Book: Roger Kumble, Lindsey Rosin, and Jordan Ross
Writer: Roger Kumble
Music: Will Joy
Director: Jonathan O’Boyle
Calling all 90s kids and wannabes! This show brings the party and the 90s nostalgia so grab your mates and get ready for a raucous night of sultry humour and songs you can’t help but lipsync.
Cruel Intentions is a great musical introduction for musical theatre newbies and non-theatre goers alike. Though the overall package hasn’t fully fledged into a sophisticated musical enough to satisfy hardcore musical theatre fans, it knows what it does well in music, vocals and creating a fun energy and really delivers.
Based on the 90s cult classic film of the same name, the story follows NYC Upper East Sider step-siblings Kathryn Merteuil and Sebastian Valmont. The pair make a bet that playboy Sebastian can seduce the Headmaster’s virtuous daughter, a bet that sends shockwaves through the lives of their high-school peers. This tale of seduction, temptation, and destruction is fiercely hot, uproariously funny, and packed with recognisable hits.
Every song was a 90s anthem and was so skillfully performed that you never felt like you were getting a watered-down version of the original, the set list included songs from Britney Spears, Spice Girls, Boyz II Men, Christina Aguilera, TLC, R.E.M., Ace of Base, Natalie Imbruglia, The Verve, *NSYNC, and many more.
The fun and upbeat energy of the show is palpable before it even starts, there was already singing and in-seat dancing to the pre-show 90s music piped into the theatre.
This is not a family-friendly musical and is recommended for ages 15 and up. Although laced with overtly sexual scenes, innuendo, and bawdy humour, the jokes never become crude or gratuitous. Cruel Intentions presents itself as a show that thoroughly knows its good-times-seeking audience. It has self-aware humour and doesn’t take itself too seriously. It laughs at itself and encourages you to do the same.
Vocally, there isn’t a single weak link in the show, leads Nic Meyers and Will Callan as Kathryn and Sebastian are vocal powerhouses who easily traverse the wide range of 90s tracks with prowess.
Some musical numbers received immediate laughs of recognition, a rendition of Wannabe between Blaine Tuttle as Sebastian’s friend Luke and Greg McConnell as high-school football champ, Joe, was hilariously filled with lewd humour and playful choreography and became an immediate audience favourite.
The set’s most impressive feature was its intricate lighting system which accented each musical performance with ambient lighting, creating drama, chemistry, and a heartracing concert-like feel.
It also featured a balcony which displayed the band on stage and was used for several spying scenes or phone calls away from the action, adding to the covert and conspiring nature of the show. Multiple sets such as Central Park, a train station, a school, a pool, and a lounge were also easily inserted into the space for variety, though to varying degrees of success.
The first act is incredible with lively energy, scandalous seductive scenes, and music which seems to effortlessly fit into the narrative. Lovefool as performed in a sultry poolside scene by Callan and Annette Hargrove as the Headmaster’s daughter, Abbie, was the show working at its best. It was an excellent example of a jukebox musical making a pre-existing song work as a conversation in the context of the show. Their twist on the song as a flirtatious and sarcastic tug of war between the pair attempting to guess the intentions of the other was a highlight of what the show did best.
The costuming was also recognisably 90s, sparking nostalgia in the audience, the show leaned into this knowledge with frequent costume changes, especially for Kathryn for who it was always exciting to see what she was wearing next.
In comparison to the high-energy romp of the first act, the second act struggled to live up to the expectations set by the first. Beats in the storyline began to miss and become monotonous, there seemed to be a lack of the charming rise and fall of action in the first half.
Songs started to roll into one another and become stodgy. The second act also had less creative use of the stage particularly in changes of settings than in the first; at times the performers were left to pace the stage, reusing mannerisms and overall looking untethered to the scenes. This repetitive quality wasn’t helped by the lack of a comedic interlude during the second half.
Worth seeing for the 90s nostalgia and the incredibly well-performed music throughout and though the second act left you wishing for the first, the redeeming quality of the overall performance was just how hard the actors worked and how much fun they seemed to have with the show. The encore medley only further accentuated this point and had the audience on their feet dancing in no time.
Runs until 29 March 2025
