A new rock opera pulls into town this week with a cast of extremely well known characters from the telly. That telly happens to be the news and the characters are some of our most familiar political figures from the last 20 plus years.
TONY! THE TONY BLAIR ROCK OPERA may seem unusual material for a piece of musical theatre, but when you look at the story behind the man, and get HARRY HILL and STEVE BROWN to devise and write it, you just know this is going to be something special.
In fact in the week the show opened in London’s West End at the Leicester Square Theatre, it had completely sold out at Sedgefield Parish Hall in Tony Blair’s former constituency. We get to see it at the New Theatre in Cardiff from Wednesday.
The musical tells the story of how one man went from peace-loving, long-haired hippy and would-be pop star to warmongering multimillionaire in just a couple of decades. Throw in a stellar cast of larger-than-life characters – Cherie Blair, Princess Diana, John Prescott, Peter Mandelson, Alastair Campbell, Osama bin Laden, George W Bush, Saddam Hussein and Gordon Brown – it’s Yes, Minister meets The Rocky Horror Show and a musical like no other.
For the sake of clarity we need to let you know that nNeither Tony Blair, the Tony Blair Institute, nor any other person featured in this production have endorsed the production or its marketing materials and are in no way affiliated with the production.
We had a chat with Harry Hill and Steve Brown to find out more about the show and first of all wondered what audiences are in store for when they get along to the New Theatre? Harry said……
“We’ve tried to make it as funny as we can. Whenever I go to a musical and it’s described as ‘hilarious’ I sit there smiling. People laugh because they’re so desperate to do so but it’s what someone described to me as ‘a theatre laugh’. It’s not like a big belly laugh but we’ve crammed this show with big belly laughs. It’s basically a really good, fun night out. Obviously it’s about Tony Blair and it’s a great story. Whether you love him or loathe him you’ll get something out of it.”
What’s the basic premise?
“It starts off with him as a peace-loving hippie in a band and he then becomes Britain’s most successful Labour Prime Minister before he turns into what he is now, which is basically a kind of outcast. People have very strong feelings about him. I often wonder ‘If you bumped into him in the street, would you ask him for a selfie?’ He polarises opinion but we try not to take sides in the show. Well, we do take sides but it’s not left- or right-leaning. It’s more about the process of democracy and whether we ever get the leaders that we deserve.”
Steve, Where did the original inspiration for the show come from?
“I wasn’t a fan of his, I was more a fan of Gordon Brown, and I was amazed that Blair won when Brown was more of an intellectual heavyweight and a more serious figure. But we’ve seen what the public are prepared to fall for, although I’m not saying they fell for anything he didn’t at least attempt to give them. You may not agree with his principles but as Groucho Marx said ‘These are my principles and if you don’t like those I’ve got others’ and at least Blair had some. He still stands by what he did and he acts out of principle, even though he probably enjoys the limelight. Nobody goes into that line of work if they’re a shrinking violet.”
What makes his story ripe for musical comedy?
“All politicians are really ripe for such treatment but he’s higher-profile than most. He’s quite singular, much in the way Margaret Thatcher was. There have been straight dramas that have featured him and he’s been a big part of Michael Sheen’s career. And if it’s ripe for drama it’s probably ripe for comedy because as we all know comedy is tragedy plus time. In terms of it being a musical, in a sense he was the first rock-and-roll Prime Minister. We call it a rock opera but it’s a musical comedy.
We only call it a rock opera because it gives it more pretension. It affords it a mock-serious tone. When he came to power there was the whole Britpop thing, which we allude to in one scene, and he’s obsessed with Mick Jagger and the guitar. Then he had Noel Gallagher round at Number Ten, sort of dishonouring the building and quaffing champagne.”
You’re the music man Steve, so tell us about the music in the show……
“I’m just trying to keep the variety and the pace going. Whoever is singing it and what’s being said dictates the style. Then sometimes you can achieve an interesting and funny juxtaposition. Saddam Hussein, for example, has a number that is done like Groucho Marx – to mention him again – more or less because Saddam had the moustache and the cigar, except his moustache wasn’t painted on.
