really.

The front row tickets are a steal at £30.

However surprised by the REP websites, with its hefty booking fee, offer of lounge access and pre order beverages, all very ATG. The layout of the theatre is completely different to how I remember the REP, when I was Blue/Orange, it certainly wasn’t in a proscenium shaped theatre. So is this being staged in the REP or The ATG Alexandra. Just a nagging doubt.

Blue/Orange was essentially its usual proscenium layout, except the stage was a square box at a 45 degree angle past the arch, so only the first couple of rows were on angles to wrap around it. Other than that, all the productions I’ve seen there have been a standard proscenium arch with a rake seating.

[theatreian]

A great performance this afternoon from all the talented cast. This was an excellent British musical which doesn't shrink from aspects such as homophobia and racism but also has a feel good aspect and fantastic ensemble performances. It really deserves to get a wider audience and art the end one of the cast encouraged the audience to film and comment on the show on social media. Here's hoping it gets a transfer as it deserves success.First class performances from the principles and all the ensemble.

[unseaworthy]

I listened to the EP tonight to get a flavour of the show and thought it sounded really fun. I really hope this has a longer life once it's Birmingham run is completed.

[Being Alive]

Going to have to be the opposing voice here I'm afraid.

This is...pretty bad actually.

The book is atrocious, like it's SO bad.
I don't know how much of that is directly from the novel, and how much is whatever script has been conceived but it is objectively terrible, with very little actual humour in it really (but every single cliche you can think of)

The score is so uneven it's infuriating. About Six Inches From Your Heart and Night Bus are lovely, but so much of the rest of the score sounds like it was written by AI, with lots of songs totally unnecessary, and so many moments that should have had a musical number didn't get one (like, the mum and her best friend needed a big duet about how the mum needs to accept her son for being gay - because you've got two belty women with big voices!)

Most of the roles had no personality or actual character at all - I honestly couldn't tell you 90% of the characters names.
So many of them were entirely unnecessary, like, the sister I honestly forgot existed until she popped up to tell the brother she didn't care he was gay (just get rid of her she serves no plot point at all). None of the high school kids had anything about them - theyre just so underwritten.
And then you get on to the main problem of the fact that I did not care about the lead character at all - he's so thinly written with basically no unique thing to make you root for him that I just didn't care about him at all (and I didn't think he carried the show all that well either)


It also looks unbearably cheap, with some of the worst projections I've ever seen in a musical - like they're BAD.

The saving graces are Stephen Ashfield, Rebecca Trehearn and Genevieve Nicole, all in duo parts, but who do SPECTACULAR work as Sting, Blondie and Kate Bush - kicking the show into the high camp is needs for a few brief moments, and really making it fly.
Genevieve particularly is hilarious in this show - what a star - and always wonderful to see Rebecca be her brilliant self.

There's something in there, but this ultimately felt to me like the end of a 2 week first workshop, rather than a fully realised musical that's on its second full production.
It needs a LOT of work doing to the book and score before it's anywhere near ready for the West End - in its current iteration it could limp through 12 weeks at the Other Palace (and you would be able to get in for very little money) but that's about it for me.

I really wanted to love this (Jerry Mitchell is usually a winner, and I loved what Stiles and Drewe did with Poppins and Half A Sixpence), and it has the potential to be good, but if you apply any critical thinking to this, it falls apart and doesn't add up to much at all for me.

[theatrefan62]

Oct 7, 2024 9:21:09 GMT fiyerorocher said:

Oct 6, 2024 18:48:35 GMT andypandy said:

The Prom, la Cage, Tootsie, Kinky Boots, Jamie, A Strange Loop, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Rent and Pricilla Queen Of The Desert

The only thing a lot of these have in common is queer themes? I'd never compare The Prom and A Strange Loop for anything else, for example. And despite its reputation, musical theatre is still lacking in queer shows (look at the current line up on Broadway and the West End), so I'd say yes, we absolutely need more of them.

There are an awful lot of variations on 'guy in a dress' in there though. There is much more diversity in the gay community than that, never mind the wide community. It's about time that there was better representation so people know there are other ways to be gay and more to life.

Also let's not forget musical theatre is still one of the worst for using gay as a cheap laugh.

I'd love to see shows that are less individualist and about identity, and more about the story and about people who just happen to be gay, bi etc. We are finally starting to see it in TV and film with things like All of us strangers, red white royal blue, Heartstopper, lost boys and fairies.