REVIEW: Tony! – The Tony Blair Rock Opera

Harry Hill and Steve Brown tell us at the end of their raucous, outrageous, hilarious show that “ the whole wide world is run by assholes”.

While the jury may be out on that view, there’s no doubt that the rise and fall of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is great fodder for the comic genius of Hill and the pastiche-making music of Brown.

Literally from his birth to his future death, we get all the major events and characters in his political life story. The flaw for me in this highly entertaining romp with serious undertones is that Hill relentlessly judges all the characters and makes them all objects of ridicule. While this is largely fair game, to make fun of David Blunkett’s blindness is a bridge too far in my opinion.

Howard Samuels is a delicious comic villain as Peter Mandelson, the evil laughing manipulator of his gullible mate Tony. Tori Burgess is a knock-about Scouse wife Cherie and Phil Sealey a hugely blubbering, grotesque rival as Gordon Brown. Emma Jay Thomas is a predictably gushing Princess Di, who appears to Tony from both sides of the grave.

And during the night the cast give us over-the-top versions of George W Bush, Saddam Hussein, Bin Laden, Noel Gallagher and many others.

The onstage band, led by Tara Litvack, tears through a whole range of musical styles – pop, rock, cha-cha-cha, tango, song and dance and Broadway show tunes. It’s all breathlessly paced and we love it.

Jack Whittle is uncannily accurate as Tony – a permanent grin, a happy-go-lucky disposition and often the victim of stronger forces around him.

So love him or hate him, he’s certainly a person of interest. The future will judge whether ridding the world of some of its assholes vindicates his actions.

The show plays at Brighton’s Theatre Royal until Saturday 1 July. You can catch it on tour – including at Eastbourne’s Devonshire Park from 26 September. Tickets at atgtickets.com

Reviewer’s disclaimer – I once worked for Jack Straw and David Blunkett, and organised visits for Tony Blair

Full tour details here: