Novel spin on Tom Jones’s hits makes for a rollicking night out
What’s New Pussycat? Birmingham Rep ★★★★★
Sean Foley, the artistic director of the Birmingham Rep, has promised a “good night out” to get the place thronging. With this rollicking new 1960s-set musical, based on both the back catalogue of the singer Tom Jones and Henry Fielding’s 1749 novel of the same name, he delivers that in spades.
It’s not unusual for a famous singer to get their own “jukebox” tribute. Many Jones fans would crave a straight “bio” treatment for their boyo, and one such show by the Welsh company Theatr na nóg did tour Britain in 2016. But though this project – scripted by the American writerlyricist Joe Dipietro – stands at a distance from that, its novel spin conveys the irrepressible essence of the Welsh wonder while honouring its 18th-century literary source.
Fielding laid down the picaresque plot: Tom, a lusty foundling, must leave the sticks to seek his fortune in London and charm the knickers off those he meets. In the book, he’s followed by his sweetheart, Sophia, who escapes from being married off to odious William Blifil. The narrative impetus is thus self-discovery, and the sensibility of the music in What’s New Pussycat? fits that well. The Sir Tom Jones “sound” is steeped in a 1960s aura of youthful romantic awakening; to encounter those golden oldies in a fresh format is both nostalgic and reinvigorating.
Our hero Tom (played by Dominic Andersen) is told to return home to Somerset only on proving himself “good and true”, which here involves finding out what really matters while becoming a libidinous singing sensation in the swinging capital. Sophia has become “Mary” – cue “hair of gold and lips like cherries” – and, played by Bronté Barbé, she gets an emancipatory uplift. Cheekily placed at the vanguard of the era’s fashion-making, she even invents the miniskirt.
Favourite hits are generously crammed into the storyline, Mamma Mia!-style, and there’s a pleasure in this knowing artifice. Within minutes, the line “There was only one question on everyone’s lips” ushers in an arch rendition of the title number. Are you tempted to sing along? Yes, but the evening powers along so smartly, and smuggles so much sophistication within its silliness, that you defer to its zany logic.
Director Luke Sheppard already has a West End hit with the eardrum-battering & Juliet. He provides a booming night for the Boomers here; the mighty brass sound alone is enough to crumble the walls of Jericho. It’s a feast for the eyes, too. The costume designer, Janet Bird, appears to have all of 1960s Carnaby Street at her disposal; Jon Bausor’s overarched set, with its outsized zebra- crossing flooring, combines 18thcentury touches with Flower Power flourishes; and Arlene Phillips’s choreography is zesty, witty, detailpacked fun.
As the lead, Andersen is a genuine pelvic-thrusting sex bomb, especially (Leave Your Hat On) when disrobed in the clothes shop run by the predatory Lady Bellaston (a purring Kelly Price). He doesn’t have Sir Tom’s awesome baritone, but he’s still vocally ardent, and is ably matched by Barbé, soulful and Cilla-esque. And watch out for Lemuel Knights in the ensemble, a Jones lookalike entrusted with a second-half rendition of Delilah that’s so plaintively over the top, he almost walks off with the show. The great man himself wasn’t there on opening night – but his spirit somehow was.