Tony! The Tony Blair Rock Opera Archives

It’s not that long ago “Spitting Image” spat their saucy and sinister satire across the stage of the Birmingham Rep and seeing “Tony! The Tony Blair Rock Opera” has a slight whiff of deja vu - all over again. Where once well-crafted and designed puppets grotesquely caricatured well-known faces now we have real humans in a plethora of wigs (I believe that’s the correct collective noun for wigs) and a gamut of ‘tashes (same note) enacting a biog of the most polarising premier we’ve had for many a day. But unlike “Spitting Image”, which spoofed the news right up the opening night and revised the show thereafter, “Tony” seems to dwell on yesterday’s headlines and, despite occasional nudges towards the contemporary impact of his decisions, all seems a few years too late. Nonetheless it’s a v...

Relentlessly loud, unsubtle and lacking any pretence to charm or wit, Tony! The Tony Blair Rock Opera by Harry Hill and Steve Brown rattles through Blair's greatest life hits, from birth to eventual death, interspersed by his political rise and prosecution of four wars. It's an in-your-face puerile comedy at times hilarious but also cringeworthy. Blair is presented as weak, ineffectual and easily manipulated by those around him, particularly his wife, Cherie, Comms Director Peter Mandelson, and President Bush. A parade of political figures from Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden to John Prescott, Gordon Brown, Neil Kinnock and David Blunkett (with toy guide dog) populate the political landscape of Blair's career. The saving grace of the production is the cast. Full of energy and t...

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Tony: The Tony Blair Rock Opera – Birmingham Rep

Tony! The Tony Blair Rock Opera – Leicester Square Theatre