Fashion Victim: The Musical at The Mayfair Hotel
Advertised as “Bigger! Bolder! Bitchier!!!”, Fashion Victim: The Musical is exactly that. Performed at the impossibly luxurious Mayfair Hotel, the show is “a thoroughly modern morality tale set in the cut-throat world of a la mode”.
Rosie Glossop, playing Mimi Steele, was undeniably chosen for her exceptional voice rather than her acting ability. Director Robert McWhir, currently artistic director of the Landor Theatre, could afford to reign in her very repetitive hand movements, but every one of her songs is a pleasure to listen to. Charismatic Cedric Chevalier (Matthew Wellman), looks as handsome as his voice sounds, and is a big hit with the audience, responding well to interaction: mainly catcalls from appreciative spectators.
It remains unclear as to why Jonathan D Ellis as Jake D Spangle is so off-script, but he is so funny and quick-witted that he is easily forgiven. He references his line-reading during the performance, claiming he’s only being paid in “glasses of prosecco and cheesy Wotsits,” and the audience find themselves tittering against their will. Kitty Bogard, played by Sophie May Whitfield, portrays an all-at-once caricatured and bizarrely realistic fashionista. Her costume is so perfectly chosen that it would be a crime for her to change at the interval, and so she doesn’t. She is the Moschino princess to Mimi’s Primark queen.
Like PPI, this musical may have been mis-sold to a number of slightly miffed middle-aged husbands in the audience, whose wives thought they were going to something more along the lines of Legally Blonde. Quite a few don’t know what’s hit them. Knowingly tasteless and best suited to a well-oiled audience, Fashion Victim: The Musical may not have universal appeal, but enter into its trashy and ridiculous world in the right spirit and it’s a great night out. Take it for what it is, and enjoy!
Tina Squatley-Thrust
Fashion Victim: The Musical is on at The Mayfair Theatre until 12th April 2015, for further information or to book visit here.
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