Miss Atomic Bomb

[liverpool54321]

Wondering if the critics who gave this 1 star had accidentally wandered into Wicked by mistake. We saw the matinee and absolutely loved it. The musical styles bounce around a bit but nothing felt out of place for that part in the script. The 5 main leads were excellent and even though Catherine Tate the weakest in terms of vocals, still hit all the right notes. She also fluffed her surname right at the end but proceeded to ad-lib her way out to great applause.

Think first time I have seen Daniel Boys live - love his voice and in particular the parady of Les Miserable with the clause number. I could listen to Florence Andrews all day long.

For me I thought the gags were great set pieces in the beauty pageant got very strong applause from the audience. Simon Lipkin and Catherine Tate's comic timing was spotless today, especially in their marriage song.

Well deserved standing ovation at the end. If I wasn't booked up for shows for several weeks I would definitely see it again.

As an aside, we were on the back row and I would suggest anyone thinking of going to see this should aim to be nearer the back as some of the song and dance routines use the full width of the stage. It was our first time at this theatre (fond memories of its predecessor) and I am sure we will be going again. I see what people mean about the leg room though.

[timesisharder]

I saw the evening performance tonight and cannot equate the kicking that this has been given by the critics with what I saw on stage. The audience reaction tonight (from what seemed like a full house) seems to have been exactly the same as was experienced by the earlier poster at the matinee - really strong laughter throughout and fantastic response at the curtain call. The cast looked like they were having a great time.

This is a really interesting piece which stretches from anarchic comedy to some really beautiful and tender moments - Dean John-Wilson and Florence Andrews sing beautifully and there is a wonderful bromance duet between Simon Lipkin (who is superb in the whole show) and Dean John-Wilson. Catherine Tate's comedy timing is razor sharp and she earned several spontaneous rounds of applause; I was surprised at how strong her singing is in the show. I am sure her duet with Simon Lipkin will have a life outside this show.

Apart from the main characters there are some lovely performances from the rest of the cast - David Birrell brings the house down in the song about the Cold War and Olivia Fines has some great moments. Daniel Boys' part is relatively small, but he had a wonderful response from tonight's audience.

Add to that great dancing and choreography from the ensemble (including a whole company tap number), I think this is a really good new musical whose strong points far outweigh its negatives. I will definitely see this again before the end of its run and I hope that the audience reaction will mean that this has a future life beyond the St James. I also hope that they record a cast album.

[mrbarnaby]

I didn't realise but it has a Strallen in it!

Every time the 3 chorus girls came jazz-handsing around (every 2 minutes) doing their cliched choreography, one drew my eye. Like a young Ann Miller- wonderful figure and a great face... Almost from a different era. Sasi Strallen!

[Deleted]

Oh Boy! Where do you start with this one?

I tried, I really did. I didn’t pay good money to go out have a crap night out, but as soon as Aladdin got out his courgette, I knew there was only one way this show was heading.

It veers between 70s Carry On and Vauxhall Tavern. We had creepy breast fondling, even more disturbing transvestite crotch rubbing, and a mock-Norwegian “beauty” digging her gusset out from some place where the sun don’t shine. Add to this someone disguising himself as a stereotypical Jewish Rabbi (was I the only one feeling slightly uncomfortable?) and a song about a beard (not the type sported by trendy gentlemen at the moment) and you get the flavour…

Design-wise it’s an empty stage with some back projections (remember Woman in White?) and stage hands dressed in checked shirts constantly bringing stuff on and off in semi darkness. Even our local Am Drams don’t do that anymore… Costuming is courtesy of a Fancy Dress Hire shop (women) and Burtons (men). Note for director: no actor can make a dramatic exit through fire doors by the side of the stage which they have to open themselves.

Catherine Tate- very irritating. Simon Lipkin- equally irritating, impersonating Catherine Tate. And what were you thinking of Daniel Boys, taking on a bit part? His one and only moment was a piss-take of Les Mis. You could feel him wishing he was Jean Valjean (the convict at the start of his nineteen years, not the actor playing the role at the Queens) to get out of staying in this a moment longer… The rest of the cast could sing, they could dance, and I’m sure-given decent material- they could act, but I felt genuinely embarrassed for them. I mean, they must have read their reviews, and you got the impression that they were overcompensating to make it work.

