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The Bomb-itty of Errors
by Lizzie Loveridge
|
And as the brothers grew up on opposite coasts
One night they were visited by their father's ghost And he told his sons of their hip-hop history And said in a voice that was filled with mystery "One day you will find your missing link When you look in the mirror and see yourself blink." -- Prologue to The Bomb-itty of Errors |
Charles Anthony Burks and Chris Edwards as the two Dromios
(Photo: Caroline Lewis) |
You can be assured that the show has transferred well from the United States. Link The Bomb-itty of Errors in NY. The fantastic energy expended by all is a part of its charm. There are nods to London with a Beefeater with Shakespeare's head, Luciana's Flashdance Irish dancing and quips about cricket rather than baseball.
The comedy is intact. I loved the messenger boy who cannot rhyme and the Rastafarian doctor's number "Rock the Nation". The final chase scene is a dazzling series of amazing costume and character changes. It seems to be half an hour longer than the show Les Gutman saw in New York but now has an interval. The four actors work amazingly hard. I hope they are earning more than the Equity minimum.
The cast is all-American but none of them appeared in New York. Chris Edwards scene steals as a Dromio and Luciana in her blonde wig, think Daniella Westbrook meets Shirley Temple, and is a veteran of the show in Florida, Chicago, Edinburgh and Dublin. Edwards again, as the NY policeman chats up a member of the audience and flips back onto the stage athletically. ranney plays Luciana's sister, Adrianna, brilliant in a frock, this guy, well over six feet tall, frets over her husband's behaviour. Charles Anthony Burke is the other Dromio and Joe-Hernandez-Kolski makes his Bombitty debut in London having been involved with a hip hop version of Two Gentlemen of Verona.
What is more problematic is whether this original show will find its audience in London's West End. I suspect that going to the theatre is not a part of hip hop culture and I'm not sure school teachers will be brave enough to take their classes to something which is so obviously entertainment. They would be wrong. The Bomb-itty of Errors will speak to a younger generation the way Shakespeare's early comedy did in the sixteenth century.
For a review of the original Bomb-itty in New York go here.
| The Bomb-itty of Errors
Written by Jordan Allen-Dutton, Jason Catalano, GQ. J.A.Q., Erik Weiner Directed and developed by Andrew Goldberg With: Charles Anthony Burks, Chris Edwards, Joe Hernandez-Kolski, ranney, Kevin Shand Designer: Nick Barnes Lighting Designer: Natasha Chivers Sound: Sebastian Frost for Orbital Costume Designer: David C Woolard Running time: Two hours fifteen minutes with one interval . Box Office: 020 7369 1761 Booking to 12th July 2003 Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 6th May 2003 performance at the New Ambassadors Theatre, West Street, London WC2 (Tube Station: Leicester Square) |
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6, 500 Comparative Phrases including 800 Shakespearean Metaphors by CurtainUp's editor.
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