Rating: ★★★★
Venue: Arcola Theatre, London
Cast: Adam Davidson, Lulu-Mae Pears, Elliot Allinson, Jazzy Phoenix, Eleanor Walsh, Chad Saint Louis, Kingsley Morton, India Chadwick, Shirley Jameson and Paul Kemble.
It’s 1954. Everyone likes Ike, nobody likes communism and Wade “Cry-Baby” Walker is the coolest boy in Baltimore. He’s a bad boy with a good cause – truth, justice and the pursuit of rock and roll. Enter Allison, a strait-laced rich girl who trades her “Square” boyfriend, Baldwin, for the irresistible allure of Cry-Baby and his misfit crew, the Drapes. As rivalries intensify and hearts break, the city is turned upside-down in a rollicking tale of forbidden love and teen rebellion.
Based on the 1990 John Waters film, Cry-Baby is now a musical and it’s finally made its arrival in the UK! For an idea of the story think ‘Romeo & Juliet’ but with more leather jackets, original dance numbers and a lot of rock & roll!
I’m surprised it’s taken Cry-Baby this long to make it’s way across the pond; it premiered in Broadway in 2008, received 4 Tony nominations and then disappeared from the theatre circuit. I am very glad to say that the wait for it to hit the UK was worth it! This is a wonderful send up of similar ‘teen’ musicals about forbidden love between the 'bad boy' and the 'good girl'. It’s a little grittier than other shows of the same genre, but that only adds to the delight.
The Arcola have staged this production in an intimate space which does at times feel far too small for this huge show (which gives me hope for a transfer to a larger venue in the future!). With a cast of 17, this is the biggest show the Arcola theatre have ever staged and they’ve executed it wonderfully. The only issue with being in such a small venue was that at times, cast could be heard behind the scenes chatting in-between scenes, which did prove quite distracting at times.
The story here is nothing we haven’t seen before; bad boy Wade ‘Cry-Baby’ Walker (Adam Davidson) meets good girl Alison (Lulu Mae-Pears) and they instantly fall in love. Her prim and proper Grandmother (Shirley Jameson) despairs at Alison wanting to join the drape gang Cry-Baby spends his time with. Over the course of two hours, hearts break, loyalties change and screws come loose!
The casting of this show is absolutely fantastic, with every cast member oozing talent for the entire production. In particular, Adam Davidson as Cry-Baby brings this misunderstood teen to life with a tone of humour and vulnerability at times, showing off an impressive talent with dance - it's hard to take your eyes off him! I also really enjoyed Laura Buhagiar as Mona (Hatchet-face); her comedic timing is perfect and is a delight to watch.
Chad Saint Louis is simply mind-blowing as best friend Dupree, with vocals that threaten to blow the roof off of the theatre. I only wish they had been given more songs as they feel criminally under-used in the side-kick best friend role.
Though there are some large differences to the film, mainly the lack of songs featured in the film (sadly, no Please Mr Jailer to be found), this is still a great adaptation of the cult classic. If you put aside previous knowledge of the original subject matter, it makes for a really bright, laugh-out-loud, entertaining night out!
You can book tickets to Cry-Baby, the Musical, here.
Review by Rosie
**photo credit: Charlie Flint**
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