The Bodyguard
This was a belated birthday outing which I was treated to by my aunt and we were at only the second performance in the run on its return to London.
Our seats in were Z 1 & 2 but it was nice to find that they were not actually in the back row (there were 5 more rows behind us).
I noticed that the atmosphere was very different in this theatre to most performances I go to, probably because it’s one of those shows that appeals to people who aren’t regular theatregoers. Of course, that also means that there was a lot of talking, rustling of food bags and people getting up to go to the toilet throughout.
I hadn’t seen the film in years but the story quickly came back to me, as it’s not a complicated one. The actors were all fantastic. Beverley Knight was great in the lead as Rachel Marron, with a fantastic and powerful voice, and it made me realise that this isn’t one of those shows that can run and run with just anyone taking over – to pull off Whitney Houston songs you really have to have someone in the role who can sing and belt out these great songs. Beverley Knight and Ben Richards, as the bodygard Frank Farmer, had perfect chemistry, which made it all the more believable, and Rachel John as Rachel’s sister Nicki also has an amazing voice.
I’m a fan of Whitney Houston, particularly her older stuff, so it was nice that so many of her songs were in the show – a lot more than are in the film. I don’t particularly like those shows that make a story around one artist’s songs so this worked well for me, as it was a proper storyline intermingled with the songs. A lot of the classic songs were used in scenes when Rachel is performing, but there were some which had relevant lyrics to the story and were inserted effectively at appropriate times in the show to move the story along, in particular Run to You, I have Nothing and All the Man that I Need.
My favourite scene in the film – when Frank saves Rachel’s son from the boat – has been replaced, but I’m sure that would be a bit difficult to do on stage! They use a bit of film in the background at times, most notably to show the baddie preparing to stalk/attack Rachel.
The show is quite fast paced, with the first half being just an hour and the whole show being 2¼ hours in total including the interval. There are a few jumps and bangs in it, which had many people in the audience shrieking out loud and when the baddie (Matthew Stathers) took his bow some of the audience booed, which I guess is a compliment to him and to the show.
At the end of the show the entire audience jumped to their feet a good 30 seconds before Beverley Knight reached the end of I Will Always Love You. As with most musicals these days, following the curtain call the cast stayed on stage and started singing and dancing for the audience to join in with, but we decided to hotfoot it out to the tube before the crowds. I’d highly recommend this fun show with lots of great songs in, as long as you don’t mind them all being Whitney Houston’s!
Stars: 4*
Date of visit: 16th July 2016
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Theatre Gremlin 