Bad Girls The Musical

Bad Girl The Musical is a twentieth century musical based on the ITV prison drama series Bad Girls.  The original production was performed at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds in June 2006 and this is the second time I have seen a production of it here in Long Eaton.  On the previous occasion Kathi Ludlow, our director tonight, was a member of the cast and it was clear throughout the production that Kathi had a clear vision of what she wanted to deliver.

Bad Girls the Musical, based in a women’s prison, has a combination of story lines, some tragic, some comedic, all essentially viewed from a female perspective.  In all cases Kathi ensured that they were treated with the just the right touch to ensure that they all combined to create the overall narrative as they developed throughout the night.

This musical is very much a ensemble piece with a large number of key characters.  Hayley Wood and Lilli White as Shell Dockley (lifer) and Denny Blood revelled as the “boss” and her enforcer controlling all the other inmates and making sure the other women provided the kick-backs they demanded.  Hayley delivered a suitably threatening presence and also ensured Shell was not a clichéd bully stereotype but we could see that she also cared about the other girls and was willing to sacrifice her body to play the key role in removing the major threat to the girls safety. 

Alex Tavener reprised her role as Yvonne Atkins, the wife of a crime lord, with great gusto. Alex’s performance fully embodied the character of Yvonne and brought a great deal of humour and lust for life to the production across the evening.  Speaking of comedy, the verbal and physical humour of the night very much belonged to Louisa Ward and Megan O’Sullivan as “The Julie’s”.  Their delivery of “Life of Crime” did cause me to laugh out loud on more than one occasion.  However, Magen and Louisa didn’t just play for laughs with Megan’s phone call to her son being especially touching.  Laurie Trott revelled in the part of Noreen Briggs as she always looked for drugs and other contraband.  Megan Asher delivered a strong acting performance as Rachel Hicks making Rachel’s suicide all the more impactful.  The singing revelation of the night for me was Daya Khosse as Crystal Gordon.  Daya was simply superb and I was very glad that she used her natural intonations rather than the accent typically associated with this role.

Turning to the Prison Guards, Emma Barnes-Marriott was in very impressive form both vocally and acting-wise making Helen Stewart a three-dimensional character and the relationship she developed with Nikki Wade was at all times natural and believable,  This was in no small part thanks to the performance of Vicky Byrne as Nikki, the only inmate willing to take on Shell and suffer the consequences of that defiance.

Martin Briggs was a revelation as the sleazy Jim Fenner.  Martin managed to make Fenner truly flesh creeping as he preyed on the young girls under his “protection” and the audience reaction to his final comeuppance was testament to Martin’s success.  Martin also managed to bring out the lighter side of Fenner and his double act with Anna Fitzpatrick as Sylvia “Bodybag” Hellamby was another highlight.  Anna was on fine form all night and again brought considerable light and shade to the role rather than making Bodybag a bland stooge.  James Christian gave Justin Mattison great sympathy from the audience and his reaction to finding out that his romantic hopes with Helen would go nowhere was very well judged.  John Fletcher made “The Number One” a suitably unsympathetic character, the ultimate Teflon politician ensuring that none of the prison drama’s affected his rise to the top, no matter who he had to throw under the metaphorical bus.

A strong ensemble is essential to a successful production of Bad Girls and here Erewash Musical Society showed their strength so congratulations to Nicola, Karen, Sue, Sophie, Katie, Phil, Laurie, Nick and Gary.

This production was a great success, so my congratulations go to Kathi in her first (of what needs to be many) outing as Director and also to Dave for the precision of the vocals, sound balance between stage and band room and tightness of the musical delivery from the live Band (something that is getting rarer in my experience this year).  Lighting was effective throughout as was the set with its layers and key props.  Rapid scene changes supported the flow of the action throughout as was contemporary costuming.

Overall a very enjoyable night in the Theatre so my thanks to all and here’s to the Hot Mikado in October.

© NODA CIO.  All rights reserved 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.