Closets The Musical
Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester. 14 Aug - 23 Aug 2018
Anyone that has seen the latest issue of Jack The Lad will know we have been closely following the development of Closets - The Musical from a time when Closets The Musical didn't even exist. (It’s almost as if we had our own time machine!) We won’t go into the detailed history here, (it’s all in our extended feature in issue 14) suffice to say that in 2016 we saw and loved a short film by Lloyd Eyre Morgan called Closets, and when we heard in March of this year that it was about to be turned into a musical, our first response wasn't so much "Why?" as it was “How?”. This was partly due to the fact that this sobering and emotional short film had at it's centre a troubled gay teenager who travels through time in his bedroom closet, (bare with us!), an unusual premise for a brand new musical and, as it turns out, we were not alone in wondering how the transition from screen to stage would work, two of those more quizzical voices belonging to the shows two new male leads, Lloyd Daniels and Sam Retford.
Fast forward 5 months and the question has finally been answered with a show that is nothing short of a triumphant success. Yes, we have previously interviewed the directors, and yes we have also interviewed members of the cast, but we aren’t that easily bought (although please feel free to try!) and we don’t make a habit of doing solicited endorsements. (The magazine still remains refreshingly advertising free!) Why am I going into such detail prior to getting into the review itself? Well… spoiler alert, what we saw this evening was a production that deserves every one of the 5 stars I am ultimately about to award it, and I would hate for this to be considered predetermined in any way. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth as when the interviews and photoshoots were done, not only were we completely in the dark as to what shape the end result would take, but only one of the actors at the time had actually even seen the script, so it was safe to say that whilst excited by the prospect of what we were about to see, we had absolutely no idea what to expect when we finally got to take our seat at Manchesters Hope Mill Theatre last night.
What followed was a refreshingly original slice of new musical theatre without compromise. Too many times we have sat in small theatre spaces to watch shows that feel almost defeated before they start, by the less than lavish size of the stage and the inability to make big set changes as also dictated by the size of the space. Not so for Closets where both imagination and production values worthy of any West End show filled the stage. Right from the opening line of the first song ‘Weirdo’ the audience is taken on a big, bold, catchy and beautifully realised journey (Joseph Thomas deserving his own special shout out for his impressive lighting design along with William Whelton for his engaging choreography). Writer/director Lloyd Eyre-Morgan along with collaborative writing partner and producer Neil Ely clearly wanted to set the bar incredibly high from the outset... and rather impressively they somehow manage to keep it there for the duration of the show.
At the stories core we find two teenagers, both struggling with their sexual identity and the resulting stigma they find themselves facing on a daily basis. Henry's story (Retford) starts in 1986 where he is finding it increasingly difficult to navigate his way through a life spent hiding his true self. Through the surprising discovery of a time travelling closet in his bedroom he is transported thirty years into the future, where he finds the equally tortured and isolated Ben (Daniels). Shocked by the circumstances in which they have been thrown together, they proceed to time travel through the decades to the Stonewall Inn of the sixties where they find Florrie, (a sassy delight played by the excellent Kim Tatum) on the eve of a police raid.
With such an unashamedly far fetched premise, and a heady mix of the factual combined with the fantastic, Closets had the potential to quickly start coming off the rails, but this show not only wins it’s audience over with it's abundance of heart and charm, it is also performed with such conviction by the whole cast that it is hard not to find yourself getting completely swept up in the euphoric highs and emotional lows of a show that goes from one outlandish twist to the next.
Closets also provides the perfect antidote to the plethora of jukebox musicals currently clogging up the mainstream musical theatre stage, (not to mention cinema) and Ashley M A Walsh has written a soundtrack that compliments the action perfectly, from eighties influenced disco foot stompers to a number of genuinely moving ballads, (with lyrics supplied by Messrs. Eyre-Morgan & Ely along with Jack Bennetts). It’s no surprise that there have been numerous requests on social media for a cast recording of the soundtrack.
Having cast X-Factor finalist Lloyd Daniels in the part of Ben, who is himself no stranger to musical theatre stage, it was clear he was more than capable of nailing an outstanding vocal performance in the role, the same could also be said of Kim Tatum who, as Mzz Kimberley already has a reputation as an award winning cabaret artist in her own right, (making the role of Florrie feel almost tailor-made for her). Lesser known for their vocal prowess however were Sam Retford (recently seen in Channel Four drama Ackley Bridge), and co-star Hayley Tamaddon (best known for her parts in long running UK soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale) both of who surprised in equal measure with their own outstanding vocal performances throughout, all four being supported by the impressively full sound of a band so tight that at times I questioned wether this was in fact pre-recorded. (It wasn’t).
Unfortunately, for now, the sad truth is that the final four sell out performances is journey’s end for this hugely enjoyable production… but watch this space. It’s hard to believe that a show with the amount of love and positive word of mouth that is being generated by it's audience will end here. (A standing ovation greeted the finale of the performance I attended, and it’s easy to imagine this was the norm rather than the exception). We will definitely be booking front row tickets to reacquaint ourselves with these time travelling teenagers should they ever find their way out of the closet once more and into a theatre near us.
★★★★★
