Eugenius - Palladium / The Other Palace / Turbine

[westendcub]

That’s lots of fun!!

I would class it in the same genre as ‘The Toxic Avenger’ & I’d say its better and on par with ‘Xanadu’, definitely fun fringe cult musical can dawn from this...it’s songs are clever & tuneful (catchy)!

Saw Ben Adams lots & also Aaron who’s the choreographer (he was S Club Juniors) 🌈

Oh & it’s preview and we had a show stop - so in the ‘Tough Man’ origin song the fog machine engulfed the stage (as in all actors disappeared but they carried on & then it engulfed us in the audience so we had a 5 min stop!)

I was in C26 on a £10 ticket (slight obstruction with platform to fully see the backscreen) but it’s hardly used so price was a steal).

I see this show building a little fan base!

[westendcub]

The story is as expected is light but nicely does character development (not too deep) but helps advance the story which some camp cult musicals don’t bother to do!

It’s really the songs that excel here & the 80’s Feeling (power ballads) so Bravo to Ben Adams & co!

[paddy72]

Lots of good work in this show. It deserves to succeed if only because at the performance today it felt like it was a show with many fans in the audience all willing it to be great. I felt that maybe some younger hands guiding this great young fresh cast could give it more of a contemporary edge. It reminded me of Forbidden Planet which really was from back in the day. There’s some memorable great tunes in there but the book never rises above delivering the plot in quite a long winded way. I’m sure however that it has a future life.

[bellboard27]

Thought this was great fun. So much energy from the cast. As long as you are in the mood for something silly, it’s a laugh.

I’ve decided the next time I’m in a club, I’m doing the dance of the fish people. Of course, only after a few stiff drinks.

[jgblunners]

I saw this on Tuesday and thought it was great fun but didn't quite fulfil its potential. The book could do with some refinement, and there are definitely a couple of songs that could be cut or re-written. In fact, apart from 4 or 5 stand-out numbers, the score was mostly generic pop and not particularly inventive. I think with some reworking to embrace the Toxic Avenger-esque aspects of the show (i.e. breaking the fourth wall, deliberately mocking clichés) it could be a really fantastic show. I wasn't entirely sold on Liam Forde as Eugene - he was good but his performance was missing that little something that would've made it incredible. The show undoubtedly belongs to Dan Buckley and Laura Baldwin, who are both phenomenal. The supporting cast work very hard and are all great. I also think they kind of shot themselves in the foot with the set design - the other shows I've seen at The Other Palace have left the majority of the thrust section of the stage clear as an open space, but here the stairs and platforms removed about half of that space, meaning they really didn't have much room in the ensemble numbers. With a bit more space maybe they could've included some slightly more interesting choreography.

3* from me for a fun show that, with a few tweaks, could be really impressive

[stevej678]

The reviews are out and it's got the full spectrum from one to five stars.

1* - Times, Theatre Bubble
2* - FT
3* - WhatsOnStage, The Stage, Guardian
4* - Broadway World, The Upcoming, Musical Theatre Musings
5* - Theatre Weekly,

[CG on the loose]

4* from me - based solely on the size of my grin on my way out of the theatre

[justfran]

Is Mark Hamill’s voiceover role permanent or was it one night only?

[stevej678]

Seems that tonight's performance was curtailed at the interval due to cast illness.

[Deleted]

It's a 1* from the Metro this morning & 2* from the Evening Standard over the weekend. Though the reaction on social media still seems pretty positive!

[japhun]

Saw this last night and really enjoyed it! Laura Baldwin was amazing and it was full of giggles and cheesiness that the audience loved! This is most definitely worth seeing...and the critics that gave it one and two stars take themselves wayyyyy too seriously. (These are probably the same critics that gave Bend it Like Beckham five stars!) Go see it!

[showtoones]

Feb 5, 2018 9:58:15 GMT @mrmusicals said:

It's a 1* from the Metro this morning & 2* from the Evening Standard over the weekend. Though the reaction on social media still seems pretty positive!

can you please post the Metro link...I can't seem to find it?

[Mark]

I just couldn’t warm to this, found the whole thing to be very average. Songs not memorable and for all the cast work hard - no standouts for me. I didn’t like the plot - it could have been a lot better but it just didn’t know where it wanted to go.

[dani]

Feb 7, 2018 8:29:09 GMT actorsinger said:

Feb 2, 2018 23:46:05 GMT justfran said:

Is Mark Hamill’s voiceover role permanent or was it one night only?

I believe it’s every night.

Presumably it's recorded rather than live? In which case it can't be very hard to reproduce after it's been done once.

[stevej678]

Well, this is pretty much as joyful and feel-good as it gets, isn't it? Okay, so its strength doesn't lie in its book, that's for sure, but if the plot is rather bonkers, the score is insane in the best possible way!

The Future's Bright, She's Amazing, Go Eugenius, Comic Book Kind Of Love, Super Hot Lady, and Don't Shoot For The Stars Shoot Higher are all standout numbers in their own right. And if you want some quality rapping, forget Hamilton, Who's That Guy is where it's at.