It’s a patter song, New Labour is very Britpop, and we begin in a sinisterly operatic, Grand Guignol style because Blair is on his deathbed. It’s like Citizen Kane, where we start with him dying, then head backwards from there. He’s sort of resurrected at the end and delivers the moral, which the audience goes out humming.”
Harry, there’s a fair few familiar characters in the show, how much of the story is fact and how much is fiction?
“We’ve got John Prescott being played by a woman, as is Robin Cook. We’ve also got Gordon Brown, Princess Diana, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and George Bush in there.
Obviously we can’t stick to the exact chronology and we have Gordon Brown going to the same university as Tony Blair, but we admit we’re playing with the truth all the way through it and we undermine it with a fairly light touch, at least until things go wrong. We also have Princess Diana coming back as a ghost.”
From doing research, were there things you were surprised or intrigued to learn about Blair?
“There weren’t a hell of a lot of surprises. I didn’t know about his childhood. Apparently he spent two years in Australia, which we don’t mention in the show because it’s just dull. You can’t cover every aspect of his life. Have you seen his autobiography? It’s massive. Also, one of my bugbears about musicals is that they’re far too long, particularly for the modern attention span.
For the tour we’ve cut about 15 minutes. It’s shorter and sharper. There’s not many things that merit more than two hours, including a break for an ice cream. A lot of musicals nowadays are bloated and they’re expensive, and the reason they’re expensive is often because it’s a film they are copying. The way we’re approaching it, at times it’s more like a cabaret show.”
Have you invited Mr Blair to come see it at his old stomping ground of Sedgefield Harry?
“There’s an open invitation for Tony Blair to come along and half-price for any members of his family. Is it a business, after all. What might he make of the show? I think he’d be heartbroken. I’ve made enquiries. I talked to someone who knew Tony Blair back in the 1990s and when I asked them ‘What would he make of it?’ they told me that Blair basically doesn’t have a sense of humour. They said Cherie might find it funnier.”
Finally Harry, the tour calls at the New Theatre in Cardiff, a place you’ve played many times before……
“It’s one of my favourite theatres. Because of the way we do this show, it’s very much at the front and out to the audience, and at times we’re breaking the fourth wall. I think that will work really well in all those lovely old theatres.”
The stage setting is like a classic rock-musical set with gigantic light-up letters TONY hanging above the black and white checked dance floor aka political chess board. Add to that disco lights, smoke machine and live orchestra, and you get a thoroughly enjoyable show all round.
The full cast is Jack Whittle as Tony Blair, Howard Samuels as Peter Mandelson, Tori Burgess as Cherie Blair, Phil Sealey as Gordon Brown, Martin Johnston as Neil Kinnock, Rosie Strobel as John Prescott, Sally Cheng as Robin Cook, Emma Jay Thomas as Princess Diana and William Hazell as on-stage cover. Other characters featured in the musical, who are played by the cast, include Saddam Hussein, Liam Gallagher, Alastair Campbell, Osama Bin Laden and many more.
All the actors in the cast play numerous roles throughout the show, changing their hats and wigs, putting on fake moustaches or funky coats to turn into the famous figures from the past with one key defining feature. The show’s director PETER ROWE has ensured the audience are kind of intergrated into the production too.
With set and costume design by Libby Watson, lighting design by Mark Dymock, sound design by Richard Brooker, choreography by Francesca Jaynes and casting by Debbie O’Brien. The Park Theatre production is produced in the West End and on tour by Nicholson Green Productions.
TONY! THE TONY BLAIR ROCK OPERA opens at the New Theatre in Cardiff this week from Wednesday 14th to Saturday 17th June. Performances are at 7:30pm each evening with a 2:30pm matinee on Saturday. For more details and to get tickets, go HERE.
