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Mixing the music of The Smiths with the gothic horror of Frankenstein probably shouldn’t work, yet in the hands of the latest New York cabaret star to reach our shores, it most certainly does.Summary
Rating
Excellent
I like The Smiths well enough – heaven knows, they wrote more than their share of hits – but my fandom is, at best, a bit half-hearted. Would a cabaret show based on The Queen is Dead, their 1986 album expose me? Would I be shamed by t-shirt-wearing die-hards hanging on every word?
Not a bit of it. A quick scan of the excited crowd at Big Mouth Strikes Again – The Smiths Show and it was soon obvious few were there for the music. Most of them weren’t born when The Queen is Dead was released for a start. They had ventured into Soho to experience one of New York’s finest. Salty Brine is a cabaret star making waves in the Big Apple and his arrival on our shores is a big deal if you move in cabaret circles.
All the songs from The Queen is Dead are present and correct but they’ve been totally and utterly reinvented. The reason? Well, Brine sees a link between The Smiths and 19th-century romantic literature. If that sounds like an unlikely combination, trust me – it works a treat. Various movie versions of Frankenstein are referenced. There’s a nicely judged musical nod to The Rocky Horror Picture Show as part of the finale, for example. However, it is most definitely the novel, penned by 18-year-old Mary Shelley, that Brine resonates with. This leads him on to the doomed romance between Mary and her husband, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. It also allows him to share autobiographical tales of his own childhood and early brushes with romance. There’s quite a lot of sex too but as it is mostly shared through the highly amusing medium of bad poetry it is impossible to feel offended.
Given all these strands, you might be imagining a messy night of songs linked by meandering eccentric tangents. I’m sure that show would be entertaining enough, but Brine has fortunately been more ambitious here and everything feels whole and rounded. The novel’s plot largely remains intact and still has the power to affect an audience. We’re also not spared the horrendous grief experienced by its author. Interludes about Brine’s own life remain comic, but gags about loneliness and loss give us glimpses of vulnerability.
Life is hard but precious for us all seems to be the message. But isn’t that exactly what Dr Frankenstein forgets and his monster comes to learn? It is also exactly what Morrissey’s lyrics tell us. Being killed by a ten-ton truck might be a pleasure but there remains a light that will never go out.
As well as being blisteringly entertaining, Big Mouth Strikes Again – The Smiths Show leaves you with plenty to ponder. Brine wears his heart and, refreshingly, his intellect on his sequinned sleeve and if there’s any justice, he will have a monstrous hit on his hands.
Created by: Salty Brine
Directed by: Shaun Peknic
Musical Direction by: Ben Moss
Original Arrangements by: Jeff Cubeta
Costume design by: Kate Fry
Production Designed by: Christopher Bowser
Produced by: Renee Blinkwolt, Lucy Jackson and Devin McCallion
Big Mouth Strikes Again – The Smiths Show plays at Soho Theatre until 16 September. Further information and bookings can be found here.