Sound was dire- over amplification of everything, like a sing-a-long to a backing CD.

And the seats! Shoulder to shoulder, bolt upright, and no legroom at all… Quite funny watching a young usher constantly scream, “Don’t tread on the stage!” at everyone in the front row as they attempted to sit down.

Incidentally- some of the actors need to update their promotional photographs, don’t they? I thought we had several understudies on until I realised that some of them are still using the ones they'd had taken when they left Drama School…

As I say, I tried to like it, but -for me- it misfired on every level.

[Phantom of London]

Wow, mixed on here.
The press hated it.
I expected to see Chernobyl the Musical.
Maybe not Chernobyl then, but more of a grey-field site, with hanging baskets.
A well conceived and intentioned musical that was poorly executed.
Of course the press is going to like something that is only going to play a month, with no promise of advertising. To boot the press backed the nuclear tests in the Nevada desert and were the mouthpiece for the government.
For me Florence Andrews was a real stand out.

3 Stars

[freckles]

Shenton is entitled to his opinion, like everybody else. However, he has now written several columns referencing his 1* review, and keeps tweeting about it.

I can't make my mind up whether it's a deliberate trashing campaign, or whether he genuinely feels the need to validate his opinion, which seems very defensive.

Either way, it seems disingenuous to go on about it so much.

[partytentdown]

Mar 22, 2016 8:23:43 GMT freckles said:

Shenton is entitled to his opinion, like everybody else. However, he has now written several columns referencing his 1* review, and keeps tweeting about it.

I can't make my mind up whether it's a deliberate trashing campaign, or whether he genuinely feels the need to validate his opinion, which seems very defensive.

Either way, it seems disingenuous to go on about it so much.

Put it on a mug, Mark.

[Stasia]

Mar 22, 2016 8:23:43 GMT freckles said:

Shenton is entitled to his opinion, like everybody else. However, he has now written several columns referencing his 1* review, and keeps tweeting about it.

I can't make my mind up whether it's a deliberate trashing campaign, or whether he genuinely feels the need to validate his opinion, which seems very defensive.

Either way, it seems disingenuous to go on about it so much.

I really feel his reaction "overacted".  From  1* review (which really weird when you have such a stellar cast to start with) to constantly reminding about it it really looks like he is trying to prove something and not just expresses his opinion.
And seriously, if you look at Bend It and take it as a 5-star example - why not give Miss Atomic Bomb a 6?

[TheatreDust]

I saw this last night and really enjoyed it.   Admittedly, I spent a fair amount of time thinking just how bonkers it all was, but it doesn't take itself seriously - and the more it submitted to its own ridiculousness, the better it was.  

I saw Catherine Tate in Assassins and don't remember being particularly wowed by her voice in that, but I enjoyed her vocals in this. She did play Catherine Tate most of the time, but that suited the role.

Tonally, it reminded me of a cross between "I Can't Sing" (which I didn't like) and "Xanadu" (which I loved).

It does need work, but it felt fresh and different.  The audience seemed largely positive towards it with very enthusiastic applause and a partial standing ovation.  Three stars from me. 

[djdan14]

Looking forward to my first trip to the St James this afternoon to see what this is all about. Booked more or less as soon as it was announced as the St James is a theatre I wanted to tick off the list. Glad to see its getting mostly positive reviews on here, the only opinion I really need!

