'This Is Elvis' is probably the best title possible for this
show. Fans of recreations and tribute acts of Elvis will love this show, but if
it is the second, almost missed, part of the title, 'A New Musical' which
interests you, then forget it. A musical it isn't. There is only one song [a close-harmony male chorus of 'Are You
Lonesome Tonight'] not sung by Elvis or with him singing at least part, and the
dialogue used in this evening's show could have been written on the back of a
postage stamp!
The start, I have to admit, showed promise, even if I did
know that I was in for yet another 'juke-box' musical. We were told that we
were in Burbank, USA, on the 27th June 1968 for the NBC TV filming of Elvis's
'Comeback Special'. We were then, rather than watching a little of this
recording and moving on with the narrative, 'treated' to a long and
over-indulgent sequence where Elvis sat down with some friends and played
snippets of many different songs from his early years. Sadly, the musical never
recovers from this.
The story went on a little to show Elvis's desire to return
to touring and performing live and breaking away from his Hollywood film
contract. It showed him accepting a contract by his manager to play a season at
The International Hotel in Las Vegas, and finally, in the whole of the second
act not one word of dialogue was spoken; instead we sat through what I am
assuming (or at least hoping) was a faithful recreation of his first Las Vegas
concert, just one year later in 1969. 20 hits back to back and the curtain
falls.
For Elvis fans - especially those who were fond of him in
his post-film, pre-chubby and drug-addicted era - will not be disappointed.
They will be dancing in the aisles and loving Steve Michaels as he seems to
have seamlessly metamorphosed into Mr. Presley with ease and skill. But if it
is depth and insight or even a storyline and a few other cast members being
given the chance to shine a little that you are looking for, then it's best you
stay away.
The musical boasts a cast of 13 not including Presley, and
these talented performers play the few cameo roles necessary to get us from A
to B, as well as play all the music live on stage and deliver the backing
vocals to all the songs. The set, a constant 'stage on a stage' affair which
looked very 'psychedelic sixties' with different coloured lights shining
through the panels worked, but this evening we were experiencing a couple of
technical hitches which necessitated a stage crew member walking on stage a
couple of times and we had a constant flashing and flickering light behind
Elvis as he tried to deliver one of the more heartfelt and emotional parts of
his show. Hopefully these will now have been rectified.
Musical it certainly isn't, but a more or less solid two
hour concert of songs - a few of which I did not recognise - sang by a
talented, and surely by the end of the evening exhausted, faithful re-creator
of The King Of Rock 'N' Roll, Steve Michaels.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 11/6/18
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