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Take Note Theatre in association with Jermyn Street Theatre present Jet Set Go!
An original British Musical by Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary Directed by Luke Sheppard Jermyn Street Theatre 31 March - 18 April 2009
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A review by David Hermann for EXTRA! EXTRA!
Jet Set Go is a musical about almost nothing, and somehow that’s okay. In this new work by writers Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary, a stalwart, hyperactive cast brings to life a handful of glorious clichés with such awe-inspiring pace and tempo that you won’t have time to either get bored or wonder whether lines like ‘inflatable life-jackets are located under your seat’ should really be sung in two-tone harmony. John McManus gives us the perma-tanned, viciously camp, first-class steward nobody has ever actually met but all of us somehow expect from a show about cabin-crew. Emily Sidonie provides the grotesquely shrill Puertorican woman whose expression can change from friendly to contemptuous in a split second depending on whether she’s talking to a colleague or a passenger, and Amy Coombes presents your favourite buxom, ditzy Welsh stewardess complete with a song about ‘the valley’, her accent so thick it would send amateur fascist A.A. Gill into fits of auto-cannibalistic rage. All cast-members play their parts with an applaudable maximum of precision that allows them to extract the greatest possible number of laughs from their audience and form a tight ensemble that is a pleasure to watch. So... there really isn’t much of a story, and the little there is revolves around each member of the crew seeking love and eventually finding it. There is no depth, no real tragedy, but that can’t possibly have been what Brunger and Cleary were aiming for, either, and it shouldn’t be what you’re looking for when you decide to see a silly musical about cabin crew. Director Luke Sheppard and musical director Candida Caldicot (who also played the piano and conducted the band) have done a superb job at highlighting the funniest moments and putting together an absolutely air- and watertight choreography. Mike Lees’s production design couldn’t be more appropriate: the presumably easy-to-travel-with set is minimalist and yet hideously gaudy, the costumes, (‘some’ of which are by Enver Chakartash, according to the programme) are a celebration of eye-cancer inducing polyester ugliness - it’s precisely the kind of botched attempt at executive style we know and hate so well from our favourite low-budget airlines. The live musicians are seriously accomplished - look: in short, Take Note Theatre have an absolute winner on their hands, and if you fancy a good night out and love musicals this one’s a must-see.
8pm £15 Jermyn Street Theatre 16b Jermyn Street London, SW1Y 6ST Box-office: 020 7287 2875 Admin: 020 7434 1443 Fax: 020 7287 3232
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