Theatre Review: Tony! (The Tony Blair Rock Opera), New Theatre Cardiff

Cardiff

16 Jun

Review

I knew I’d be in for a night of the unexpected…

Cue a resounding, singular musical call for attention to get the show started! This was unexpected in a good way and the audience is rapt attention as we open to the final days of Tony Blair with the intro/exit song being one of the catchiest.

We are taken through the life of Tony Blair at speed from birth to present time. This was quite well done touching on the social class privileges and adolescent naivete - which our character grows into as the details are fleshed out with great entertainment value.

At this point, I realised I was missing too many facts and cultural references of the time to necessarily fully get into it when the only recognisable ones (and even then vaguely so) were Mick Jagger, Princess Diana and some of the ‘assholes’.

Whilst I can’t comment on the accuracy of the ‘Pop Prime Minister’ portrayed, the theme of atrocities arising for simple foolishness of the subject continued as we are introduced to the character of Gordon Brown, who can not tell his left from his right on a map nor keep his action steady (akin to the New York Italian Saddem Hussien, sadly). It remains uncertain whether these were intentional creative choices, but pulled me out of the world of the story frequently enough to warrant a mention.

The creative display on the whole compelled to persevere, however. The set decor and formal attire were aesthetically pleasing and co-ordinated. The music and lightning in tandem, however, were the stars of the show with catchy songs like the aforementioned Tony Blair song, Macroeconomics (led by Gordon Brown), and All The World is Run By Assholes (a winner, I’d say). The timing of the music and lighting really set the mood which is was no mean feat as we sped through a few decades in under 2 hours.

Overall we were entertained and were both enjoying the show and being confused in equal measure. For the right audience, I can imagine making silly of some of the key players in recent and modern history could be a cathartic experience around a topic that is seldom light hearted.