Entertaining and a unique interactive experience with a score of well-known bangers, brilliantly performed with beautiful harmonisations
After a long hot summer day in a sweaty London office, where better than go to local pub and have a nice cold pint? Or you could waltz into the intermate Arts Theatre, grab yourself some tickets and make your way onto the stage to grab a cold pint at ‘The Jungle’ bar!
Stepping down into the stalls you are instantly drawn to: paintings, instruments and countless photos on the walls of different cast members and their friends and families; a real bar on stage where the audience can make their way up and order a refreshing draft beer, with tacky wallpaper (the likes of which you have seen in countless pubs and bars throughout the UK); and a drumkit, guitar, banjo, bass, violin and other instruments set-up for a live band above the ‘pub’.
Once you have ordered your drink and fully taken in that you are actually on a West End stage and not just admiring and reviewing those on it, you can mooch on over to your seats and sit back to enjoy the show. Now the musical theatre purists among you will probably gasp at my next sentence. This is a jukebox musical. Then the theatre purists among you will probably scream at this next sentence. There is no storyline. Before I lose the one reader that made it this far, this show is a lot of fun and very different to virtually everything I have seen before. From the start you are immersed without having to have the play happen all around you, I mean, you are grabbing a drink upstage for a start!
We do not follow a protagonist from start to finish of an adventure, nor a courtroom trial that tos-and-fros before reaching a verdict, nor any other more common structure you may see at other West End theatres. In The Jungle we follow a group of men, each from different walks of life with different outlooks but who all share the same two things; they all go to their local, and at their local they are all in the same choir – the Choir of Man.
These men don’t perform typical chorister tracks, but instead pop anthems of the recent past and distant present. One of my personal favourites being a powerful rendition of Hello by Adele. Not a song that often a cover can stand up to the original but Luke Conner Hall’s (‘The Romantic’) range and the choir’s harmonisations raised every hair on my arms.
The audience interaction didn’t stop as the on-stage bar closed as throughout the whole one-act performance, different members of the cast invited audience members to join them in the pub, brought them pints, to their seats in the stalls, chucked us snacks and beer mats, and some punters were even lucky enough to be serenaded. The first serenade was probably one of the funniest moments of the night as Tom Carter-Miles (‘The Beast’) tickled the guitar and serenely sung ‘Teenage Dream’ (originally by Katy Perry) as the stage lights focused in on the cosy couple. On stage of a packed theatre being serenaded by a tall, dark and handsome actor with the voice of an angel would be more than enough to make someone be overwhelmed or extremely embarrassed but this audience member relished it and flirted back!
If you are someone going to see this show or wanting to see it but are really not interested in being interacted with like this, I would recommend getting seats in the circle, the middle of the stalls, or just telling the actors that you don’t want to go on stage (they wont force you!). However, if you want a better chance of being interacted with, the side seats of the stalls or the front couple of rows are the place to be, particularly for the free beer throughout. Although, I would give a word of warning, 90 minutes is not particularly long for a performance, but it is if you are drinking beer and you also want don’t want to miss any of the numbers.
Where there is a lack of plot to draw in an audience, there is an abundance of performers, talented musicians and incredible singers that entertain throughout. I have already mentioned Luke Conner Hall’s vocal range, and Tom Carter-Miles’ angelic voice and talented guitar skills, but in fact all the cast had fantastic vocals and many of them displayed impressive musical abilities and incredible dancing. Michele Maria Benvenuto (‘The Maestro’) was a mesmerising pianist and Ben Goffe (‘The Handyman’) was a jar-dropping tap dancer, to name a few. Only their musical talents bested by that of the live band that were involved in the show throughout coming down to grab a beer in between bass lines and guitar riffs.
Even though it is likely that a jukebox musical with no storyline is not going to go down as a timeless classic, it is guaranteed to be a great, entertaining night. I would highly recommend getting a ticket, if you can, even if you are a musical theatre purist. In fact, especially if you are. Remove your inhibitions. Relax. Have a drink (non-alcoholic if preferred) and enjoy.