Miss Atomic Bomb

I saw the evening performance tonight and cannot equate the kicking that this has been given by the critics with what I saw on stage. The audience reaction tonight (from what seemed like a full house) seems to have been exactly the same as was experienced by the earlier poster at the matinee - really strong laughter throughout and fantastic response at the curtain call. The cast looked like they were having a great time.

This is a really interesting piece which stretches from anarchic comedy to some really beautiful and tender moments - Dean John-Wilson and Florence Andrews sing beautifully and there is a wonderful bromance duet between Simon Lipkin (who is superb in the whole show) and Dean John-Wilson. Catherine Tate's comedy timing is razor sharp and she earned several spontaneous rounds of applause; I was surprised at how strong her singing is in the show. I am sure her duet with Simon Lipkin will have a life outside this show.

Apart from the main characters there are some lovely performances from the rest of the cast - David Birrell brings the house down in the song about the Cold War and Olivia Fines has some great moments. Daniel Boys' part is relatively small, but he had a wonderful response from tonight's audience.

Add to that great dancing and choreography from the ensemble (including a whole company tap number), I think this is a really good new musical whose strong points far outweigh its negatives. I will definitely see this again before the end of its run and I hope that the audience reaction will mean that this has a future life beyond the St James. I also hope that they record a cast album.

Oh Boy! Where do you start with this one?

I tried, I really did. I didn’t pay good money to go out have a crap night out, but as soon as Aladdin got out his courgette, I knew there was only one way this show was heading.

It veers between 70s Carry On and Vauxhall Tavern. We had creepy breast fondling, even more disturbing transvestite crotch rubbing, and a mock-Norwegian “beauty” digging her gusset out from some place where the sun don’t shine. Add to this someone disguising himself as a stereotypical Jewish Rabbi (was I the only one feeling slightly uncomfortable?) and a song about a beard (not the type sported by trendy gentlemen at the moment) and you get the flavour…

Design-wise it’s an empty stage with some back projections (remember Woman in White?) and stage hands dressed in checked shirts constantly bringing stuff on and off in semi darkness. Even our local Am Drams don’t do that anymore… Costuming is courtesy of a Fancy Dress Hire shop (women) and Burtons (men). Note for director: no actor can make a dramatic exit through fire doors by the side of the stage which they have to open themselves.

Catherine Tate- very irritating. Simon Lipkin- equally irritating, impersonating Catherine Tate. And what were you thinking of Daniel Boys, taking on a bit part? His one and only moment was a piss-take of Les Mis. You could feel him wishing he was Jean Valjean (the convict at the start of his nineteen years, not the actor playing the role at the Queens) to get out of staying in this a moment longer… The rest of the cast could sing, they could dance, and I’m sure-given decent material- they could act, but I felt genuinely embarrassed for them. I mean, they must have read their reviews, and you got the impression that they were overcompensating to make it work.

Sound was dire- over amplification of everything, like a sing-a-long to a backing CD.

And the seats! Shoulder to shoulder, bolt upright, and no legroom at all… Quite funny watching a young usher constantly scream, “Don’t tread on the stage!” at everyone in the front row as they attempted to sit down.

Incidentally- some of the actors need to update their promotional photographs, don’t they? I thought we had several understudies on until I realised that some of them are still using the ones they'd had taken when they left Drama School…

As I say, I tried to like it, but -for me- it misfired on every level.

Shenton is entitled to his opinion, like everybody else. However, he has now written several columns referencing his 1* review, and keeps tweeting about it.

I can't make my mind up whether it's a deliberate trashing campaign, or whether he genuinely feels the need to validate his opinion, which seems very defensive.

Either way, it seems disingenuous to go on about it so much.

I really feel his reaction "overacted".  From  1* review (which really weird when you have such a stellar cast to start with) to constantly reminding about it it really looks like he is trying to prove something and not just expresses his opinion.
And seriously, if you look at Bend It and take it as a 5-star example - why not give Miss Atomic Bomb a 6?

Looking forward to my first trip to the St James this afternoon to see what this is all about. Booked more or less as soon as it was announced as the St James is a theatre I wanted to tick off the list. Glad to see its getting mostly positive reviews on here, the only opinion I really need!

