Jonny Woo and Le Gateau Chocolat are celebrating their 50th and 40th birthdays, respectively, and with that combined 90 years of commitment to musicals and drag, they are back to put on a show!
With numerous costume changes, a bit of karaoke, a bit of lip synching, and enviable voices from both, this is a bit of a cheeky nod to the glitz and glamour of showbusiness’s lyrical past.
Despite Woo’s “50 year old knees” and Le Gateau Chocolat’s longing to swap heels for comfortable flats, both still have the moves and the grooves to sashay and strut their stuff.
With a setlist that covers different moods, a striptease, some aufience participation, a fair sprinkling of upstaging, and a large dollop of nostalgia through a prism of parody, A Night at the Musicals is fun all the way.
Celebrating the queer and drag spaces through musicals as diverse as Chicago, Sweet Charity, Cats, Dreamgirls, Gypsy, The Little Mermaid, Rocky Horror Show, The Sound of Music, and Grease, this takes careful aim at all our favourite divas.
After years of working together, these two can send each other up with affection and then perform in perfect synchronity. It’s a double whammy of wickedness.
There may be a couple of moments where the pace could pick up, but any musical show that manages to be funny, moving, and unapologetically queer is worth the price of a ticket.
A Night at the Musicals has moments for all. In Le Gateau Chocolat’s performance of the greatest power ballad from Cats he paces on to the beat of The Lion King, while Woo ends up completely exposed after stripping off layered outfits to Gypsy‘s “Some People”.
For audiences wanting to join in, you’re invited to sing along with some favourites, including a “Summer Nights” finale.
Have we all changed by the end, as Woo suggests with a firm tongue-in-cheek? Unlikely, but much fun has been had with the “Harry and Meghan of drag”.
You can see A Night at the Musicals at Soho Theatre until 21 Jan – buy your tickets here.
For more on Jonny Woo, follow his Instagram page, and for more on Le Gateau Chocolat, visit his website.
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