I'm as much a fan of the Spice Girls as anyone who grew up during the 90's, however I have resisted seeing this show for a long time. To me, all of the songs stood alone and I couldn't see any link between them that could be made into a show. However, when I heard the show was closing I thought 'well, lets give it a go'.
The theatre, The Piccadilly Theatre, I lovely. The wide stage allows for a good view in nearly every seat. I was last at the theatre in around 2008 when I saw the production of Grease which, as a bit of a side note, wasn't a particularly good production. For Viva Forever I was in seat N15 of the Stalls. A good view but not really worth the asking price. I got it at a great price however thanks to Love Theatre. As normal, the theatre is drenched on red and gold, more than in any other I think. The seat was comfortable with a nice amount of leg room. Being one of only a few men felt odd, but not really a surprise.
My fears of the show were ......................................... correct.
The songs don't seem to like up at al well and the show appears to have just been thrown together. As good as the singers are, and I use good lightly, they ruin what are perfectly good pop songs. They in no way do the band justice. It's as though Judy Craymer ,the creator/producer of the show and the creator of MAMMA MIA!, is cashing in both on her success with MAMMA MIA! and of the renewed interest of the Spice Girls after they briefly reformed back in 2007. Its a shame that Jennifer Saunders is linked with the show. I find her to be a wonderful woman and a fantastic comedian, but the show is really a stain on an otherwise brilliant career. The story is exceptionally weak and seems to have been written without any thoughts towards songs and then the songs worked around it. With this sort of musical I feel it should most definitely be done with at least a little understanding of the songs.
The staging for the show was great. Well I say great, but I mean great compared to the rest of the show. not that imaginative I thought though. I kept thinking of MAMMA MIA! As for the singing, like I said it was only just describable as good. Now I feel a bit bad talking about Hannah John-Kamen who plays the title character Viva, as this is her West End debut. I do feel however that her voice really isn't as strong as it should be. Her acting though was good and I need to commend her on that. She will, along with the rest of the cast, be continually compared to the Spice Girls and none of them come even a little close to the original versions of the songs. One would hope for this to be a bit of camp fun, but it felt more like an assault on my ears.
I really wouldn't recommend seeing it as you probably guessed and to be honest I'm not surprised it hasn't even lasted 9 months. Saying all that however, my sister loved it. Oh well. Tickets and Info
