Burlesque The Musical - Manchester / Glasgow / Manchester

Really enjoyed this show yesterday. The front row stalls seats were fantastic and I'm so glad I changed our seats.

There were a lot of covers on, both Ali and Sean were covered, and I was a bit disappointed to start with but really no need. Kitty Harris was on as Ali, she has a great voice and played the role really well. Stefan Lagoulis was on as 2nd cover Sean, it was his debut but I wouldn't have known, he was really good. The whole cast was right behind him.

The show is fun, the costumes were great, loved the set and the revolve. Special mention to Jackie Burns as Tess, brilliant, and one of the male dancers kept catching our eye, very talented, Callum Macdonald. The dancers were excellent throughout.

I keep checking for tickets in this last week of the run as I'd love to catch Todrick and Jess Folley, not sure I'll be able to make it though.

If every ticket was £120 perhaps?

Someone online mentioned the Apollo on Shaftesbury Avenue. Would that work?

The runs in Glasgow and Manchester have been at fairly big theatres so Burlesque is not going to a playhouse like the Apollo or Garrick.

What is so complicated about this show? Could it be modified to fix it into a London theatre?

Thanks to a handy bit of dynamic pricing I took a trip to see this today; front stalls at a comparative bargain. This show has clearly had a lot of money spent on it - it looks fantastic, and the set pieces of choreography are excellent. The problem is though that it takes an already cliched and thin story from the film and somehow manages to make it thinner and more cliched . Taken as a song and dance spectacle it’s great, taken as a musical, less so. None of the new songs made any real impact, and plot lines would start and then seemingly be dropped without trace. There was a lot of filler, I guess we were meant to feel like we were at a burlesque club at times, but unlike, say , cabaret where the club songs have something to say and are making a point, there was a lot which seemed to go nowhere. The seduction scene bordered on being uncomfortable as the pair warbled their way through stripping each other. However, the finale “show me how you burlesque” was terrific and should be the song they choose if promoting this shown on any tv programmes in the future.
I was sat next to too huge Todrick Hall fans who seemed to find everything he did utterly hysterical, I thought he was good without being exceptional. No Jess Foley as Ali but I do have to give credit to Ella Jay who took on this role; I thought she was a little wobbly in the first act but it was announced at the end that she was a swing who doesn’t normally even cover the lead, and only found out she was going to do it last night. Given that context her performance was remarkable.
Once again I seemed to be in the minority given the audience reaction at the end, I guess if you like big singing and dance set pieces without a discernible plot then this is very lavish and does it well. For me, mildly entertaining but I’m pleased to have seen it at a bargain price.