Desperately Seeking the Exit is a self exposing, one man show about what happened behind the scenes on the musical Desperately Seeking Susan which is based on the 1985 film of the same name; the show premiered in 2007 at the Novello Theatre. It received negative reviews across the board and just fifteen days after opening it announced its closing date. Over recent years new musicals have really struggled in London and in this show Peter Michael Marino opens his heart to the audience and tells how his baby was twisted and changed to be something completely different and the story of its downfall.
Its hard for anyone to open up about anything personal but opening up about something that flopped so publicly and to complete strangers much be extraordinarily hard. I struggle to call this a stand up show because its more than that, its not just a man standing there telling jokes; Its an insight as to what really happened and what his role was in the creation and the over throw of the show. There is still a part of me that wanted him to go in deeper, I wanted to know some of the darker things about some of the struggles he must have faced whilst trying to put this musical on and it felt like he had held somethings back which, to be honest, is completely understandable because the type of audience he is attracting here in London are the type of people that could turn around and say “thats my friend you’re talking about” so I can see why somethings have been left out of it!
Peter really manages to balance the comedy and the personal side, there are parts that I thoughts were hilarious but then there were also bits that I really felt sad for him about so it created the perfect contrast. It also helps that he is a really likable character, as much as it was him telling us the story it was also about him connecting and having a laugh with the audience. The space its in at the Leicester Square theatre is a perfect setting, its really intimate and up close and personal. Its a very relaxed show, Peter encourages people to go up to the bar whilst the performance is going on, he is very keen to keep the audience happy and also involved.
This 70 minute show was hilarious; musical theatre fans and gays will love this!
Rating: ****
The show runs at the Leicester Square until the 20th May 2013.
