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- [00:00]
Tim
I'm here on a job site with Tim, who owns his own electrical contracting business.
- [00:04]
Micky Jo
Three employees and two work trucks.
- [00:06]
Tim
Tim traded up to Geico Commercial Auto Insurance. We're positively here where he needs us most.
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Micky Jo
They sure are.
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Micky Jo
Shockingly low, huh?
- [00:19]
Tim
Just a little bit of electrician humor. Do you get it?
- [00:21]
Micky Jo
I got it.
- [00:22]
Tim
You know, it feels like we have a real connection.
- [00:24]
Micky Jo
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Micky Jo
Get more with Geico. ACAST powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend.
- [00:40]
Joanna Coles
Hi, I'm Joanna Coles.
- [00:42]
Michael Wolff
And I'm Michael Wolff.
- [00:43]
Joanna Coles
No other modern American president has impacted the world like Donald Trump. To understand his mercurial whims, we dive deep inside Trump's head.
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Joanna Coles
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- [01:26]
Micky Jo
Acast helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com before we even begin with the whole critical appraisal dramaturgy thing, I do want to point out that the one mathematics question that pops up in this show does not begin to approach a university level mathematics question. This is like GCSE Y equals MX C Basic equation nonsense. And you know what? Had that been the caliber of degree level mathematics, I would be sitting here right now with very different qualifications. Oh my God. Hey, welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. Or hello to those of you listening to this on podcast platforms. My name is Mickey Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre. I'm a professional theatre critic here on social media and today I'm going to be letting you know what I thought of the new musical starter for 10, currently playing at the Birmingham Rep. It was previously produced at Bristol Old Vic, the same venue where I believe it was first seen in an initial production a year ago. It's had a little bit of a glow up from what I understand, but this was my first time seeing the show. I'm not particularly familiar with the source material. I think it's based on a book that was also adapted for screen, but it's set in the mid-1980s and it tells the story of a young man going to Bristol University with the dream of appearing on University Challenge, which, if you don't know, is a TV competition show here in the UK in which teams from different universities compete in a fiendishly difficult general knowledge quiz, testing them on everything from classics to classical composers. Now, University Challenge itself is decently spoofed and heavily featured featured in this show, but it's also contained within an entire plot of its own, which we're going to talk about, as well as talking, of course, about the performances and the material. Stay tuned for all of my thoughts on starter for 10, but as always, I would love to hear yours as well. If you have seen this show in any iteration, either at the Birmingham Rep or at Bristol Old Vic, then let us all know in the comments section down below what you thought of it. In the meantime, if you enjoy listening to my review, then make sure to subscribe to my theater themed YouTube channel for many more coming very soon. Or go follow me on podcast platforms. For now, let's talk about starter for 10. So let's explain a little bit what this show actually is. It is based on the novel by David Nichols as well as the HBO and Play Tone film. It's a stage musical adaptation, 10 years in the making, written by something of a collective, so the book and lyrics are credited to Emma hall and Charlie Parham. Charlie Parham is also the singular director. The music and lyrics are credited meanwhile to Hattie Carman and Tom Rasmussen. So really, a whole cohort of people who have come together to write this show. And like almost all new musicals in development, the show has been evolving. I'm given to understand that this latest incarnation is very much changed from the version that was seen at Bristol old Vic in 2024. And like I said, it tells the story of a young man named Brian, played by Adam Bregman, who is heading off to Bristol University after we get a little glimpse of his backstory. He grows up as a devotee of University Challenge that he enjoys watching with his father, the tragic backstory being completed here when his father sadly passes away before he heads off to and aside from the University Challenge obsession, he has a pretty traditional and familiar route to university, not only his mum in something of an emotional frenzy, trying to convince him to take various different cooking utensils with him and imploring him to remember to eat fresh fruit, but also his arrival in a freshers fair being slightly overwhelmed by all of the different activities on offer as well as all of the different personalities. He forms something of an instant rivalry with a young woman who is a classmate of his with whom he shares tutorials. But there's also an undeniable