PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Hooked The Musical

Hooked: The Musical
Theatre 503, Battersea

I'm not going to lie to you, my favourite musical is Joseph & His Technicolour Dreamcoat. So, as I arrive at the Latchmere 503 - secretly hoping to catch a glimpse of Lee Mead in a loin cloth - and I'm faced with an altogether more contemporary production, I realise things are going to be quite different. Drugs! Lap Dancers! Sex! I'm beginning starting to miss those seven fat cows. Yes this is indeed one modern musical, and, according to a recent interview, loosely based on the real life experiences of producer Matthew James.

The story (if a little predictable) commences with a cabaret number with all three excellent dancing ladies - Manal El-Feitury as Odette, Lucy Smethurst as Monique and underused Laura Bailey as Angel - that will have many an eye popping out. We are then informed by the drug addicted PR ace Ben (Jason Langley) that he has experienced an overdose in a lap dancing club and we are to witness the reason for this event through a series of flashbacks.

Ben happens to be having an affair with Smethurst's gorgeous lap dancer Monique, a Romanian aspiring singer who has been brought over to the UK by the club owner Parnell - Terry Burns - to work in his club and to perform other 'tasks'. The two actors beautifully compliment each other in their shared scenes as Monique's evident vulnerability is contrasted with the manipulative side of the club owning pimp, easily conveyed by Burns.

Jessica Sherman, playing Ben's stay at home wife Emma, is rather clumsily a complete contrast to Monique: Emma in her white linens while Monique parades around in heels and burlesque outfit. She too has some good solo numbers, my favourite being 'Patience' when she finally dumps her cheating husband in a relationship counsellor's office ending with a declamatory "Fuck You". However, certain strong numbers, such as 'Dont Let Me Down' excellently sung by Smethurst and Langley, sit a odds with the flow of the production, and would be better standing alone as simple pop songs.

After much soul searching, and a few more solo numbers, Ben and Emma are reunited in time for their troubles conceiving a child to disappear as they are conveniently donated a baby by the now drug addicted Monique. Phew! This is true soap opera stuff with shiny beautiful people, like an episode of Hollyoaks mixed with Chicago and X Factor. Sometimes you just can't help but be addicted.

Dennis Kuipers

Hooked: The Musical runs at the Theatre 503 at 7.30pm 31st July - 2nd August before transferring to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It will run at the G2, George Sq. from 7th - 30th August, nightly at 11.15pm.