Blonde is a thoroughly captivating biography of Marilyn Monroe, detailing her background and career with admirable clarity. The show both opens and closes with a drum roll and an announcement by an MC. These shades of Cabaret invite us to compare Marilyn with another gifted but vulnerable star, the fictional Sally Bowles.
Verity Power is set a big challenge by having to come on cold and sing Happy Birthday Mr President. It’s such a well-known moment, but she carries it off superbly and we immediately feel confident in her version of Marilyn.
The many other famous names in Marilyn’s story are heftily signposted (“Joe DiMaggio – the greatest baseball player in the world!”), so we’re never left guessing who is who.
Musically the style is classic Broadway. Appropriate for the period, and although Marilyn is not primarily thought of as a star in musicals, it’s a good fit. She did, though, sing some still well-known numbers, such as Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend and I Wanna Be Loved By You. As film critic Barry Norman once memorably said, “It may not be a great voice, but just look where it’s coming from.” In this show some of these tunes are subtly referenced in passing but not enough, one assumes, to require copyright clearance. The numbers we have are bright and tuneful but all are eclipsed by the outstanding closing number, You’re Wonderful. Although some of the emotions are perhaps a little trite (“be yourself”, “keep smiling”), it’s a genuinely moving moment.All the main supporting characters in Marilyn’s life are brought to the stage by members of the company. Despite being big names they are not, with the exception of Laurence Olivier, people with which we are familiar so Charlie Ellerton can be both Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller quite comfortably.
Marilyn’s main support throughout comes from her photographer and the person with whom she founds her own production company in order to gain more control over the parts she was offered. In the show, this character is called Georgie Gifford, played by Finlay Paul, and he acts as a reliable narrator throughout. Curiously, though, the real person who helped her was called Milton Greene. Given all the other main parts are real people I don’t know why in this case he’s been re-named.There is a problem at the heart of the piece, though. If you’re going to produce an entertainment about a life so often examined as that of Marilyn Monroe, you’d better have something new to say; either about the icon herself or about what she means to a 21st-century audience. Or both. Unfortunately, whilst Blonde works as an insight into Marilyn Monroe for those who largely don’t know her story, for anyone seeking more it falls short.
Review by John Charles
Rating: ★★★
