A rare and beautiful thing happened last night. The majority of the entertainment.ie team managed to align their very hectic schedules to attend the opening night of The Official Blues Brother's Revival. Needless to say, we were offered tickets and, being suckers for the odd freebie, we dutifully marched along to the Tivoli. And what an insight into the Irish psyche it was. If last night taught me anything, it's that we're truly a nation of voyeurs. We'll watch no problem but, if you want us to participate, you can feck right off. Especially at 7.30pm of a Tuesday evening.
Let's back track a bit. For those of you who've seen The Blues Brothers, starring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, please refresh my memory. It had a loose storyline, yeah? It wasn't just 90 odd minutes of car chases and shakin' tale feather, was it? I know transfering car chases to the stage is near impossible, but that doesn't warrant the entire abandonment of narrative for a flurry of other songs which appeared in Sister Act. Believe me when I say it was song, line about the next song, song, line kind've related to the next song, and so on. This was set against the backdrop of Bronx based Chicago accents (via inner Dublin), mad dashes through doors, the frenzied dressing and the immediate undressing of choral gowns, and the 'Mashed Potato'.
In saying that; the sets, alongside the singing and the character replication of Jake and Elwood, could not be faulted. Simon Bachelors Walk Delany has a surprising set of pipes on him, bore a striking resemblance to John Belushi, and was wonderfully nimble on his hoofs considering 70% of his body mass appears to reside from the navel upwards. Dale Emmerdale Meeks, also embodied his character brilliantly, even if he was more Dr. Raymond Stanz in a suit than Elwood Blues in appearance. Their obvious talent, along with that of Sister Callie and her cohort's vocals, and The Preacher Man's ability to bust out the splits in dangerously snug trousers (our intermission banter included a heated debate as to whether he was sporting underpants) was wasted on "writer"/director Victor Pisano's rejig. If all the spoken dialogue were to appear cohesively in print, it would struggle to fill three pages. Which means the premise of the show is simply for the audience to get up, bellow out Aretha Franklin's Think (and, eh, Dusty Springfield's Preacher Man) and Watusi until collapse.
Which brings us back to us being damp squibs in the participation department. Fair play to the Tivoli; they have plastic cups at hand so one can bring renowned dance enabler, alcohol, back to one's seat, but even that couldn't instigate more than a cursory hand clap during the songs. The cast attempted a stirring rendition of Minnie The Moocher, only for the frolicsome call back chorus of 'HEIDI HEIDI HEIDI HI!' to descend into a weedy 'ee me eee me e mee mee' murmur from the audience. It wasn't just the cynical sorts; the children in attendance were stoic too. Even when 'Sister Callie' attempted to dance one out of his chair, he bared his teeth in a petrified smile, his now wild-eyed head shaking the universal sign for 'NOOOOO' at warp speed, while all the adults in the vicinity stared straight ahead lest she catch their eye. She did manage to rouse one youngster to his feet, whereupon I found myself clapping wildly, mumbling "quick, clap everyone, otherwise the poor little bastard will never dance again." Then, at the end, when we all knew we were safe, we gave the cast a rollicking standing ovation...
In short - either clearly label it as Blues Brothers Live Karaoke Extravaganza (With Additional Unrelated Songs You Also Might Know), or give us a bit of an aul story - we're Irish! For those wishing to fork over €25 quid to sing their little hearts out (lord knows the cast would welcome it), The "Only authorised Blues Brothers Show in the World 'Blues Brothers - The Revival'" runs in the Tivoli 'til November 15th.
Highlights: Seeing Twink and her daughter (we think it was Chloe) in the presence of Lucy Kennedy and a camera crew, obviously recording an upcoming episode of Living with Lucy (if she doesn't mention Twink's Zip Up Your Mickey remix it's a crime against presenting)... The Preacher Man, for ogling purposes... Rubbing shoulders with such luminaries as Alan from Ireland AM and the nutty nurse from Fair City... The one dude at the front right, who leapt out of his chair (of his own free will) to bust out some moves during the final song... Lowlights: The lack of anything resembling a story... The carpet in the bar/club downstairs. It had mad a bang of clammy socks off it...