The Stage

Tonight’s the Night

Published Monday 16 February 2004 at 13:31 by Chris Bartlett

At first glance lugubrious uber-lad Rod Stewart and motormouth Ben Elton seem very strange bedfellows. But both know something of being lauded and vilified in equal measure. And while this venture is clearly about jumping on the same gravy train as Elton’s We Will Rock You, the pairing is successful.

For while his Queen musical suffered from a pofaced plot about pop’s homogenisation and a criminal lack of Freddie Mercury’s tongue-in-cheek bravado, Elton has reigned in his ambitions and come down to earth. The result, depending on tastes, is as cheerily entertaining or as maddeningly insubstantial as Stewart himself.

The plot, such as it is, has shy garage mechanic Stu Clutterbuck (Tim Howar) making a pact with Hannah Waddingham’s lusty, busty Satan to woo the love of his life with the soul of the great rocker himself. It is your usual ‘be careful what you wish for’ morality tale. But the familiarity works in its favour, with the plot at the service of the songs and not, as blighted We Will Rock You, the other way round.

The songs too are a gift. Rock standards like You’re in My Heart and Reasons to Believe, with non-specific boy meets girl lyrics and a nice line in bitchy wit, mesh together easily. But it is second division songs like This Old Heart of Mine, sung brilliantly by Catherine Porter’s rock manager Baby Jane, that stand out over the obvious classics.

Jokes still aren’t Elton’s forte - most of the laughs come from the performance of Michael McKell, a riot as the Keith Richards-esque Stoner - and, despite Lez Brotherston’s ingenuious sets, too often songs are delivered from a bare stage concert-style. But the leads are excellent and pull off a climax silly enough to put a smile on the face of even the stoniest cynic.

This show was reviewed prior to the website launch. A new review may be pending.