spark between them, however, that gets very much lost in the back of his mind behind the instant attraction to a gorgeous young blonde who he meets at a party with. His instant infatuation towards her being the only thing that eclipses his real main goal, which is not his study of poetry and English literature, but it is his determination to make the University Challenge team, for which there are startlingly few applicants, and which is being run by the team's default captain, a particularly eccentric character who has participated in years past. He's played by Will Jennings, and he has previously embarrassed himself somewhat on national television, but is demonstrably, hugely devoted to University Challenge and the notion that this might be their year. And there's a lot of good entry points in this story. Not only is it ultimately talking about family and a little about grief, when he's eventually actually able to connect all the dots of why he is behaving in the way that he is and really interrogate his own emotions that he hasn't been able to unpack since the death of his father during his childhood, but it's also talking about, you know, this coming of age idea, going to university, this kind of big emotional turning point in life, this thing that a lot of people in the audience will be able to relate to. And then there's also just the very charming University Challenge aspect of it all. Not only when we actually get to see them playing and participating on stage, but also the audience's ability to kind of, sort of silently play along. And not for nothing but the recognition that we have of it as well. I think it goes a lot further than similar stories that have been based around fictional quizzes or competitions or TV shows. And the real reckoning for Brian as a character comes when he is forced on more than one occasion to weigh his attraction towards this young woman and his commitment to University Challenge as well as his own university he study as well as his pursuit of his degree, and the very gradual and perhaps unsurprisingly slow realization for him of what actually matters. Let me tell you a little bit more about the material. The score is very retro, very of the era. Reminded me a little of some of the songs that I heard earlier in the summer in Sing street at the Lyric Hammersmith. They were kind of going for the same kind of time period, the same kind of feel. There's one really great standout song in this score called Touched by An Angel. It's the song that he sings when he first glimpses this very glamorous young girl at a party, whose name it would be helpful for me to tell you. Alice. Her name is Alice. She's all blonde hair and upper middle class affectation. She's studying French and Italian, I believe, something in Italian. But her real passion is drama and she longs to be an actress. And so she is trying to make the University Challenge team in the hopes that she just gets seen on television and perhaps batting her eyelashes at Brian a little bit to help her get there. And, you know, he is instantly seduced into making all of the wrong choices. But that song that he sings when he first notices her is a really great one. Not only is it a banger of a melody, but it also uses a lot of imagery that would be the way that he would experience love for the first time because he invokes characters from Wuthering Heights, but in a very playful way. And he's singing, I'm Heathcliff, stuck at your window Kathy is sipping a strongbow. Great lyric, Great song. Loved that one. I don't know if there are as many real defining moments in the rest of the score that got me quite as excited. One interesting thing that the show is grappling with a little bit, I think, is a little bit of a tonal struggle and moments that from night to the next, one audience member to another, could be interpreted as deliberately comic and sort of spoofy or sincere. Especially every time we introduce the idea of University Challenge and they actually sing like University Challenge. I don't know if that's meant to get a laugh or it's meant to be legitimate because it sort of starts to become a thing that you can't slice both ways. We either have to understand his adoration of University Challenges, this very sincere thing, and this thing that he watched and enjoyed with his father and means so much to him, or we can constantly make fun of it and, you know, it's so nearly there in terms of balancing this inherently light hearted and comedic plot. There's just a couple of moments where I'm not sure if we're meant to be laughing or not. I will also say in a plot that has a lot of plot to get through, the opening of the second act doesn't really do that much for me either. It's a sort of a workout song in which he is trying to like get stronger and get fitter and try and realize all the things in his life that he wants to. It doesn't super go anywhere and it kind of gets abandoned within a few moments. As far as the writing goes in the book, I don't know how much is pulled from the source material in terms of adaptation because this was my first exposure to the story. I do, I think, take issue with some elements of this story and some of its shortcomings, but also more than anything else, its central protection.