[Someone in a tree]

clunky book or what

the coming out of two of the characters was as clunky as the power point prjections used throughout. niether funny nor dark enough to be a satire, so we are left with a piece about very serious themes but with no depth. didnt the writers think about revisiting the pigs and houses?

on a positive, i thought the cast all gave good performances

[freckles]

Finally saw this last night and had fun, it won't go down as the greatest musical of all time but it was funny in places, although seemed to struggle to find and maintain the right tone throughout.
The cast were fantastic and really gave their all. Some great performances, especially from the girl playing Candy.
The set bemused me, what was the point of the huge steel arch? With a ladder at one side that someone occasionally mounted for no apparent reason! And, given the extremely cramped conditions of the front row the strange curved piece between the floor and the backdrop seemed a pointless waste of space.
My seat was front but to the side and many of the musical numbers were blocked (in every sense of the word) as one character singing centre stage while others stood motionless, usually right in my eyeline.
I do often find at St James that the set is too big for the space and the show is not staged effectively for more than half of the auditorium. I wish they'd address this.
But a decent little show that's worth checking out. Needs polishing (Act One rambles all over the place) but by the writers. The cast do a great job with the material. I'd give it more than one star.

[CBP1]

I saw this tonight and am firmly in the positive camp. I very much agree with everything TheatreDust said. Especially the I can't sing/Xanadu comments. I'd put it on a par with Urinetown.

Bonkers but thoroughly enjoyable. And, as many people have already said, what's not to like about a tap number?! I see why some people would dislike it. If you don't like slapstick or you prefer your satire darker then it may not be for you. But that doesn't make it a 1 star show.

[theatremadness]

Caught this this afternoon and really enjoyed myself. Pretty much sold out and a very enthusiastic audience response after warming up! OK, so the show isn't perfect. It's really far from it. Some of the comedy feels incredibly forced and unfunny (Dean John Wilson and sometimes Daniel Boys are the biggest culprits of trying too hard) and the book is indeed clunky in places - not helped by some poor direction - which meant that parts (especially a large chunk in the middle of Act 2) seemed to drag on forever.

However, when it's funny, it's bloody hilarious. Simon Lipkin is a master of musical comedy and it's a amazing to watch him at work. He is so effortlessly funny, maybe that's what makes others seem less so and forced. Yes, Catherine Tate played Catherine Tate with a dodgy accent but it worked for me and I loved her. Her stuff with Simon Lipkin was so brilliant, their chemistry is great and as an audience member, it's fun to watch them have fun, and done well enough that it doesn't feel like you're being left out of a joke that you don't understand. Florence Andrews played the 'straight girl' very well and boy, what a voice. Couldn't really fault the ensemble, again all fantastic individual performances and the cast as a whole sounded really fantastic. Tight and brilliant band and actually the sound levels were pretty much spot on. Thought the lighting especially was really used well and enhanced many of the numbers and plot points! Projections were fine for me, it would be either that or absolutely nothing as space for any sort of set (bar the little set-pieces they used) is absolutely non-existent backstage or above at The St James.

But it's totally & wonderfully original, in terms of source material and idea, and even down to the production itself, in parts. But having said that, having had time to think, much direction did seem to be borrowed from a Susan Stroman's style of show - the title number was like watching Springtime For Hitler! Ending on a positive: I thought the score was absolutely fantastic, they have written some really brilliant and catchy tunes and would absolutely buy a cast album if they recorded one.

[vdcni]

Really enjoyed this. Yes it's utterly ridiculous but done with such a sense of fun by a very talented cast that it's hard not to get swept along with them. Can't understand the 1 star reviews.

It will take something incredible to get me back to this theatre though given just how terrible the seating is.

[Deleted]

Saw it over the weekend. Really really wanted to like it. Several times had to close my eyes because I couldn't bear to watch any longer. That poor poor incredibly talented cast do not deserve to have to perform such dross. And PLEASE don't tell me that a character is a fighting sort of girl who punches snakes and gets bears in headlocks then is unable to disarm one man with a gun.

[stevej678]

I caught this on Friday evening and thought that while the show is by no means the finished article, the one star reviews seem very harsh and unfair.

The first half is strong and relatively cohesive. The various strands to the storyline are all introduced with a fair degree of success and we go into the break all set to converge on the beauty pageant. With strong performances from Florence Andrews and Simon Lipkin in particular, plenty of decent songwriting in evidence, and no shortage of spectacle from the hardworking ensemble, I was very impressed at the interval.

