I'll admit my expectations for a musical based on Bananaman were not high, particularly when that musical has a runtime of 150 minutes and the source material is the Beano. Nevertheless this Bananaman origin story is riotously entertaining from beginning to end. From the opening scene where we are introduced to the supervillains Doctor Gloom, played with a sneering brilliance by Marc Pickering and General Blight, played with camp malevolence by Carl Mullaney, the audience is treated to a non-stop show of laughs, songs and banana ingestation.
Aside from the two bad guys the cast is universally excellent, and Bananaman himself is suitably chiselled chinned. The songs are not going to set the world on fire, but this is not a show where the music is as important as the comic set pieces which pile on top of each other at a rapid pace. At various points I missed a couple of jokes due to laughter overhang preventing me from keeping up.
Unfortunately it is the audience that may well limit the success of this play; Bananaman is only really recognisable to a certain demographic who witnessed the cartoon in the late 80s. Judging by the number of 30-40 year olds in attendance (and the fact the only person over 50 fell asleep) this may well restrict its audience. This would be shame as this is a musical that deserves to go a long way.
Bananaman may not be one of the most high brow theatrical productions around but is certainly one of the most entertaining. Highly recommended.
Aside from the two bad guys the cast is universally excellent, and Bananaman himself is suitably chiselled chinned. The songs are not going to set the world on fire, but this is not a show where the music is as important as the comic set pieces which pile on top of each other at a rapid pace. At various points I missed a couple of jokes due to laughter overhang preventing me from keeping up.
Unfortunately it is the audience that may well limit the success of this play; Bananaman is only really recognisable to a certain demographic who witnessed the cartoon in the late 80s. Judging by the number of 30-40 year olds in attendance (and the fact the only person over 50 fell asleep) this may well restrict its audience. This would be shame as this is a musical that deserves to go a long way.
Bananaman may not be one of the most high brow theatrical productions around but is certainly one of the most entertaining. Highly recommended.
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