- [10:07]
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- [10:29]
Micky Jo
So here is, I think my biggest issue with starter for 10. And you know, I like to be able to sit down here and tell you exactly what is working or what is not working in a musical, and this one took a decent amount of consideration. I had to sit with this one a little bit to try and work out why it's not connecting in the way that it ought to. Because there's some very good material, there's great performances, there's a very charming show there. It's very enjoyable. It's just for whatever reason, not really catching fire, figuratively speaking. And I think one of the issues there is that it is a charming, relatable, nostalgic, familiar plot with audience accessibility. But the protagonist at the center of it, this young man, Brian, is just not endearing. He becomes an increasingly frustrating character as he makes all of these wrong decisions and eventually has a moment of realization and has several reconciliations with different characters who he has damaged, who he has upset, who he has harmed throughout the course of the show. But they're sort of unearned reconciliations because he doesn't offer much by way of remorse, he experience much by way of comeuppance. He is knocked out at one point and rendered unconscious on the floor. It's part of a couple of back to back scenes in the hours leading up to their big University Challenge TV appearance when people keep getting knocked out or injured and you keep assuming that that is going to mean that someone can't participate, but it never does. Instead, this comes at the moment and there will be spoilers as I continue after he has had a big heart to heart with his mother and we're expecting him to be a changed man who has finally connected to his grief and has finally been able to vocalize that he is making mistakes and who by this point has already, you know ruined any kind of a legitimate relationship he had with the young woman he was sharing tutorials with. Not the blonde who is hugely vapid and tried to make out with his friend, but the girl that we all know in the audience he should actually be with. She has no reason to forgive him, but she turns up when he's passed out on the floor and takes care of him anyway, at which point he still doesn't really offer a substantial enough apology or explanation. Meanwhile, Alice, the manipulative blonde, learns nothing from her behavior throughout the show, is depicted as this charming comedic character, which she ultimately is. A lot of that has to do with the really fantastic performance as well. But she also gets no comeuppance for, on multiple occasions, trying to cheat, trying to look at the answers that she ends up finding for the quiz that they are about to do, trying to convince Brian to help her cheat the entire time. Brian's best friend, who comes to visit him at university, is also incredibly rude about him and all of his friends. And Brian ends up apologizing to him because the two of them had a falling out over Alice. And it feels like more apology is due here. But just generally speaking, there are so many moments where characters ought to get a little more reprisal, ought to get a little more comeuppance, and we don't really see anyone learning from their behavior right towards the end. There is a big public mistake that Brian makes in a moment of enthusiasm and passion. And this isn't really a malicious choice. He tried to convince Alice not to cheat at University Challenge, but as she attempted to, she inadvertently divulged one of the answers, which he ends up revealing too soon and making it clear that he has somehow cheated. And we then have a time jump where it skips forward and he's learned all of his lessons that we haven't seen. Everyone is ready to welcome him back, including the University Challenge quiz team, which he almost definitely would not be allowed to participate on ever again. And Alice, who it seems has learned nothing whatsoever and in no way proved as a human. And yet somehow we like her, I think, or at least I did more than we like him because he gets more and more obnoxious and we can see that she is ignorant in her privilege. And she sort of fetishizes the fact that his visiting friend from back home in Essex is currently unemployed when she breathily says, he's on the dole and it's, you know, it's ridiculous. But there is still more charm in her as a character. There's More charm in almost everybody else on stage than there is in Brian. And I thought he was portrayed brilliantly. Well, if anything, it's a tribute to the performance that I wanted to punch this man in the face. Not that I needed to. A lot of other people were queuing up on stage to punch him in the face. But I do think that that in some ways alienated us from being able to really emotionally connect to this story. And I think that harms it a little bit. The other thing is, and I like a story, and I think we all like a story that culminated in any kind of a big game or championship where they're down at the beginning and they're never going to make this comeback. But, oh, then it looks like they might. And it's thanks to that one player and perhaps the lessons that he's learned along the way. Only the answers that he gives don't necessarily. There's like one that refers back to a question they were practicing moments before. But for the most part it's just things that he happens to know and it's not necessarily born of any lessons that he has learned during this difficult formative experience. And it made me think of the movie. I don't know if anyone's seen Quiz lady, great film with Sandra oh and Awkwafina. And they go on this TV quiz show together. And the whole point is how they have become estranged as sisters and they get more frustrated with each other over the course of the film. But they end up eventually succeeding because of their connection, because of the inherent connection. And the final question that they need is a really beautiful moment of understanding and connection between the