Come Dine With Me: The Musical – Turbine Theatre, London

Book and Lyrics: Sam Norman

Music: Aaron Nihal King

Director: Andrew Beckett

It was perhaps inevitable that, after The Great British Bake-Off: The Musical, other reality shows would get the musical theatre treatment.

Come Dine With Me: The Musical sets itself in the world of Channel 4’s cult dinner party show, where a series of local residents throw each other a dinner party and then rate each other’s evenings. But unlike GBBO, which focused on replicating the on-screen viewing experience, this musical takes a rather more behind-the-scenes take, albeit one that doubtless takes liberties with the realities of TV production.

We are first introduced to the production team – hunky cameraman Dan (Tom Bowen), hapless sound guy Teddy (Harry Chandler) and Mary, the strident, gilet-wearing producer, played with aplomb by Daniele Coombe. Before the show even gets going, they roam the auditorium, interviewing audience members about their signature dishes and party tricks. While this is fun, the supposed ineptitude of Teddy’s wielding of a boom mike begins to grate. It’s also slightly out of character: as the show proper begins, his character becomes less inept and more just socially awkward and anxious.

That anxiety looms large when he realises that the location for the week’s parties is the village where he grew up, and that one of the contestants (Sophie Hutchinson’s Janey) was at school with him.

Initially, though, the focus is on the other contestants. West End diva Kim Ismay brings all her vocal and comedic talents to Barbara, the pretentious proponent of haute cuisine. Leo Udvarlakey and Paul Hazel have less prominent roles as a vegan contestant and the magnate of a pork pie empire, respectively, but each gets their moment to shine.

And if the musical chose to follow the events from house to house, capitalising on the tensions between the attitudes of each dinner party guest, there would be a fine but competent musical to be had. Instead, the actual food and the characters of the contestants are garnishes; the main course is the notion that one of the contestants might be cheating and sabotaging their competitors’ meals in order to win the £1,000 prize money.

This gives a refreshing spin to the story, especially when Mary decides that Roy and Teddy need to capture everything and unmask the culprit – not because cheaters should never prosper, but more because it would make good TV.

Throughout this, Teddy’s role as sound recordist – as a result of which he overhears the saboteur plotting but can’t make out who is speaking – becomes the pivotal focus of the show. Indeed, many of the scenes focus not on the show but on Teddy. Harry Chandler steps up in every way, with a strong singing voice and a performance that makes the intense personal growth over just a few days completely believable.

The musical elements are also strong, varying from pastiche styles for each contestant – Ismay’s is dripping with chanson-style flourishes as befitting her obsession with French cuisine, while Duncan rocks out, old school style, in his solo paean to the joys of eating meat. There’s a level of tongue-in-cheek charm that’s unique to British fringe musicals, with Aaron Nihal King’s music and Sam Norman’s lyrics sometimes evoking memories of Operation Mincemeat’s very first, flawed but enjoyable, fringe outing.

Come Dine With Me: The Musical generally avoids recreating some of the series’ best-known moments (there’s no “What a sad little life, Jane” moment, and although Udvarlakey’s Ernest does at one point start to put an egg whisk in his mouth, it’s a mercifully brief aside). Instead, it whips up a mixture of silliness and sardonics that is more in tune with Dave Lamb’s arch narration than the on-screen antics.

There is still a sense of it being a little rough around the edges, and some of the minor characters could feel more well-defined. As with many of the dishes prepared on the show, a little more finesse in places wouldn’t go amiss. But as a fun hour of comedic music theatre, and with a strong lead performance from Harry Chandler, Come Dine With Me is a chef’s kiss.

Continues until 29 September 2024