Micky Jo (0:00)

Now, when this news first emerged, I did feel as though it was important to acknowledge the elephant in the room. And she's just here. But in addition to that, there are some things we need to discuss. Wagon Wheel. Watusi. Sorry, I mean, oh my God. Hey. Welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. Briefly forgot my catchphrase, then thought I was Cher. My name is Micky Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre. And today we're going to be talking about the upcoming West End transfer of the brand new stage musical adaptation of the popular film Burlesque, which of course originally starred the icon that is Cher alongside another icon, Christina Aguilera. Now, this production first premiered regionally in the uk, it was seen in Manchester. It's played a couple of regional runs, all the while presumably eyeing a West End transfer, one that has now been announced and is rapidly approaching. Only not everything is completely straightforward. Because in between that first production, which it's worth saying, I didn't get the chance to see, but I did hear very good things about from some very canny regular theatre going friends and the upcoming run, which is going to be taking place at the Savoy Theatre just after Mean Girls closes and before Paddington the Musical arrives later this year, there has been an entire change of creative team, which I would be lying if I didn't characterise as something of a red flag. But we're going to get into this. We're going to talk about everything we know so far about Burlesque and why exactly it is that previous director Nick Winston, may have departed the production and one of the show's original stars, Todrick hall, is now additionally serving as director. That is what we are going to be talking about in today's Theatre News recap. And as always, I'm very intrigued to know what you think about this who situation as well. Did you see Burlesque previously during its out of town run? Do you have plans to see it once it's in London? We need somebody who saw that version to go and see the new one to compare and contrast, because when you completely change the creative team, odds are you're going to end up with a pretty different show. In any case, there is plenty for us to talk about here, much of which is information that has already been made publicly available and anything in addition to that is speculative and is alleged. Please don't sue me. I'm just talking about musicals on the Internet. Anyway, if you want to stay up to date with all of the West End and Broadway theatre news, make sure you're subscribed right here on YouTube or following me on podcast platforms or other social media platforms. Now let's talk about burlesque. So let's do a little bit of a compare contrast to begin with. Let's talk about the creative team who were first involved in this show when it was the world premiere production a good long while ago. If any mention of it hasn't been scrubbed from the Internet. Here we go. Playbill.com so this was talked about in February 2024. This is when Todrick hall was announced to have joined the world premiere production as a cast member. But not only that, the show featured a hybrid score with I believe some jukebox songs, but also original songs. It may actually have been entirely original songs, I'm not entirely sure, some of which had been written by the show's star Jess Foley, who was playing the Christina Aguilera role. With some differences to the original plot of the film, it's worth point out, but other songs had been contributed by Todrick Hall. So immediately at the very beginning he was never just a cast member, he was always a cast member and co composer and now in London he's going to be cast member, co composer, director and choreographer I believe. Lots going on, wearing many different hats you might say. But back then it was Nick Winston at the helm. Here you go, here is the full writing team, songs by Christina Aguilera as well as Sia, Diane Warren, Todrick hall and Jess Foley with the book penned by Stephen Antin who had also written the screenplay for the film and is also very involved as a producer and additional material by Kate Weatherhead who has also recently written the book for another film to stage adaptation, the Devil Wears Prada musical. But like I said, this production was initially being directed and choreographed by Nick Winston, whose work you may have seen on a variety of different stages, including the most recent UK tour of Shrek, the sadly short lived production of of youf Lie in April, Bonnie and Clyde in the uk. That was one of his most major productions and several other shows besides. And alongside him, Sutra Gilmour, accomplished set designer, Costume designed by Ryan Dawson, late whose work was brilliant on My Sons Are Queer, but what can youn Do? Musical arrangements and orchestrations by Tom Curran with musical supervision by Phil Bateman, lighting design by Jack Knowles, sound design by Ben Harrison, hair and wig design by Carol Hancock, makeup by Guy Common, musical direction by Chris Poon and associate choreography by creative co producer Robin Antin, with further assistant choreography credited to Libby Watts and assistant direction in choreography to Ryan Lee Sieg the reason I'm reading out so many names here is because I want to see the extent to which this creative team has changed. It was sort of implied once it was revealed that Todrick was taking over as director, that it would