2 STARS, May 9-12. Aliya Al-Hassan is left unimpressed by 20th Century Boy at Kingston's Rose Theatre
It’s quite unusual for Kingston’s Rose theatre to host a touring production. After a series of mediocre shows, it could certainly do with a hit. Inspired by the life of the Glam Rock god, 20th Century Boy is a retelling of the story of T Rex's legendary front man Marc Bolan. Curly-haired and feather-clad, Bolan was one of the most familiar and talented faces of the Glam era, who tragically died in a car accident just short of his 30th birthday, 40 years ago.
This production, staged by Gary Lloyd of Thriller Live fame, covers the tragic star's rise to pop stardom, descent into hedonism and premature, tragic demise. On the first night, after a wait of well over an hour due to technical difficulties, the production opened with an announcement that none of the background projections would be working. What was missing could only be guessed at; the sound montages of music from the era and sirens from the crash itself were left dark and the blank background of every scene felt like the audience was watching a basic rehearsal.
In various vignettes, the production shows Bolan’s progress from overconfident child, to vain teenager and poet to a gifted guitarist. He is then transformed into a narcissistic rock god by producer Tony Visconti and wife June. Some of this seems quite contrived and the story feels like a series of formulaic set pieces, rather than a coherent story. There is little imagination with the storytelling and use of music to illustrate various events.
George Maguire has the huge task of taking on the role of Bolan. He projects all the arrogance and overconfidence of Bolan and his voice captures much of the energy. However, he lacks some of the feline sexuality and unique charisma to make him really stand out.
There is a nice chemistry between him and a beguiling Sarah Moss as wife June. Ellena Vincent is the standout singer as Bolan’s girlfriend Gloria and is the only one powerful enough to project over the loud background music.
The music is what much of the audience is here for and, for the most part, it does the job, without ever getting to the heart of the story. “Hot Love” and Get It On” get the audience going. ”Whatever Happened to the Teenage Dream" is performed as a group piece and sparks emotion, but it is a lone highlight. As standalone songs they work just fine, but there are no really inventive versions of the songs, dizzying dance routines, sparkling costumes and very few ensemble pieces to kick start the production.
It is difficult to judge this production without the intrinsic element of the set projections. There is no doubt that the absence of these adversely affected the overall atmosphere, but ultimately, there is no heart to the production and it lacks depth and soul. At nearly three hours, it is overly long and one for truly die-hard fans only.
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