If the score is one of Eugenius' main strengths, then the cast are undoubtedly another. I was excited to see Laura Baldwin after loving her performance in Big Fish but she completely blew away my (already high) expectations, slaying the vocals, having a terrific stage presence, and filling Janey with so much warmth and heart. Sensational.

Terrific performances from Dan Buckley and Scott Paige too, both perfectly cast as Feris and Theo respectively, and great to see them on stage again after Loserville, Ushers (Dan) and The Addams Family (Scott). Speaking of The Addams Family, I'd completely missed that Cameron Blakely was in this when casting was announced; an unexpected treat! Melissa James was the pick of the rest of the cast for me, looking and sounding every inch the Super Hot Lady.

The marketing for Eugenius doesn't lie - "you already need to see it again" is certainly what I'm thinking this evening! The assurance and confidence conveyed in the marketing is projected by the cast on stage, so much so that the weaknesses and excesses of the plot become pretty much irrelevant. Just strap yourself in for the ride, raise your arm in the air and shout Eugenius! Being a geek has never been so cool.

4 stars.

[Mark]

Reflecting back after a few days and having listening to the songs, there are a few catchy songs. "Tough Man" opening, "Go You Genius", "Hollywood", "Dont shoot for the stars" and "Comic Book Kind of Love".

[tmesis]

I really enjoyed this last night. As others have said it does have a similar feel to The Toxic Avenger or Batboy but the book, although it needs some work, is funnier and wittier than either of these. It also has a better score - a catchy, mainly 80s feel to the songs but also one really excellent number that had a Cy Coleman, Rhythm of Life vibe. There are arch and knowing references to lots of cult films but also more mainstream stuff like 42nd Street and Yentil - Oh and it's very, very camp, so what's not to like?
Some really super performances from a very talented cast, a witty production and a great (4 piece?) band - by the end the whole ridiculous shenanigans had the audience eating out of their proverbial palms.
I think, with a bit of trimming and some work on the book, it could have a life in the West End.

[JJShaw]

Incredibly fun score! A really enjoyable evening and, as many have said, by the end you cant help but be smiling!

It felt very Off-Broadway, but in the best way possible (obvious comparisons to toxic avenger and such), i feel that we rarely see new musicals like this the way they do more frequently in the States.

My only issue was that I thought they should have moved the Hollywood number to open act two rather than close act one, and while there were some minor plot issues i had toward the end of act two the show is so fun and silly that you dont really hold it against the show. I would have said 3.5 stars but its so infectiously fun that the small negatives are wiped away and I'd give it 4*.

[galinda]

What’s the running time for this?

Did have a quick google but some sites say 2 hours and others 2 hours 25?

[stevej678]

Feb 16, 2018 17:49:00 GMT galinda said:

What’s the running time for this?

Did have a quick google but some sites say 2 hours and others 2 hours 25?

2 hours 25 mins.

[ellie1981]

I saw this last night and it was SO much fun. Such a dedicated cast. I actually bought the album on iTunes during the interval.

The whole show seemed like it was tailored for the friend I went with. I’m taking him to Hamilton on Friday and he even said he’s not expecting it to be half as good as this.

I only had an issue with the Hollywood song at the end of the first act, because that really did seem like it was just a bunch of 80s reference name checking without any context to anything. Some of the songs were eerily similar to other lesser know hits from the 80s; ‘Comic Book Kind of Love’ was exactly Celine Dion’s ‘Where Does My Heart Beat Now’, and ‘She’s Amazing’ really is just ‘Far From Over’ by Frank Stallone (from the Staying Alive soundtrack) - seriously play them back to back to tell me I’m not crazy.!

[HereForTheatre]

I loved this. Great fun. Bonkers, but brilliant. I thought the second act was better than the first and it did take me 20 mins or so to really get into it but i did. The songs are really good and very catchy. I really loved the cast too. Scott Paige was a highlight to me just for his facial expressions alone and also Dan Buckley, whilst Laura Baldwin had a brilliant voice. Also well done to whoever did the lighting for this.

[robertb213]

Saw this tonight for the show's closing performance. Ben Adams and Warwick Davies were in attendance and the house was nearly full, with a lot of fans in who knew all the words which is great to see for a new musical. The show is utter brainless fluff but it's like trying to hate a puppy, you just can't! Very silly but really catchy songs and great energy from the cast. Great to relive how bad some of the 80s truly was 😂

[tmesis]

This musical is beyond belief silly but I absolutely adore it! I've been recently filling in some gaps in my 'West End Megamusical Portfolios' and was completely disappointed by Dreamgirls and Wicked but Eugenius...is so unpretentious and has so much heart. Full of great tunes and great performances but even then it's hard to describe why it so enjoyable. I think it just turns out to be so sweet, innocent and lovable and it's the latter quality that you carry away with you at the end.

[TallPaul]

Mar 3, 2018 22:54:56 GMT robertb213 said:

it's like trying to hate a puppy, you just can't!

One of the best lines ever, ever!