But I’m A Cheerleader - Turbine Theatre

WAIT... a quick look at that movie's wikipedia page has told me that there actually was a workshop for a musical version of it in 2007 that never went any further... have I predicted the next Turbine musical..?

Not familiar with the film, but Lemuel Knights was great in What’s New Pussycat? So it’s him I’d want to see this for.

On the subject of 90’s teen movie musicals, I’d have thought it’s only a matter of time before he brings back the Cruel Intentions musical they did in Edinburgh, especially as he’s got two theatres on the go now.

She appears to be doubling up in the roles played by Melanie Lynskey & Michelle Williams 20 odd years ago. 🙄…sake

First preview today. Was sold out but currently a few seats available.

I had a booking but currently no trains from Kent to London so I messaged Turbine requesting a transfer to a specific date and seat. This was done with no charge, and a new ticket received in under 20 minutes, which I thought was brilliant customer service. Hope all goes well tonight.

Unfortunately this is just a hot mess. I really wanted to like it, but it's so unfinished and poorly directed. The camp is so overdone that it's lost all comedy and gone straight to cringe. The songs are nothing special and some of the lyrics don't even scan. The dialogue scenes need a complete overhaul. The pacing is way off. I remember liking the workshop of this at The Other Palace, but it's gone completely in the wrong direction. It feels like it's trying to be a parody, but there is nothing to parody - you can fit the names of the lesbians in musicals on the back of a postage stamp. That just leaves the 'jokes' empty and at times offensive.
I would absolutely love to be able to champion a musical with a lesbian main character, but I can't in good faith recommend this to anyone.

Paul Taylor-Mills: “The Turbine Theatre was always meant to be a safe space in which we could develop, shape and hone work. For the last few months we have produced the sell-out musical But I’m A Cheerleader and have learnt so much from our audiences. I’ve always acknowledged how crucial listening to the audience is in terms of how we learn more about where our show sits, and with whom it resonates.

“Our audience’s reactions have been wonderful and incredibly positive, many commenting on how wonderful it is to see two queer characters leading a musical. That said, we believe there is work still to do on our show and are therefore taking a short pause to make some adjustments. Following this we will be returning for a few weeks to finish off our triumphant run with what we hope will be the definitive (if that ever exists!) version of the show.

“Having the ability to do this and indeed creating a safe space to allow this to happen makes me unbelievably happy as this was always my ultimate ambition with the Turbine Theatre. This is a similar process to which we followed many years ago with Heathers at The Other Palace before we moved to the West End. The idea is that we will do the same with But I’m A Cheerleader and hope to get the show as ready, as ready can be, for its future.

“I’d like to thank everyone involved in the development of this musical which is the fruit of 20 years of hard work from hundreds of artists. Most shows are nearly sold out but please do come and join us for our final few weeks and hopefully one day you’ll be able to say you were there at the beginning.

The "short pause" seems to be two days! No Sunday show on 17 April, no Monday show as usual, new performance dates start from Tuesday 19 April.

Off to see this again this Saturday afternoon, a nice venue, no Covid checks and a slush puppy machine 

No

The slush puppy is such a fun idea but yes pretty much only sugar! Saw this last night also - that wasn’t Edward Chitticks, he left the show a few weeks ago. Ross Harmon replaced him.

Saw the show again last Saturday afternoon, loved it. Do the cast rotate the leads, because there were a few changes compared to last time.

Well, I am glad it's coming back as I tried to see it three times in Spring and each time it got cancelled due to illness/Covid in the cast. So am looking forward to try again.