two of them. And that's what this is missing. I don't care if that's not in the source material. You know, I actually don't really care if that's not in the book, if that's not in the film. We want, especially on stage, that inspiring, emotional like tear jerking moment where it's gonna really mean something. And you know, all of the ingredients are there. Like his mum appears in the audience holding a sign, but that doesn't come at like a key pivotal moment to remind him of why he's doing this. He doesn't hear the voice of his father or any, anything like this. There are so many hallmarks of how to make a sequence like that, especially right at the end of a story, inspiring. And I feel like we just didn't walk down any of those roads. And a challenging protagonist becomes even more of a problem when you have other characters around him, who you feel are getting pushed to the sidelines because we're spending so much time in his perspective. And it's particularly the other love interest, the one who begins as a rival for him, very much ado about nothing. Enemies to lovers. Her name is Rebecca, played by Asha Parker Wallace, and she is a very politically engaged, independent young woman from Glasgow who strikes up a little bit of a banter, inclusive, teasing friendship with him. And she tries to help coach him for the University Challenge practice heats. And predictably, a spark grows between the two of them. He messes everything up by saying the wrong thing and by, you know, at all times thinking about the pretty, blonde, vacuous girl instead. But unfortunately, Rebecca essentially goes missing in the second act, other than a very shoehorned song that she sings with their lecturer about, you know, her inclination to try and save the world and her priorities and her lecture kind of repositions that and reassures her about the best way to go about it. An utterly pointless song other than the fact that, you know, it would be silly to have Rachel John on stage and not have her sing something fantastic. And she's very good in a very small role. But it's a moment that doesn't really offer us any additional insight or expansion of Rebecca's character, even though it's one of the few moments that she spends on stage in the second act. Again, I know this is probably not what happens in the source material, but my assumption was going to be that Alice was going to get found out for cheating, and after letting her cheat at the beginning of the show, he was going to finally realize his mistake and being like, no, this isn't the right way to win. And he was going to alert someone to the fact that she had just read a couple of the answers, she was going to get kicked off and they're going to be like, what do we do? And he's going to be like, I know a brilliantly intelligent and fantastic young student who happens to be here right now who can join us. And he then says, rebecca, I'm sorry, we need you. Please join the team. Or the guy who he punched in the face twice in the 12 hours leading up to the University Challenge round could have, you know, a very understandable concussion and someone would need to replace his.
- [19:02]
Joanna Coles
Him.
- [19:03]
Micky Jo
There was every opportunity for this to be where we were going, and I so assumed that it was, but we didn't. And evidently, this is my own sort of headcanon rewriting of the show that I was hoping to see, but it's those sorts of moments that simultaneously offer us a better romantic conclusion. Redeem him and also, you know, give a little bit of a source of inspiration. Give a little bit of a more Emotional.
- [19:30]
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- [20:30]
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- [21:01]
Micky Jo
Conclusion let's talk finally then, about the cast and creatives. I enjoyed the direction from Charlie Parham. I really liked the set and costume design from Lee Newby. I inherently felt, and this refers to both things, that the production probably played a lot better in Bristol Old Vic, both in terms of the shape of that stage but also the auditorium itself. It felt a little bit as though it had been fitted into the Birmingham rep rather than really thriving in that space. But I loved the retro quality of the University Challenge set. Everything about that, the way these characters were stylized, the costumes, the wigs, the sweater vests. Gorgeous stuff. And although there were a couple of protracted scenic transitions, for the most part, I thought it was very cleverly staged in terms of how we moved between different locations. There was about as much set as their needed to be. I liked the way this had been aesthetically realized on stage. I really liked the choreography by Alexandra Sarmiento. Some really fantastic moments there. Not over choreographed because it's not a story that, you know, offers the opportunity to dance in every single moment. But really found those ones where it did work. Found those breakout musical numbers like Touched by an angel that I was telling you about before. Also a number that Alice sings when she has costume reveals. And it's sort of an even more more Madonna ified version of the Marilyn Monroe Diamonds are a girl's best friend look. That's more 80s with like a plooffy skirt and sequins and she's being carried around by the ensemble. That was great. Of course we have to talk about the cast and there are a lot of really exciting early career performers who I haven't seen on stage before. A couple of really talented graduates. Imogen Craig played Alice, the blonde aspiring actress. This was her professional debut. You what star quality she has. She was remarkable. I loved the voice that she was doing the whole time. This very breathy posh thing. And even just the way that she kept saying his name, the way she kept saying Brian with this sort of deliberately seductive quality. But also just such an inherently she's a fun character because she's so privileged that you don't get the sense that she is using her wiles deliberately. It's just the way that she