The Bodyguard the Musical
Book by Alexander Dinelaris, based on the film written by Lawrence Kasdan; directed by Thea Sharrock. Until April 9 at the Ed Mirvish Theatre, 244 Victoria St. mirvish.com, 416-872-1212 or 1-800-461-3333
First question, most important: Can she sing?
Oh my goodness, yes, she can sing.
If your primary interest in this stage adaptation of the 1992 film is getting a great big dose of live pop diva, stop reading and book your tickets now.
U.K. singer Beverley Knight plays Rachel Marron, the Whitney Houston role from the movie: she’s got a world-class set of pipes and many, many opportunities to show them off. In this and a number of other ways, the stage version improves on the movie, which among its numerous weirdnesses offered Houston only a few opportunities to sing.
The creators of this stage crowd-pleaser know better and have stuffed it with Houston’s back catalogue so that Knight sings over a dozen of her hits. A few others are farmed out to Rachel John, who plays Marron’s sister Nicki and also has a beautiful, powerful voice.
And so we have Knight as Rachel, singing “How Will I Know” as a duet with her young son Fletcher (the winning Jaden Oshenye at the performance reviewed) in a big rehearsal scene at her L.A. mansion early on. The fateful nightclub performance where she falls into the arms of, and for, her titular guardian-angel-for-hire Frank Farmer (Stuart Reid) features a medley of Houston’s uptempo classics including “So Emotional.”
And thus it’s Nicki who sings “Saving All My Love” in a scene new to the stage version, where a welcome whiff of explanation is provided for Nicki’s competing affections towards Frank.
This leads us to the second question, not nearly as important as the first, which is whether The Bodyguard the Musical makes any sense from a plot and character perspective. The answer is kinda-sorta. The book by Alexander Dinelaris (who co-wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for Birdman) smoothes out some of what was hilariously convoluted and opaque in the film.
Overall, it’s the same romantic-thriller saga: a famous pop star/actress is getting death threats; she falls for the former secret service agent hired to protect her, but — for some mysterious reason that’s really no clearer here but has something to do with their mutual workaholism — their relationship cannot last. Dinelaris has clarified the backstory about the Stalker (played by the washboard-abbed Matthew Stathers) who menaces Rachel, as well as Frank’s past.
One big change that doesn’t do the show any favours is updating it to the present: in the age of Beyoncé and Gaga, Rachel’s cheesily staged concerts (choreography by Karen Bruce) are totally implausible as the fare of a global pop sensation.
As in the movie, the Rachel-Frank relationship is initially hard to fathom: she resents him because he cramps her style; he clenches his jaw strongly and silently because that’s What Real Men Do. Knight, unfortunately, is not nearly the actress that she is a singer; add in that she and Reid (who played these roles in London) struggle somewhat with American accents, and a forced and poorly sound-mixed opening number (“Queen of the Night”) and you’ve got a really ropy first 30 minutes.
But then we get to the nightclub scene and the film’s signature moment — Rachel scooped up in Frank’s arms — and Thea Sharrock’s production finally delivers the camp spectacle that seems this material’s manifest destiny.
And so, to the third question, one that reveals my particular tastes: Does this musical allow you to clutch your Gay Best Friend’s arm repeatedly at the sight and sound of its delicious excess, from the iconic damsel-in-distress image delivered as a spotlighted silhouette, to a video romance montage projected across the entire humongous stage curtain, to overextended special effects creating time for unnecessary but deeply appreciated costume changes, to the final triumphant hoisting of Knight as Rachel on a hydraulic plinth over the stage, magnificent in a spangled black mermaid gown, as she moves into the bridge of “Greatest Love of All”; all while your impeccable professional standards deny you indulging in a garish blue “Queen of the Night” cocktail?
Yes, yes it does.
This is show business, people, and The Bodyguard the Musical is at its best when it owns this and has fun with it. This welcome sense of knowingness makes the first act’s long final scene the show’s highlight: Rachel and Frank go on a date to a karaoke bar where three women are singing a Rachel Marron/Whitney Houston hit. Rachel and Frank flirt and there’s actually chemistry, unlike the relationship between Houston and Kevin Costner in the film, which one critic memorably likened to “watching two statues attempting to mate.” When Frank is coaxed to sing a number, it nicely sets up a plot point about this song becoming significant to Rachel.
And then Knight gets up and tears her way into “I Have Nothing,” captivating Frank and causing everyone in the bar to freak out when they realize it’s really Rachel (unlike the film, in which, preposterously, the star roams free in public without anyone recognizing her). The all-in-good-fun spirit of this scene is echoed in a wonderful singalong encore of “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”
A bonus that comes with the show’s indulgence in the spectacular is state-of-the-art design: watching the horizontal and vertical walls of Tim Hatley’s set slide to suggest different areas in Rachel’s house, recording studios and performance venues, and then zooming shut like a closing aperture in an old Hollywood movie brings great pleasures in and of itself, and Mark Henderson’s use of multiple spotlights to add additional drama to Rachel’s performances is masterful.
Go for the music. Clench your teeth through the silly plotting. Swoon at the excess. And have a cocktail for me, OK?
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