Miami Vice meets the West End
Almost forgot! As part of my birthday celebrations, I went to see Guys And Dolls in London's West End. I've stated before that musicals are much better value than dramatic theatre as you get loads of people singing and dancing brilliantly for your money rather than just a man and a lady talking near to a table. I have never seen Guys And Dolls in any format and thus knew almost nothing of the story, except that there's a character called Sky Masterson in it, played by Marlon Brando in the film, and that they all look like 30s hoodlums. (I walk past the Piccadilly Theatre often if I am on my way to my agent's office from Piccadilly Circus Tube, and the big photos outside always made it look really exciting.) Because I am deeply shallow, I prefer it if people off the telly are in stage musicals I have paid good money to go and see. On that score, this did not disappoint, with Mister Don Johnson in the role of craps game supremo Nathan Detroit, Mister Ben Richards (Footballers Wives - and no it doesn't have an apostrophe) as lady-gambler Sky Masterson, and Mizz Claire Schweeney from Brookside as sexy dancer Miss Adelaide (returning, I believe, to the role, and just in the nick of time). As with Porgy And Bess, I didn't know whether I knew any songs in it or not, but it turned out that I knew Luck Be A Lady Tonight and Bushel And A Peck, which was reassuring. It was much more of a traditional Broadway musical than Porgy, which is a sort of folk opera, and although my teeth usually threaten to fall out when faced with English actors doing American accents, especially Noo Yoik ones, I have to say they weren't too bad. Claire Schweeney is certainly more American when she's singing, but then most of the time she is. And what a proficient singer and dancer she is. (There's one scene in which she and her fellow lady dancers take their tops off during a routine, but they are facing backwards, so don't get too excited. It was still pretty racy, I must admit.) Don Johnson naturally got a ripple just for coming on stage at the beginning, and he doesn't do too much hoofing, but he was ideal for the part of the old, gruff, world-weary, marriage-shy roue with a twinkle in his eye. All in all - and I realise I am not qualified to be a theatre critic, since I rarely actually go - it was a top night out, and the set design was very clever, not least when they went down into the sewers. Yes, I am gay.