has always navigated the world world. So this is what she thinks you do and this is the way that she thinks. She's oblivious to the fact that she is being manipulative. She is just so entitled and spoiled. And there's something oddly charming in that but perfectly played because she allows us to laugh at and with her and she makes her charming. She's yeah, a really fantastic actress. I'm very excited to watch where she goes. Adam Bregman I also thought was really brilliant as Brian did a fantastic job of leading the company in his almost constant exasperation and frustration and this sort of geeky charm that he does have. Like I said, he becomes a very challenging character for us to root for and for us to really enjoy. But that isn't any kind of a statement on Adam's performance. I thought he was great. If Miracle Chance felt a little bit underused because she is brilliant and phenomenal as another of the University Challenge participants. And also I quite question whether we need to retain the fact that this Asian character from the film has a panda Backpack. Then Will Jennings as Patrick, the quiz team captain who is constantly clutching to their mascot, invites everyone around to his home for practice drills and takes this so seriously and is so exuberant and so vivid in his vocal affectation, in his physicality and the way that he bows when he greets people and apologizes. He was a hysterically funny character. Absolute scene stealing, standout performance of the show alongside the always hilarious Mel Gedroich, who plays the dual roles in the show of Brian's widowed mother. That has a lot of comic moments, as you would expect from Mel, but also, you know, finds some real pathos and sincerity in the second act as she reveals to him the loneliness that she has experienced after the death of his father and him subsequently going off to university and him kind of not being considerate enough of her feelings and her own humanity. That character's name is Irene. She also plays a character called Julia Bland, who wears these very green suits and has a terrific wig and is this very sort of austere, no nonsense legend within the TV quiz community who adjudicates the qualifying rounds of University Challenge and is very present throughout the process and who is just hilarious in a way that few performers can make her. This is Mel and the ability to just turn anything into comedy on stage. She walks on stage and you start laughing. She walks off the stage and sort of has to cower behind a chalkboard and then lingers there just long enough for the audience to realize that she's still stuck there and then sort of sheepishly shuffles out from behind it and gets a round of applause. She is hilariously funny. Also worth pointing out, and not that I think this comes into anyone's performance, but one of the nicest human beings that I have ever encountered when doing press events and interviews and things is Mel Gedroich. She is fantastic. So it's always great to be able to root for her on stage. And she's brilliant in this. And, you know, the cast in general is really an embarrassment of riches. Asher Parker Wallace does a fantastic job playing Rebecca. Stephen Ashfield plays a couple of roles, one of whom is Bamba Gascoigne, the then presenter of University Challenge, which he brings a brilliantly camp quality too. Sort of pops up in a lot of unexpected locations. That's all very funny. Michelle Bishop, Christian Maynard, Rachel John, all doing fantastic work in smaller roles. All brilliant performers who I love to see on stage and who could all and who have all led productions in much larger roles previously. So it's a real treat. This cast which ultimately is one of the many things that this show has going for it. Now, if I said earlier on that I couldn't quite put my finger on why start of a 10 wasn't all the way connecting to the brilliant show that it could be. That also, I think, gives me a lot of encouragement to feel as though this will eventually work its way into something really fantastic. I think it's so close to utter brilliance, but there is just something that is keeping the audience at arm's length. I don't know if it's that careful and delicate tonal balance between silliness and sincerity. I don't know if it's our feelings about the central protagonist and our eagerness to see him a little more, you know, coming to terms with the consequences of his actions and a little more shamed by the narrative even towards the end. A little more clarity around that and the heroes and the villains and everything else happening in this story. I think there's great material, there's this time around, certainly a really great company, and a story that for so many reasons ought to really appeal, appeal to a wide array of audience members. You know, this should be really nostalgic. There should be an intergenerational delight of a musical and there's so much to enjoy about it. It's right now crowd pleasing and charming and watchable. It's just not the really great delight that it ought to be. But I have every faith that starter for 10 will eventually get there. I will be very intrigued to watch this show's ongoing development, and I'm very intrigued as well to hear what you all think about it in the comments section down below. You can still catch it for a few more days at the Birmingham Rep, but if you've seen it already, let me and everyone else know what you thought of starter for 10. In the meantime, thank you so much for listening, as always, to my review. Whether you watched it here on YouTube or listened on podcast platforms, make sure to follow or subscribe so you don't miss any of my upcoming reviews. And as always, I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a Stagey Day. For 10 more seconds. I'm Micky Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a Stagey Day Subscrib.
- [29:12]
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- [29:27]
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- [29:45]
Micky Jo
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