be an entirely new team. And if it hadn't been an entirely new team, then this is presumably something that we could have written off as a little bit of a scheduling conflict. But the fact that it is a whole host of new individuals seems to suggest that that is not the case. And as of the last few days, the full creative team under Todrick hall has now been announced. So, like I mentioned, Todrick is directing and choreographing this time around. Stephen Antin remains as producer and book writer. Christina Aguilera, Sia Todrick hall and Jess Foley. Music and lyrics with Kate Weatherhead still credited. Tom Curran remains as orchestrator and arranger. But we have a new set designer, no longer Sutra Gilmour, instead Nate Bertone. Marco. Marco is now credited as the costume designer with additional costume designs by Roberto Surras. I'm so sorry if I'm mispronouncing that name. Marco. Marco, who is an established costume designer but has worked more prolifically in the fashion and drag sphere in the west coast of the us I believe. But this is not his first time, it should be noted, designing for a stage musical, because he recently designed, fittingly, costumes for Drag the Musical off Broadway in New York. And I assume an extensive prior working relationship with Todrick hall, who, you know, moves in many of those same circles, as I am assuming does Aaron Renfrey, who has been brought in now as the new assistant director, resident director and choreographer, or assistant choreographer, I should say. Rory Beaton as lighting designer. I believe that's a new name as well. Nina Dunn as video designer. Ben Harrison, sound design. Toby Higgins, musical supervision. The casting team is the same, although the cast has changed. Chris Poon remains as musical director. There are in fact a great many names going on here, but evidently a whole host of new people are involved in putting together what is presumably going to be a very new version of the show, which is not something that you see often. It's quite interesting that this is happening and I think it's a little more frequent of an occurrence in the US rather than in the uk. We don't generally tend to see directors ousted over here and entire creative teams replaced, but it's not unheard of for pre Broadway productions when they transfer. Listen, it's something that happened in Smash. Do you not remember when Derek left and then like Bequeathed them his choreography, said they could keep using his choreography, but Tom took over as director. Tom, who was previously just one of the show's writers. There's some symmetry with what's going on here. Smash. It imitates life. Now, for those of you who are curious about the show, and it's not one that I've really discussed yet here on social media, it opens at the Savoy Theatre on 10 July, running through to Saturday 6 September, the day before my birthday. And we have a little bit of a blurb here. I'll read for you as well. For those of you who don't necessarily know burlesque very well, it's a fun film. Welcome to Burlesque the Musical, the glamorous, gritty and outrageously fun new musical based on the much loved hit movie that reminds us life isn't fair, it's fabulous. They kept using that remark in the marketing and I guess I've only seen Burlesque the once, maybe twice in my life. And, you know, I'd forgotten if that was a line. I remember the songs. That's something that I recall. I remember the air rights. Discover a club like no other A place beneath the city lights Underneath the city light. See, I told you I remember the song. So. Where the sequins sparkle Seduction shimmers and a life can change in the flicker of. Sorry. In the flick of a feather boa. Feather bows can't flicker, but they can flick. That's on me. When Ali heads to New York in search of her mother. This is very different. For those of you who do know the film, you just had a little bit of whiplash happen there as you were like, wait, what? This is how it's changed. Ali heads to New York in search of her mother. She finds herself drawn into a dazzling underground world where the beat of the music and the heat of the dance moves. Sorry. Will change her life forever. I just can't read. This evening, Ali will unwittingly find her extraordinary voice and a most unlikely family of misfits, dreamers and schemers. So the inherent core message of the thing is the same. But, and this is quite clever, I think they have brought the two leading female characters together in a much more closely linked way because, you know, you can guess who her mother turns out to be. And when they were casting the Cher role for the stage, it was cast a decent amount younger. Sorry. Cher. Jackie Burns, Broadway actress of Wicked if Then. And Titanique played the role in its original productions. But she isn't continuing with the show to the West End. Instead, that role is going to be played by Broadway legend and original Paulette Orfeh. Yes, one name just like Cher. In fact, I believe I heard an interview once where Orfeh described growing up alongside Cher's son. And that really wouldn't surprise me at all. And that's just one of the ways in which I think this is a very exciting piece of casting. However, we do have to acknowledge how many cast members have changed in between the pre West End run and the London run. And I really want to get excited about this show and I really want to encourage people to go and see this show. And like I said, I heard great things about that regional