A pig production that doesn’t quite fly, but doesn’t make a pig’s ear of it either.
Betty Blue Eyes is a musical set in 1947 about a pig with beautiful blue eyes. An intriguing proposition and one that had me wondering what on earth this show would actually be like. Betty Blue Eyes first premiered in 2011 and went on to be nominated for best new musical at the Olivier Awards. This musical is being revived for the first time in London since that initial run, at the Union Theatre.
After seeing this show my initial thoughts were that it was fine. Almost aggressively fine. Nothing amazing, nothing awful, just fine. This perhaps sounds harsh, but ultimately, I can see why this show has not been put on in London for over a decade. Some of the songs are quite good, with particular highlights being “Nobody” and “Another Little Victory” with some fun staging and charismatic performances. It is perhaps no surprise that both of these numbers heavily feature Amelia Atherton, playing Joyce Chilvers, whose performance was a highlight of the show for me. Some other performances in this very large cast of which I counted 18, were less strong and did not match up to the performance of Amelia.
The plot of this show is quite simple. Some members of the town council are illegally rearing a pig so that they can get around rationing and serve it at a banquet they are hosting to celebrate a royal wedding. An inspector shows up determined to find anybody not following the rules, and cue hijinks and drama. This simple plot is padded out with a number of songs quite frankly that do not really add anything. Just as the plot seems to be progressing and something might actually be about to happen, we have to stop and sing a not very interesting song for a few minutes. Had the songs perhaps been stronger I may not have minded but sadly at multiple moments it just felt like the show came to a stop while a song was sung, rather than the songs adding to the plot, or serving some greater narrative or emotional purpose.
This show is also tonally quite confusing. The best parts of the show are when the farcical aspects are played up and it is treated as the fun ridiculous comedy that a musical about a pig suggests it will be (using links of sausages as canes to dance with was a highlight for me). However, these fun moments are interrupted quite abruptly by overly serious moments which give you emotional whiplash. The central couple, Joyce and Gilbert, seem to go from a happy fun couple to having serious marital issues within a moment. The song “Magic Hands” encapsulates this tonal confusion for me perfectly. It starts off quite comedic but then we quickly head into far more serious territory around dead/maimed husbands from the war and surviving a bombing. This all happens within one song. There are definitely ways that light and shade can exist in a show, and some of the best musicals do this, but it just is not well done in this show.
The Union Theatre is quite a small space, so understandably the cast were not mic’d, however this did lead to some issues during larger group numbers in which the character singing the solo cannot be heard over the sound of the ensemble singing and moving. With such a large cast I can only imagine that this production has designs on moving to a larger venue, in which case the cast would be mic’d and this issue wouldn’t exist, but as the show currently is, it is an issue.
As this was a musical, I have a habit of always noticing one ensemble member more than the others, and for this show that was Kane Stone, who delivered all of the vocals and choreography with incredible enthusiasm and he was a joy to watch.
This show really is at its best when it leans in more to the farcical comedy side, and at its worst when it is trying to force emotional story beats that just do not work in my opinion. For this particular production, the large ensemble numbers are some of the best and I think there is enough here to enjoy to make it worth a visit. Just do not expect to have any of the songs stuck in your head after the show.