This was my third visit to see Boy in the Dress. So you might guess that I think it's rather good. And you'd be right. It is very good. It is one of the most uplifting and joyous shows I've ever seen. Standing ovations from the audience every night. When you leave the theatre at the end of the show you feel ready to take on the world, like you too can do anything you have a mind to do.
Based on the book by David Walliams, this brand new musical has been written by Mark Ravenhill, the songs and music written and composed by Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers, and directed by the RSC Artistic Director Gregory Doran. With all these great names behind it, could you ever doubt it would be any good. I did wonder initially. I am a fan of David Walliams, from his early work with Little Britain, to his TV movies based on his best selling books. It just seemed to me that possibly one of his other books would have made a better stage musical than Boy in the Dress. The problem for me was that it is largely based around football. Now I am in no way a football fan, but it just didn't seem a great idea for a theatre stage. How would they stage the many football matches needed? Surely they wouldn't be able to control the ball that well every night and still make it exciting. Wouldn't there be multiple injuries every night from audience members hit in the face by a wayward ball? Turned out I need not have worried. The answer is puppetry. Put the ball on a stick and it does what you want it to. There are a couple of scenes where actors are let loose with the ball though. Jamie Tyler does an impressive job with a few chip shots into a waiting actors bucket, would be interested to know if he's ever missed any. He scored every time I saw him.
I need to tell you about the sets. I went on a backstage tour of the RSC before the show opened and saw them painting these amazing houses, and knew straightaway I had to see it. The sets are stunning. Everything moves, lights up, opens to reveal something else. I did hear the RSC had spent something like three million pounds on this production and you can see a lot of that has gone into design. There are moving goalposts that make you feel like the kids are actually running down a football pitch. A magnificent newsagents shop, that you really wish was how your local shop looked like. There's a brilliant Fiat 500 style car with the number plate CV37. If you're from Stratford you'll get the joke there. And definitely not last or least, a dog, called Oddbod. A puppet dog, expertly controlled by Ben Thompson. Everybody in the audience wants to take him home. The dog that is, not Ben. Well, there probably are some people who'd like to take him home as well. Costumes are terrific too, especially the silver disco outfits. I imagine there'll be a few of the cast trying to sneak some of these out the stage door on final night.
Actors. Every show needs actors. Many of the cast are young and fairly new to the stage, but Greg has wisely given us a few great actors to keep everything running smoothly. We have the wonderful Forbes Masson, no stranger to your TV screens or the RSC stage having appeared in many shows here over the past fifteen years or so. He has been seen in every genre of show you can think of from comedy to Shakespeare, and here does a wonderful comedic role as the school headmaster Mr. Hawtrey. We also have Rufus Hound, who many will know from his TV and radio appearances, but who is also a serious actor, having appeared in many stage plays, including The Provoked Wife at the RSC during the 2019 summer season. He plays the difficult character of Dennis's Dad in this, a character we kind of don't like, but can also sympathise with. Other notables include Charlotte Wakefield as the French teacher Miss Windsor, and Charlotte Jaconelli as Lorna, one of the school bullys. Natasha Lewis is also fantastic as Darvesh's Mom, but probably the character that has everyone talking is the owner of the newsagents, Raj, played by Irvine Iqbal. Irvine is a brilliant comedy actor and his role in the musical is absolutely pivotal. Many people said they couldn't imagine Raj played by anyone but Harish Patel, as in the BBC TV movies, but now I don't think I can imagine Raj played by anyone but Irvine. Other special mentions must go to Alim Jayda, Max Gill and David Birch who always seem to enjoy themselves on stage so much.
Due to age and the hours under 16 year olds can work they have four different actors to play the title role of Dennis. The same goes for the roles of John, Lisa and Darvesh. Now I seem to be have unlucky or possibly very lucky to have seen the role of Dennis played by Oliver Crouch all three times. I say unlucky as it would have be nice to see how the other young actors vary in performance, but also lucky as Oliver is very good. All the children I have seen perform have been so good. Hard to imagine how they can find that many good young actors for such major roles in front of sell out audiences.
Some of you may have noticed the character names. There's Dennis Sims, Lisa James, Mr. Hawtrey, Miss Windsor, Miss Bresslaw. Got it yet? I've had to explain it to a few people already so you're not alone. All the characters are named after Carry On stars. I do wonder if the unnamed teachers and characters have given themselves names backstage to keep the tradition going. Is there Mr., Mrs., or Miss Connor , Williams, Jacques, Butterworth, Scott, Rowlands, Dale, Howerd or Douglas?
Problems, changes? I know the show was still being adjusted even after the first couple of weeks and it probably will have a few changes before the West End debut. To me though it does run very nicely, everything seems in the right place, and the running length is about right given that it's aimed at families and people who probably only go to one or two shows a year. I would have liked to have seen a few more scenes with the Dennis' Dad and Darvesh's Mom. If I remember the film correctly there is a hint of romance between them and that would have been nice here, if only to add to the Dad's character, and also to get Rufus Hound on stage a bit more. Finally the main thing I think they have missed is at the curtain call. The Boy in the Dress takes his bow wearing his school uniform. He needs to be in his dress. He really does. Another small problem is that the show seems to face forward and to stage right. Don't sit stage left as it seems you may miss a lot of stuff. Probably more suited to a Victorian style theatre than the Shakespearean style, even though they have removed most of the thrust of the stage for this production.
So, if you haven't booked your ticket yet, why not? It's only on until March 8th, so get a move on. I am pretty certain that it will move on to the West End, although it seems there will be a slight delay in this , 2021 or even 2022, and there is then the chance that certain actors will have moved onto other projects by then, so I guess we'll see a different cast by then. One thing the RSC have been rather slow with here is issuing a soundtrack CD. Probably due to red tape, as I guess with so many big names behind this licensing and royalty issues may be a problem. Can't help think of the lost money here though. We're looking at an audience of around 1000 people per performance, most of these leave the theatre humming the songs. Get a couple of programme sellers at the exits selling the CD and they'd sell at least 100 to 200 a night. Over the run this is a lot of CDs. Maybe if it does get to London we'll see one then.
On a final note I do always like to get my programme signed by the cast. This one has been the hardest I've ever attempted, and has meant hanging around the stage door a lot just to get one or two signatures. There are 35 in the cast and with the younger actors not appearing in every show this has proved tricky. Nearly there now though.
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