Theatre Review: Ushers - The Front of House Musical - Charing Cross Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Ushers

The Front of House Musical

The cast of Ushers - The Front of House Musical

Charing Cross Theatre

14th May 2014: So the title says it all really... Here we have a new musical where the stars of the show are the ushers, the ones showing us to our seats, selling us ice creams with no spoons - oh wait, they're in the lid - and they have a front of house boss who is as mean and lecherous as they come.

We are transported into the Theatre Nation venue to see what goes on during 'Oops, I Did It Again - The Musical', starring Sheridan Smith as Britney, and Michael Ball as Britney's Mum, (don't get your hopes up, you never see the show, but hear excerpts from it). All sorts of stories unfold, and the action is well performed by the whole cast, they all do a grand job indeed. For me, Carly Thoms (Lucy) excels with her vocals, especially in her number 'Dreams & Ice Creams'. Another song of note is 'Loving You is all I Know', a lovely duet between Gary (Daniel Buckley) and Ben (Liam Ross-Mills) sang with passion. The ensemble's vocals are consistent and not too over powering, but at times it was difficult to hear them over the band in the sound mix, which was a little off putting. The band were sounding good and tight though, theres only three of them and they are producing a nice full sound under the helm of MD Dean Austin.

Jacob Chapman as Robin

Projection features in the show, showing videos of Manager Robin (brilliantly portrayed by Jacob Chapman) and his customer experience tutorials. There are some quick one-liners in the show, some will have you howling with laughter, especially the 'I Can't Sing' references, and the name of the big theatre producer is quite remarkable. As far as comedy timing goes, you can't go wrong with Ceris Hine playing Rosie, who shines throughout the night, and gives a dazzling display in a basque doing the splits! Ross McNeill as Stephen also stands out, with his efforts to get his girl at the end of the night a pure hit.

Yes there are a lot of in-jokes in this show, so would you enjoy it if you knew nothing about theatre? I think so - this a good solid show, has some very catchy numbers, there is comedy, good singing and choreography and with a little bit of fine tuning on the technical side, it will have a very successful run.

Four stars ✭✭✭✭

LISTINGS INFO

USHERS: The Front of House Musical

Charing Cross Theatre

The Arches

Villiers Street

LONDON

WC2N 6NL

phone: 08444 930650

(booking fee applies)

internet: www.charingcrosstheatre.co.uk (booking fee applies)

in person: Charing Cross Theatre (no booking fee applies)

Monday - Saturday at 8.00pm