Unfortunately, the show disintegrates somewhat in the second half and increasingly starts to feel like it’s in need of a fair bit of work. The cast are the main saving grace, with Olivia Fines, Charles Brunton, Jessica Buckby and Suzie McAdam providing plenty of laughs as the other contestants alongside Florence Andrews’ Candy in the beauty pageant, certainly making the most of the hit and miss material. However, it feels like the writers started to run out of ideas as to how to resolve the numerous different threads of the narrative. Merely continuing to up the zaniness factor was never going to succeed in completely masking that. There’s still plenty to enjoy after the interval but it all starts to feel increasingly messy.

Overall though, this was an enjoyable, offbeat, fun evening at the St James Theatre. If a cast recording had been done, I would certainly have bought one. There’s a potentially great show in there so it’s a shame that come the end of this week, given the reviews, it will almost certainly be the end of the road for Miss Atomic Bomb. The cast received a standing ovation on Friday evening so it’s interesting to compare the audience reaction – with every single person on their feet – with the scorn (in some cases bordering on condemnation) the production has almost unanimously received from the critics.

[n1david]

I was there Friday night too and have to agree with every word of stevejohnson678's report - the audience response was extremely enthusiastic and most people seemed to be having a really great time (perhaps by not thinking about it too much!). I did like the songs and the enthusiastic choreography and performance but it did all fizzle out somewhat in Act 2. I'd have loved a cast recording though and would have loved to see this in a reworked form at some future stage.

[theatreian]

I saw the show Thursday night and really enjoyed it. It does not need to be taken too seriously but was a great piece of entertainment by a very talented cast.

Met a few of them afterwards and Daniel boys was lovely and Catherine Tate was great too and very patient in performing her bothered line about 8 times with a group of girls. It proved what a genuinely lovely human being she is and what a talented comic actress she is too.

[DuchessConstance]

I like it a lot more in hindsight than I did at the time. It was pretty lightweight and some of the jokes are so corny it's embarrassing (the costume shop "they thought he said Rabbi!" gag was peak Elderly Uncle at a Christmas Party). But it was enjoyable enough. I actually loved the gay song. At least it wasn't boring.

Leads are great, even if Tate doesn't really do all that much except her patented Catherine Tate schtick, but in an American accent, but I guess that's what people want. (And I felt bad that they felt the need to essentially superglue an entire dead swan to her version of Andrews' revealing showgirl costume. Her body is fine, it doesn't need covering up!)

[JJShaw]

i really enjoyed the show, a quirky plot with a good fun score

the problem for me is that this show screams cult musical; i found it very little shop/rocky horror, but the production, direction and marketing is trying to make it a traditional big budget splashy musical comedy. i feel if they had streamlined a couple of the songs, gone for a less flashy sort of set (when have projections as a set ever really worked?!) it could have got far better reviews. i don't think it deserved all those 1 and 2 stars, i probably would have given it 3 stars. The performances were great, very impressed with Tate's singing, considering in assassins her 4 solo lines were very ropey but she handled this score very well, even it it was classic Catherine Tate with an American accent acting.

[timesisharder]

I went for my second visit at today's matinee and had a great time. I went with some friends, who are not great fans of musicals, but who also loved it. The audience seemed very full for a Wednesday matinee and there were lots who gave it a standing ovation: still not sure why this seems to have had the visceral reactions to it that it seems to have had from the critics. Both times I have gone the audiences have given it a great response - may be I am populist, but I certainly had more enjoyment out of any number of songs from this than I had from Mrs Henderson Presents, The Light Princess and Wonder.land (put together). The performances are fantastic, there are some excellent melodies and the lyrics are very clever. Sure it needs a bit of work, but this is the end of what would be a preview period for a normal musical so hopefully they will do that work as I think it is too good not to have future life.

[schuttep]

Saw this last night and agree with those who say it deserved better reviews,

Some good songs, perfect performances, and a completely bonkers story, it was a joy.