Book: Harry Hill
Music and Lyrics: Steve Brown
Director: Peter Rowe
What is it with Tony Blair that he is such an inspiration for comedy? On the surface of things, his Hero-to-Villain political life doesn’t seem to be appropriate for a comedy, let alone a musical comedy, but apparently it is. With Tony! [The Tony Blair Rock Opera], we have the second musical comedy based on the former PM’s life (the first was 2007’s Tony! The Blair Musical). This time we get a look at Blair’s life through the quirky, surrealist lens of Harry Hill, with appropriate musical interventions from collaborator Steve Brown.
In Tony! we have a womb-to-deathbed skip through the life of Britain’s second-youngest Prime Minister with a very heavy dose of Hill’s trademark nonsense. As the show kicks off, we’re greeted with the sight of Blair (Jack Whittle) lying on his deathbed with a haunting chorus ethereally chanting ‘Tony Blair’. We rapidly rewind to Mrs Blair Snr giving birth to her son to a song called New Messiah, and then we’re full steam ahead.
In the first half we’re given a whistle-stop charge through Tony’s life on the ascendent: getting his first guitar, his fascination with Mick Jaggers [sic], going to Oxford University, meeting Cheri, joining the Labour Party, becoming an MP, meeting Gordon Brown, becoming Labour Leader, becoming PM and even meeting Princess Diana.
The second act follows on chronologically but focuses more on his fall from grace. We’re introduced to the three players in his demise: George W Bush, Osama bin Laden, and Saddam Hussein, and get to see how his blind faith in following the Americans into the Middle East proved to be his ultimate undoing.
Overall, Tony! disappoints as a piece of theatre. There’s no doubt that it’s funny, often very funny, but you’re left feeling oddly unsatisfied at the end. On the plus side is the cast. Hill’s humour borders on the ludicrous and needs unwavering commitment in its delivery for it to work. The cast gives it their all and they help elevate the humour beyond pantomime slapstick. Howard Samuels as Peter Mandelson (and also Dick Cheney amongst others) excels. His camp foolishness is the high point of the production. Whittle is also excellent as Blair. He perfectly captures his mannerisms, voice, and near-hypnotic stare. The rest of the cast shines too in both the music and comedic elements.
However, Tony! is, unfortunately, let down by two key things: its narrative and its music. In its narrative, jokes are littered around with wonderful abandon, but it covers way too much territory. If you’re not au fait with Blair’s life or the political scene of the early 2000’s, you’ll have a multitude of questions. Even with a decent grasp of that period, it still leaves a wealth of questions and a desire to know more, especially during his earlier days.
When it comes to the music, it is worth noting that (thankfully) this is technically a musical and not an opera. In the musical genre, we’re given a lot more spoken word between the songs, and this is a saving grace for this show. The music, whilst far from terrible, is unlikely to make it to anyone’s playlists. Comedy songs are always a bit of an odd bag but, even then, the songs here feel overly amateurish. There’s a strong feeling that the lyrics were the focal point and the tunes cobbled together as a near-afterthought. Whilst the songs do move the narrative along nicely and are all fairly jovial, for something that pitches itself as an opera, you expect them to be better.
Tony! is funny but you’re left wanting more, but very probably not more of the same.
Runs until 21 May 2023 then tour
The Reviews Hub Score
Farcical musical nonsense
I took my wife to see this last night 14th July at Storyhouse Theatre in Chester. I’m very supportive of theatre in general, and the actors and performers on stage. I try to be open minded and give benefit of the doubt or credit where it is due.
But on this occasion, for the first time ever, we left during the interval and never came back. To be honest it was a feat of endurance to remain seated as long as we did. The music was appalling, the script was very poor, and the overall theme was crass, distasteful and bordering on offensive. Particularly the scene with Princess Diana in just prior to the interval. To say I was disappointed is an understatement, in fact I felt ashamed to be there to witness it, and embarrassed for the rest of the audience as they clapped politely and laughed nervously.
It was an experience to be forgotten as soon as possible.
I also recently saw ‘Tony’ at the Chester Storyhouse with my daughter and her partner. We all thoroughly enjoyed the production and were completely entertained throughout. Even now a week later we are reminding each other of the enjoyment we had.
At the end there was a standing ovation and much applause for the excellent cast.
However, I would say that you probably have to have a certain sense of humour, more or less aligned with the Harry Hill brand of comedy, if not it may be wise to see something else.
Any production dealing with real historic political events as a comedy will naturally be near the mark in a similar way to ‘Spitting Image’ and will obviously divide public opinion….