production, but it seems as though this is not necessarily going to be the same show. The writing will be the same, but many other details are going to have changed. And having talked around the whole thing as graciously as I can, it has become evident that a little bit of drama was happening behind, behind the scenes. There is at least one producer who left the show during this time for reasons that were never made publicly clear. And around the same time, in fact, it was Todrick hall who posted publicly on social media about Nick Winston, the director, having unfollowed all of the cast on Instagram. Which, yes, does sound like a very high school thing to post about, but it's also an incredibly high school thing to do. And it speaks to some sort of a very strange situation happening there. And so, given that that had gone down, it isn't necessarily surprising that Nick Winston may have made the decision himself, rather than being fired, to step away from the production. And perhaps the whole creative team agreed to do so in solidarity, or perhaps they just wanted to go in a different creative direction. Any number of things could have happened here and it could have been malicious and it could have not. There's no way for us to know because, you know, we weren't in those rooms, we weren't in those meetings, we weren't backstage. I wasn't and you weren't. I have heard things about events that took place and I will say, to Nick Winston's credit, his was not the first name that I heard in conjunction with backstage problems. And before you assume in the comments, it wasn't Todrick Hall's either. I know that Todrick has had a not uncontroversial history, but, you know, none of that has taken place during his work on stage, either on Broadway or with multiple musical theatre roles here in the uk. I saw him in Chicago. He did a Great job. He was recently in Shrek, directed by Nick Winston. So, you know, it's intriguing to see how that professional relationship soured. Anything else I may have heard about stuff that went down backstage at Burlesque is speculative, so I'm not going to talk about it here. What I will point out is that, you know, if the problem was central to one creative, as was suggested by that Instagram story, and he then left the production, you wouldn't necessarily expect so many cast members. Members to also not come back. It would suggest that there are bigger problems elsewhere. And, you know, it's not really a surprise that Jess is returning and that Todrick is returning. A. It's a huge opportunity for her to play this big leading role. But also they're both involved in the writing, so they're still inextricably linked to the show. Now, having mentioned Todrick a great many times, let's acknowledge what an interesting position this is. I think Todrick, you know, love him or hate him, is an incredibly gifted creative, particularly for this kind of style of show. I think this is going to work really well for him, him as a performer, as a writer, and also as a director, choreographer as well. I've seen a Todrick hall show that he's put together before, and he's got a great eye for this kind of high energy, high choreography entertainment. And I think I'd be really excited to see his work on this and have no reservations whatsoever if it weren't also for the fact that he is simultaneously a writer and a principal performer in the show at the same time. And he has brilliant assistants and associates working with him to enable him to do all of these things at the same time. But this is not something, forgive me if I'm wrong here, or forgetting something that we see often in the world of musical theatre. We see it in plays often enough. Like, Kenneth Branagh loves to direct himself in stuff, but it's not something that you see in, like, a major new musical with so many different moving pieces that's high energy, that's highly choreographed. And, you know, I'm just hoping that that isn't to the detriment of the production. And I guess for Todrick, it's nothing new because he's usually directing, choreographing the. These huge productions, these music videos, these touring shows, which he is at the center of at the same time. So maybe it's just going to run more like that. Now, if you're wondering if I'm exaggerating a little when I talk about this being a very different production. The new set designer, Nate Bertone, whose recent work includes the very eye catching set design for the Ogunquip Playhouse production of Come From Away. If you haven't seen pictures of that, go and check it out. It's a gorgeous, completely different set to any previous version of the show and may have been the thing that got him this job. He shared on social media some images of the model box being presented, being pitched for the set design for the show. So it's still currently being put together and being rebuilt and it was substantially different, just wildly different as an aesthetic from previous versions. I'm not going to put up a side by side image here because it's been removed from social media. Clearly they don't want us to see that yet. And I want to respect the wishes of the production. But I will tell you from having seen it with my eyes and having a very good memory that it was more akin to the kind of design of Moulin Rouge rather than the burlesque that we were seeing images of from Manchester, which was more like scaffolding and light bulbs and sleek and black and sexy. This is more sort of can can and corsetry and