Magic Mike Live (London Hippodrome Casino) -- Guest Review by Doctor Terror
Non-Toxic Masculinity
I honestly didn't quite know what to expect as I sat down with my Pinot Grigio in London's flamboyantly Vegas-like casino just off Leicester Square. I had been told that this was the ultimate immersive theatrical experience by someone who never thought I'd agree to see it. I am, after all, some way from the show's target demographic: I'm male and over sixty. How was this little adventure going to turn out?.
All I can say is that I have rarely been treated better. The casino team's customer service skills were second to none and they made me feel really welcome. I can't praise them highly enough.
As the show started, however, I felt a sense of foreboding: MC James Percy exuded such toe-curling crassness that for a minute I thought I was in Basildon. His breathtaking misogyny and utter repulsiveness reached its apotheosis as a terrified, pregnant audience member was dragged up on stage. She looked white as a sheet. A little TOO white, perhaps? And then the penny dropped. This was no ordinary audience member. It was all part of the setup. Actress Jo Calderwood gives a wonderful performance as she calls on a patronus-like unicorn voiced by the show's mastermind, Channing Tatum, to intervene and maybe, just maybe, find her the ideal man. Plus another ten or so studmuffins, of course!
What follows is clever, absorbing and - yes! - even moving, a strip show for our times featuring as it does a NICE BLOKE. Taylor Diamond-Lord's Mike, apparently a casino waiter at the beginning, steals the show and shows that male role-models really don't have to be Donald Trump, Andrew Tate or even David Beckham. Of course he exudes sex appeal from every pore, of course he gets his kit off. But he's a nice bloke. It's as simple as that.
This is a warm-hearted gem of a show.