London theater critics have given mixed reviews to the West End premiere of the jukebox musical The Choir of Man, which originated at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe. The one-act offering recreates a local pub on stage at the Arts Theatre, where audiences are welcome to grab a pint and meet the cast before the show. The creative team includes Nic Doodson (concept, direction), Andrew Kay (concept), Ben Norris (monologues), Freddie Huddleston (choreography, movement direction), Jack Blume (arrangements, music supervision, orchestrations), Oli Townsend (sets), Richard Dinnen (lights), Verity Sadler (costumes), and Sten Severson (sound). The cast includes Tom Brandon (Hard Man), Miles Anthony Daley (Romantic), Daniel Harnett (Joker), Alistair Higgins (Maestro), Freddie Huddleston (Handyman), Richard Lock (Beast), Mark Loveday (Barman), Ben Norris (Poet), and Tyler Orphé-Baker (Bore).
https://youtu.be/9-tqLIcNhwo
The Arts Desk (Gary Naylor): The men we meet, largely caricatures rather than characters, have enough in their insecurities, anxieties and compensating bravado for us to recognise them as people. They’re listed in the programme as The Hard Man, The Joker, The Maestro, The Romantic, etc. … We’re treated to a Radio 2 playlist of familiar, easy-on-the-ear hits, some sung individually, some in close harmony, some a cappella. The voices vary in quality, but the harmonies are a delight. … This one is more suited to a singalong post-happy hour crowd, with just enough poignancy (well, sentimentality) to pull the heartstrings as well as tap the toes. 3 out of 5 stars.
Broadway World (Charlie Wilks): Full of raucous cheer, dancing and beer-drinking, this one-hour show definitely gets the crowd going. … The moments that really work are the majority of the solo moments — as the cast really get a chance to show off their vocal talents. … Despite being fed a few lines about each person’s back story, the overall show doesn’t allow us a chance to really get to know them. … The Choir of Man is fun when it’s not taking itself too seriously. When it begins too, it creates an awkward atmosphere. However, if you’re looking for a care free night out, without having to think too much about what you’re watching, this is the show for you. 3 out of 5 stars.
The Guardian (Ryan Gilbey): Welcome to The Jungle, the fictional every-pub in The Choir of Man, a raucous, matey extravaganza that suggests a blend of Cheers and Five Guys Named Moe. Pints are dispensed from an onstage bar while nine burly blokes with seven beards between them croon and stomp through a jukebox’s worth of dad rock hits. … Anyone sceptical of the show’s ingratiating, calculated warmth and synthetic bonhomie is likely to have the sensation of being present at a cult. It would be churlish, though, to deny that The Choir of Man will go down a storm with office outings. 2 out of 5 stars.
London Theatre (Matt Wolf): Home is where the pub is in the much-travelled The Choir of Man, the paean to sensitive blokes boozing and singing. … The all-male, 90-minute vocal jamboree comes across as sweet enough but also oddly flimsy. … After a while, I tuned out to the often vacuous narrative, such as it is, and focused instead on the music, which is where The Choir of Man does in fact deliver. … I loved these guys while they were making music but when they morphed into poet-philosophers, I’m afraid I tuned out. 3 out of 5 stars.
Reviews Hub (Richard Maguire): The 90-minute set is a celebration of masculinity, enthusiastic but also strangely anaemic. It’s also very contrived with every look, tear and hug between them so tightly choreographed. … In one of many, many, platitudes, Norris declares that the pub is where the men call home, and that home is where one feels safe. Norris’s self-written poetry is neat, but it’s too safe. … With free beer on offer The Choir of Man is perfect end-of-the-night entertainment in a fringe festival, but it remains to be seen whether it’s West End material. Audiences may prefer something more challenging. 3 out of 5 stars.
The Times (Clive Davis): The Choir of Geezers might be a better title for this pub-themed set of singalongs performed by cheerful facsimiles of the kind of blokes who spend their evenings arguing about Ronaldo and spilling their lager over other people’s shoes. The music itself is thin stuff, and there’s an aura of schmaltzy artifice about the whole enterprise. Older readers may recall that there used to be an ITV programme, The Indoor League, presented by a pipe-smoking Freddie Trueman, which recreated a hostelry inside a studio with everyone busy playing shove ha’penny, arm wrestling or throwing darts. There’s a similar strategy at work in The Choir of Man. 2 out of 5 stars.