I Can't Sing - The Reviews

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 3/26/14 at 9:38pm

Will the press hate or love it? I haven't read any of the reviews myself yet, bit it is widely expected this is going to get a drubbing, after all they're not in the best of moods after Fatal Attraction.

I haven't seen the show myself yet, so here goes:

Daily Telegraph - 4 Stars
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/10725267/I-Cant-Sing-London-Palladium-review.html

Daily Express - 5 Stars
http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/theatre/467009/I-Can-t-Sing-at-the-London-Palladium-review

The Independent - 4 Stars
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/i-cant-sing--theatre-review-x-factor-musical-has-bonkers-surreal-charm-9217388.html

LondonTheatre1.- Positive
http://www.londontheatre1.com/index.php/76486/i-cant-sing-the-x-factor-musical-review-london-palladium/

The Guardian - 4 Stars
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/mar/26/i-cant-sing-harry-hill-musical-review

Think we have a big fat hit here.



Updated On: 3/26/14 at 09:38 PM

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 3/26/14 at 9:48pm

theatre Cat - 3 Mice
http://theatrecat.com/2014/03/26/i-cant-sing-palladium-w1/

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 3/26/14 at 11:51pm

Wow, hardly the drubbing one expected! I guess the question is, will this translate to better sales?

[Princeton Returns]

Posted: 3/27/14 at 1:53am

Id hardly say decent reviews mean a bit fat hit. It really needs its box office to turn around now

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 3/27/14 at 10:51pm

A sketch musical based on a reality show getting great reviews...... Wow.

[ggersten]

Posted: 3/28/14 at 5:57am

Where is the non-UK appeal of this show? Seems like most of the jokes/humor/parody are dependent on the UK show, even though there are knock-offs in other countries. (As an American, I did not understand some of the jokes in Once, although the people around me were laughing)

[jaqs]

Posted: 3/28/14 at 12:10pm

It is very British in the humour, but some of the big production numbers are visually great and make it worth a visit if not paying too much.
The jokes are about the uk host, judges and contestants (though I'd bet some of those are universal having seen American idol/Aussie pop idol) but also uk politicians, the beer tax reduction etc which won't work for many overseas visitors.

[rockyhorrorfan]

Posted: 3/28/14 at 12:57pm

I wouldn't be surprised if Cowell paid to get some good reviews. I see Amanda Holden reviewed it for The Mirror and gave it 5 stars.

Ignoring whether the critics liked it or hated I from what I've read about the show it sounds completely ridiculous (but then I shouldn't have expected anything else from the completely unfunny Harry Hill).

[Mark_E]

Posted: 3/28/14 at 1:20pm

Bought a last minute ticket for tonight. Curiosity has definitely gotten the better of me.

[Mark_E]

Posted: 3/28/14 at 6:58pm

It starts off great. If that's not entertainment is a really strong opening number. The first couple of numbers are very good, I even quite liked the supermarket scene and I was enjoying it until...
The Hunchback....
My word, such a diabolical number. Why? It was going so well!!!
Cynthia nailed I can't sing, great song, and what a voice!
One bit I hated was her audition. Why make it a cliche? There just wasn't any point and it would have been an ideal song opportunity.

Act two.... So it plods along a bit (I didn't like Simons "love" song) and then Fabulous really is quite fabulous! It then just kind of tries to tie up the plot rushes towards the end. I liked the "Jedward" spoof. Thought the song Chenice sings "Xtasy" I guess you could call it, wasn't great. Sure Cynthia nails it but it's just an awful and forgettable song...
And then again, oh dear, the hunchback is back again. It really annoyed me. Again just WHY?
I actually loved the Cowell alien reveal, it was totally right for the mood of this show.

Quite a lot of the jokes throughout falling flat. Upper circle closed off - not great for a Friday night just after opening. I think this show would have benefited from a smaller theatre.

Hope Simon Cowell has taken note of Cynthia and gets her some mainstream publicity. Who needs programmes like The X Factor with all that talent right infront of you to be honest! That girl can SING!

[busylizzie238]

Posted: 3/30/14 at 4:51pm

I saw it yesterday and did not love it. It is an in your face explosion of Harry Hill's wildest imaginations clumsily put onto the stage. The melodies to the songs were good and sometimes great for songs such as 'I can't sing' and other ones which I don't remember the title to. But they were all somewhat tarnished by the ridiculous lyrics, the lyricist appeared desperate to contain as many jokes as possible per line. The musical is all about getting a cheap laugh just one after the other. Don't get me wrong I know how to laugh, I love comedies such as the Book of Mormon, where the humour is not so surface level and is intellectually stimulating. But for I Can't Sing I hardly found myself laughing at all, instead I found myself feeling more and more irritable.

I must say however that the girl who plays Chenise is wonderful at moments and is the reason why I do not completely hate this musical. In fact the whole cast were very talented and had great voices but the poor quality of the material they had to work with meant it was not an entertaining experience for me. For example with Simon Cowell's character, he has been camped up so much and does all these peculiar things that I was constantly lamenting to myself 'What the hell is going on?'.

I'm so disappointed because I thought the musical was such an original idea when I first heard it. I expected that if someone had financed a show with this concept to get to the West End, it would be up to a certain standard. Perhaps one that would explore the genesis of X Factor, how Simon Cowell has become the media mogul that he is and perhaps subtly make us think a little bit more about what shows like X Factor are doing to the music industry. But it was not that at all. Harry Hill just conjured up all the cheap ways he could make a joke out of everything associated with the X Factor and chucked it together in a chaotic way. There were lengthy jokes about having a backstory, a man dressed up as the wind and endless gags made of Cheryl Cole, that it was all just unbearable.

However I must be in the minority because in the theatre there was uproarious laughter throughout and at the end everyone leapt to their feet. Was it because they were tipsy while watching the show? or maybe it because I just didn't get it. I'm interested to see how long this show will last - for their sakes, I hope it has a fairly decent run because the sheer scale of the production including the sets, costumes etc. must have cost a fortune. Not to spoil too much but there is a scene where a huge mouth comes on and a man dressed an insect flies around the mouth, it is on the stage for 1 minute then is never seen again, and there are many other random moments where massive pieces of set are used like this unnecessarily and does not add to the story arc at all. Who has the money to have put all this together?

[fan1]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 10:23pm

Simon Cowell

[Nickhutson]

Posted: 4/1/14 at 3:59am

And more so Joop Van Den Ende - who runs Stage Entertainment, and is worth a cool $1.6 billion.