5 STARS, April 30 - May 5. This musical about the comeback King of Rock and Roll could change the mind of even the most cold-hearted Elvis sceptic, says Alice Cairns
I must admit it, I was sceptical. I’m no diehard Elvis fan. Elvis is fine, of course – I don’t know if anyone really hates Elvis. But I’ll level with you – after a long day at work, I’d have preferred to stay home in front of the television.
I walked the (admittedly, very short) distance to the theatre without a song in my heart or a spring in my step. In fact I snapped at my mum, who was accompanying me. I took my seat and leafed grumpily through the programme. Hopefully, the thing would be over by ten and I could go to bed.
But somewhere in the first act, everything changed. I’m not sure if it started when a grandmother and her granddaughter got up and began to slow dance in the aisle. When the fully-grown man sitting in front of me began to sway in time to the music, an ecstatic smile on his face. Or when the entire room full of respectable theatre goers got up out of their seats to dance and wolf whistle. Never before have I seen an audience so energetic that theatre staff were forced to patrol the aisles in an effort to control them – which they did with much good grace.
My hard heart softened – I was lost. And just like that, I became a fully-fledged Elvis fanatic. I began to tap my foot. Then I started to clap along. I think at some point, I whooped. I didn’t join the hoards of men and women dancing in the aisles, but I was perilously close.
I’ll try to give you a sense of what you’re in for. This is Elvis is set in 1968. Elvis’s career has gone downhill – after one too many bad movies, he’s lost touch with his roots. He’s been eclipsed by the likes of The Beatles and Tom Jones.
Then Elvis secures a TV show on NBC. Visionary producer Steve Binder, who believes Elvis’s career is ‘in the toilet’, overturns the original plan to have Elvis sing Christmas carols in an impersonal studio. Instead, he puts him on a tiny stage, surrounded by an intimate audience, and encourages him to sing whatever he wants to sing with the help of his musician friends.
Of course, Elvis stuns audiences all over the world with his raw musical talent and his charm. The rest of This is Elvis follows what happens next. Elvis’s friends want him to go on the road, meeting fans and playing tiny venues. But Elvis’s manager, the grasping Colonel Tom Parker, has secured him a hugely lucrative deal playing shows in glitzy Las Vegas. Elvis’s musical talent makes him little more than a commercial product for his hangers on, and the Colonel looks forward to months of consequence-free gambling while Elvis earns back more money than he could possibly lose. Nothing if not dutiful, Elvis meekly follows orders and decamps to Vegas.
The second Act of the show is the Las Vegas performance. We become an audience in the Showroom of the International Hotel, watching as Elvis runs through his greatest hits. And it’s fantastic. Of course, by enjoying the Las Vegas show so much, we are joyfully participating in the exploitation that had led Elvis to abandon his dreams and follow the money… but that’s probably going too deep.
It’s certainly true though that the utter joyousness of This is Elvis is occasionally punctured by glimpses of sadness. The production hints at Elvis’s complex relationship with his mum, his failing marriage, his alcohol and drug dependency, and the ruthlessness of his manager. The climax to Act 1 is downright touching. Still, the overwhelming vibe of the production is joy – you’re more likely to dance than to cry.
Stephen Michaels is simply stunning as The King himself. He looks like Elvis, he sounds like Elvis, he moves like Elvis – it’s downright spooky. I’m still not 100% sure that he isn’t Elvis. He sang hit after hit without faltering, and his last song (Jailhouse Rock) was as energetic as his first (Trouble). Every song he sang was great, but some standouts included his soulful rendition of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ and the crowd-pleasing ‘Suspicious Minds’. He was a worthy, charismatic and loveable star. Reuven Gershon and Mark Pearce did a terrific job as Elvis’s ever-reliable friends, always with his best interests at heart. The live music was brilliant, played by an incredibly talented cast – a special shout out goes to Niall Kerrigan on guitar.
When the production finished, I felt bereft. I may or may not have exclaimed in horrified disbelief when we were told that ‘Elvis has left the building’. In a kind of haze, I tried to book tickets to go again the next day, until my mum physically tore my phone away from me (she was of the opinion that such a perfect night could never be replicated). We then went home and spent the rest of the evening googling Elvis while Viva Las Vegas blared from the speakers. My dad was bemused.
Honestly, I’m not sure what happened to me. But as much as I’d like to write a sneering review, I simply can’t. I loved every minute of This Is Elvis, and unless you’re made of stone, you will too.
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