Finally saw this last night and had fun, it won't go down as the greatest musical of all time but it was funny in places, although seemed to struggle to find and maintain the right tone throughout.
The cast were fantastic and really gave their all. Some great performances, especially from the girl playing Candy.
The set bemused me, what was the point of the huge steel arch? With a ladder at one side that someone occasionally mounted for no apparent reason! And, given the extremely cramped conditions of the front row the strange curved piece between the floor and the backdrop seemed a pointless waste of space.
My seat was front but to the side and many of the musical numbers were blocked (in every sense of the word) as one character singing centre stage while others stood motionless, usually right in my eyeline.
I do often find at St James that the set is too big for the space and the show is not staged effectively for more than half of the auditorium. I wish they'd address this.
But a decent little show that's worth checking out. Needs polishing (Act One rambles all over the place) but by the writers. The cast do a great job with the material. I'd give it more than one star.

Caught this this afternoon and really enjoyed myself. Pretty much sold out and a very enthusiastic audience response after warming up! OK, so the show isn't perfect. It's really far from it. Some of the comedy feels incredibly forced and unfunny (Dean John Wilson and sometimes Daniel Boys are the biggest culprits of trying too hard) and the book is indeed clunky in places - not helped by some poor direction - which meant that parts (especially a large chunk in the middle of Act 2) seemed to drag on forever.

However, when it's funny, it's bloody hilarious. Simon Lipkin is a master of musical comedy and it's a amazing to watch him at work. He is so effortlessly funny, maybe that's what makes others seem less so and forced. Yes, Catherine Tate played Catherine Tate with a dodgy accent but it worked for me and I loved her. Her stuff with Simon Lipkin was so brilliant, their chemistry is great and as an audience member, it's fun to watch them have fun, and done well enough that it doesn't feel like you're being left out of a joke that you don't understand. Florence Andrews played the 'straight girl' very well and boy, what a voice. Couldn't really fault the ensemble, again all fantastic individual performances and the cast as a whole sounded really fantastic. Tight and brilliant band and actually the sound levels were pretty much spot on. Thought the lighting especially was really used well and enhanced many of the numbers and plot points! Projections were fine for me, it would be either that or absolutely nothing as space for any sort of set (bar the little set-pieces they used) is absolutely non-existent backstage or above at The St James.

But it's totally & wonderfully original, in terms of source material and idea, and even down to the production itself, in parts. But having said that, having had time to think, much direction did seem to be borrowed from a Susan Stroman's style of show - the title number was like watching Springtime For Hitler! Ending on a positive: I thought the score was absolutely fantastic, they have written some really brilliant and catchy tunes and would absolutely buy a cast album if they recorded one.

Saw it over the weekend. Really really wanted to like it. Several times had to close my eyes because I couldn't bear to watch any longer. That poor poor incredibly talented cast do not deserve to have to perform such dross. And PLEASE don't tell me that a character is a fighting sort of girl who punches snakes and gets bears in headlocks then is unable to disarm one man with a gun.

I was there Friday night too and have to agree with every word of stevejohnson678's report - the audience response was extremely enthusiastic and most people seemed to be having a really great time (perhaps by not thinking about it too much!). I did like the songs and the enthusiastic choreography and performance but it did all fizzle out somewhat in Act 2. I'd have loved a cast recording though and would have loved to see this in a reworked form at some future stage.

I like it a lot more in hindsight than I did at the time. It was pretty lightweight and some of the jokes are so corny it's embarrassing (the costume shop "they thought he said Rabbi!" gag was peak Elderly Uncle at a Christmas Party). But it was enjoyable enough. I actually loved the gay song. At least it wasn't boring.

Leads are great, even if Tate doesn't really do all that much except her patented Catherine Tate schtick, but in an American accent, but I guess that's what people want. (And I felt bad that they felt the need to essentially superglue an entire dead swan to her version of Andrews' revealing showgirl costume. Her body is fine, it doesn't need covering up!)

I went for my second visit at today's matinee and had a great time. I went with some friends, who are not great fans of musicals, but who also loved it. The audience seemed very full for a Wednesday matinee and there were lots who gave it a standing ovation: still not sure why this seems to have had the visceral reactions to it that it seems to have had from the critics. Both times I have gone the audiences have given it a great response - may be I am populist, but I certainly had more enjoyment out of any number of songs from this than I had from Mrs Henderson Presents, The Light Princess and Wonder.land (put together). The performances are fantastic, there are some excellent melodies and the lyrics are very clever. Sure it needs a bit of work, but this is the end of what would be a preview period for a normal musical so hopefully they will do that work as I think it is too good not to have future life.