wooden flooring and set pieces and boxes. A lot more traditional world of burlesque, perhaps. And you know, that also may have just been a pitch that may not be the version of the that actually happens, but it's clear that an entirely new set design is being put together. So at the very least it's going to look completely different. Now, let's talk while we're here about the new cast members. Like I said, Aufeh is joining the show and I could not be more excited. She is going to sound stunning, absolutely outstanding. I believe that the big song Cher sings in the film you haven't seen the Last of Me is still present in the musical. It had better be. Just so I can hear Orfeh saying that. Worth the price of admission. I'm telling you, she's stunning. I've never had the chance to see her live, but I've been obsessed for a very long time and I think this is a great role for her. You know, she's gritty, she's got the voice, she's tough as nails. What a treat for us in the West End. I also think Todrick hall is great for what seems to be a sort of new interpretation of the character of Shaun. He's the Stanley Tucci character, but he's more of a. An emcee, or at least he was in The Manchester version and with Todrick also directing, I assume he's not going to minimize his own character. Jess Foley as Ali. I did hear her singing a little bit of one of the songs that she had written for the character at the Watson Stage Awards. She's got a great voice. George Maguire remains with the show as Vince and Paul Jacob French is being introduced here as Jackson. I've seen Paul Jacob French in a handful of different shows before, including in the West End. So I'm not sure why he needs to be introduced for a few weeks at the Savoy. But sure, he's very talented. He's a really great, charismatic, exciting choice for this role. Actually, I think he's an exciting addition to the cast. Asher Parker Wallace is playing Nikki. I can't recall whether that's a name that was attached to the show before or whether they are new. And this is just the leading cast announcement with the ensemble yet to be announced. I do already know of a couple of performers who are not returning with the show and I believe auditions were held not too long ago. So that should all be announced in due time. There is still a little bit of time left before the show begins performances at the Savoy. So they have more than enough time to put all of this together and put together a great show. I don't wish to alarm anyone or concern anyone. I just think, you know, it's interesting because this is not something that we see often and much as I'm making it sound dramatic, I'm not really trying to invite a huge amount of speculation here. I have been here things about burlesque since, you know, it began rehearsals regionally, even recently. In terms of the nature of how all of the details for the London run came together. I had initially heard that it was going to the London Coliseum prior to the Great Gatsby getting that slot. Then I heard it might be going to the Peacock Theatre and then subsequently it seems that it may have traded places with another show that was going to be going to the store, Savoy. That seems like it's going to be announced soon. I'm not going to give you any kind of a hint, but suffice to say you're going to be excited when that one is announced, I think. But with burlesque, its passage from regional premiere to London has certainly been met with a couple of red flags waving along the way. My hope is that, you know, this is the saving of the show, that it manages to be a smooth, seamless and non toxic process for all involved from this point onwards that the West End production is a huge success. That's always what I'm rooting for for these things. But it would be remiss of me having acknowledged backstage drama on a handful of other shows previously. And, you know, it would be hypocritical of me only to point out my concerns about certain productions and not about others. I think Todrick's brilliant. I think this has the ingredients to be really exciting. And if that first version of the show had never existed and this was just being announced, I would only be sitting here going, oh my God, what an exciting group of people. Todrick directing with his style and orfeh in the cast and this rising talent as well in Jess doing a few weeks at the Savoy, I would be really excited about it and I hope that I can continue to be excited about it and everything hereafter is fine. But as always, I will be watching carefully. And if you want to stay up to date with everything that I am seeing and hearing about Burlesque as we approach opening night, which I'm hoping is a huge triumph, and I'm hoping that I get to go and see the show and get to tell you that it's brilliant, make sure that you are subscribed here on YouTube or following me on other social media platforms, including podcast apps. In the meantime, my very best wishes to the cast, creatives and everyone working on Burlesque at the Savoy Theatre. I wish them nothing but success throughout rehearsals and I hope you enjoyed listening to my thoughts about it. As always, please feel free to share yours in the comments section down below, particularly if you saw the pre West End version of the show and or if you're planning on seeing it in London. In the meantime, I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day. For 10 more seconds, I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. Subscribe.