(seen at the afternoon performance on 4th June 2025)
After crashing out of the Dominion Theatre in 2018, thanks to sheer bad luck, the show – like the “Lost,” refuses to die.
Two post-covid tours, one OK, one outstanding, followed, taking the show to many who could have been in the London audience - had it lasted there.
This is the latest iteration. Sold as a “concert version” with minimal staging initially, producers seem to have performed something of a U-turn and only modified slightly the fabulous tower set since the last tour.
The band is on-stage, and sound even better for it. They sit above the cave (sadly, no bats) and under a couple of video screens.
Designer Jon Bausor reduces Raven’s luxurious bedroom to two flight cases with a throw rug over one of them for a bed. The rest of it looks familiar to the show’s fans – car, bike and cake are here. Most of all, the deliciously crazy Jim Steinman book survives intact.
Even better, the current cast are insanely high-energy, director Jay Scheib and choreographer Xena Gusthart getting the very most from a troupe who appear to be firmly bonded as a gang of loyal friends and lovers.
Glen Adamson and Katie Tonkinson are a stunning couple as Strat and Raven. Adamson’s crazy eyes and smirking asides have us wondering. Tonkinson’s Raven takes a far deeper maturation arc than previous incumbents – we know that she will deal with him and set him on the right path. In a show about rebellion and truth, the pairing turn its torch into an inferno.
Holdover since the run began, Rob Fowler seems to be enjoying himself even more as Falco. A touch of Ricky Gervais about him now, as he lets a little pompous humour in and finds dealing with the young punks an amusingly tiresome chore by the end.
It looked to the monkey (unhelpfully, no cast change notice that it could see) like Swing Georgia Holland was in for absent Sharon Sexton at this performance. Holland recovered from a dodgy start with a tarpaulin to a racy finish which had the audience onside as she celebrated experimenting with Sloane’s sexuality.
Fine solo vocals among the rest of the cast are an unexpected delight. At various times Georgia Bradshaw’s Zahara, Ryan Carter’s Jagwire and Carla Bertran’s lovable Tink blew us away with their voices, and that is not to diminish a single other cast member. When each of the ensemble took a line or two, the result is equally effective.
As mad as always, the show no longer feels sadly stripped back for economic reasons. Instead it is more like a rediscovery put together with love by a team who really care about how it works and how it should be performed. If you are feeling cold and lonely, this tonic is paradise by the theatre lights.
5 stars.