Burlesque the Musical – Sunderland Empire

Book: Steven Antin 

Music and Lyrics: Christina Aguilera, Sia, Diane Warren, Todrick Hall and Jess Folley 

Director: Racky Plews 

After several well-publicised delays including cancelling the first stop on its tour as well as the first week of its second stop here in Sunderland, the UK tour of Burlesque the Musical has finally opened.

Based on the Cher and Christina Aguilera starring 2010 film, Burlesque was a financial disappointment and received mixed critical reception. While it’s managed to build a cult following since, to make this a full-blown musical is still perhaps more of a risk than most other movie-to-stage adaptations. However, Burlesque has now gone from a few short regional engagements and a two-month West End run to this large-scale tour that is due to run for the next 10 months. Of course, the question is whether it was worth the wait. 

The plot here is unashamedly paper thin and made up almost entirely of cliches, which isn’t really a problem for a musical if the other elements are strong. And while Burlesque boasts fantastic performances, lively choreography, spectacular visuals and a decent score, there is a nagging feeling that the whole doesn’t quite end up equaling its parts.  

In the leading role of Ali, the innocent country girl arriving in the big city, Macy Dermody Blythe is excellent. In a strange parallel with her character’s arc, Blythe stepped into the lead role at very short notice for this performance, understudying both the lead actress and her actual understudy due to illness. Even without taking this into account, Blythe is a powerhouse with rich, soulful vocals that are more than reminiscent of Ms Aguilera’s. Faye Brooks is also very strong in the matriarch role of Tess, Ryan Carter excels as emcee Sean, and Tyler Davis is a real hit with the ladies in the audience as Jack. Each and every one of the cast gives their performance 110%. The energy displayed by the entire company is astonishing, with strong vocals and tight movement across the board.  

The show itself has a bit of an identity crisis. While the staging and much of the choreography recalls the sexy Chicago, Steven Antin’s script refuses to pick a consistent tone, with scenes bouncing between lighthearted, to overly earnest, to downright over the top. The latter of these works the best considering the cliched plot, and an absolute highlight of the show is a spot-on parody of a boy band song followed by an Austin Powers style nude scene. That short sequence makes one yearn for the whole thing to be equally fun. 

The songs combine those from the film along with new ones written for the stage adaptation. Impressively they span a wide range of musical genres which allows Robin Antin lots of scope with his fun choreography that encompasses everything from a Fosse-inspired 60s vibe to jive, tango and even tap. Each of the girls in the burlesque troupe gets a fun novelty song throughout the show, and it is here again that one wishes that the overall tone was this silly throughout. However, none of the songs, either old or new, linger very long in the memory. 

Set, costumes, lighting and projections are all impressive, but Burlesque struggles to deliver anything that we haven’t seen done better elsewhere before. Despite that, the show is undeniably entertaining (largely thanks to the hard-working cast) and pretty much delivers what should be expected from the source material. To cap it off, the finale is a big, bombastic, glitzy and glamourous affair, meaning that the audience should at least leave with a smile on their face.  

Runs until 22nd August 2026 and then continues to tour the UK until May 2027