Hersh Dagmarr’s nostalgic trip is one for Pet Shop Boys fans, but falls short of revelation
Hersh Dagmarr’s show is described as a love letter to London in the words and music of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe and an ode to finding one’s home. Whilst there is no clear narrative and the interludes are often quite abstract, we begin to get some idea that this is a show about being a young queer person in London in the 80s. In the moments Dagmarr leans into the exploration of queer life in the 80s in London the songs gain poignancy.
The multi-talented (and bilingual?) Karen Newby opens the show with an overture of sorts. We begin with 2001 A Space Odyssey, and traverse through various famous pieces including The Wedding March, and The William Tell Overture. The intro was complete with dramatic pauses and wry glances at the audience. Newby (who also arranged the music) does a brilliant job of being Dagmarr’s offsider and accompanist throughout.
Dagmarr — a true showman — enters the stage in a fur hat and coat with Union Jack sunglasses and claims to have been drawn in by the beautiful music with no intention to stay. As he continually turns dramatically to the back of the stage in an apparent bid to ‘say no more’ and then says more, the camp tone of the evening is well and truly set. His little set pieces of checking his hair in a framed picture of Princess Diana and his various costume changes always got a laugh. Though he has a strong voice with a flawless falsetto, it is in his comedic patter and audience interaction that he truly shines. When he strays briefly from the Pet Shop Boys music in songs like Eartha Kitt’s An Englishman Needs Time his cabaret style and comic timing are joyful to watch.
But the majority of the show is not cabaret songs, they are Pet Shop Boys tunes without the synth pop backing that made them hits. Occasionally they are mashed up with recognizable cabaret and musical theatre classics like Losing My Mind, and Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien but are mostly unaltered. Now, few pop songs are better without the original instrumentation and production value that made them famous. The form itself calls for repetitive and catchy hook lines that rightfully make these songs hits. Melodic variety and range, lyrical story telling or musical build is often not a priority in pop song writing. Moreover, the beat is usually essential to carry the pieces and give them life.
When I have seen stripping pop songs back to this extent work, it has revealed something previously undiscovered or unheard in the lyrics or melody of the song. In other cases the artist has reimagined the songs in some way. This is where Dagmarr’s show falls down. He does his best to wring comedy or drama out of each number, but it feels added on rather than discovered. More successful songs were It’s a Sin, and I Love You, You Pay My Rent where there is a bit more narrative structure but overall, the songs end up feeling a bit bland when paired solely with piano accompaniment.
I re-listened to the Pet Shop Boys before attending the show and think the music in its original form holds up well. I am a fan, just not of this stripped-down iteration. There will definitely be an audience ready to indulge in this nostalgic journey down memory lane, but for those who are not from that era, this re-imagining of Pet Shop Boys songs may fall short.