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11 Май в 19:57 · отредактировано ·
CRIT | CLOSER TO HEAVEN
SEDUCTIVE. SEXY. SIZZLING.
BLISTERING choreography, heart-wrenching performances, poignantly beautiful lyrics... and a tear or two.
Jonathan Harvey and The Pet Shop Boys’ musical Closer To Heaven premiered at The Arts Theatre, London, in 2001. It is currently enjoying its first London revival, at The Union Theatre, a converted railway arch with a capacity of just 70. Dark, world-worn and intimate, the piece could not ask for a better home.
Set in a sleazy London nightclub, flashing lights and pumping hi-nrg welcome you to the story of Straight Dave. Just off the boat from Ireland, he finds work as a barman at Vic’s nightclub... but he wants to be a dancer.
Vic, meanwhile, has problems of his own. His estranged daughter Shell wants to be reunited with her ‘gay’ dad after 15 years and is on her way.
When Shell and Dave meet, they fall instantly in love. Then 'Straight' Dave, see what they did there, meets drug dealer Mile End Lee... and falls in love all over again.
Throw into the mix a washed-up, drug-addled rock chick by the name of Billie Trix, a dodgy record producer called Bob Saunders, and a shit-load of Ketamine and tragedy is only a hit away.
And so the stage is set for a tale of love and loss, drink and drugs, despair and hope. Jonathan Harvey’s sсript may not be the most sophisticated of affairs but serves perfectly as a vehicle linking Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant’s catchy, yet searingly poignant, compositions.
As Straight Dave, Jared Thompson makes a stunning professional debut. Strutting and cocksure at the start, as his emotions snowball out of control his confusion is all the more tangible.
Playing opposite him as the seriously damaged Mile End Lee, Connor Brabyn has a natural stage presence that marks him out as a star of the future. He boasts a knowing stillness rarely seen in one so young. It serves to heighten his vulnerability, ensuring the later scenes between Lee and Dave are quite devastating - there were tears throughout the audience.
Of course, a great deal of that emotional impact is a direct result of the Pet Shop Boys lyrics; when set in a dramatic context their full power is released.
As Shell, Amy Matthews brings back memories of a young Letitia Dean. Strong and feisty, she is more than a match for Craig Berry’s convincing Vic.
Other performances of note come from Ken Christiansen as the insidious boy band producer, and Ben Kavanagh as the delightfully waspish Flynn.
As narrator of the piece, Katie Meller’s melodramatic Billie Tricks is an overpowering force of nature that still manages to endear with delicate flashes of pathos and regret.
All of this is played against an electric sound track, and while vocals could occasionally benefit from mics, choreographer Philip Joel has no such problems, ensuring his seven-strong chorus are never left out of the action; his work imaginatively using what limited space he has available to him to create blistering street-dance routines.
Sold out for the rest of this run, let’s hope a transfer is on the cards. It would be a sin if this sizzling production did not have life after the Union.