Miss Nightingale romps its way through wartime Britain with pizzazz and charm…but very little burlesque.
Amber Topaz (centre) with Tomm Coles as Sir Frank Worthington-Blythe and Ilan Goodman as George Nowodny
If you love burlesque, enjoy seeing those stockings being rolled off, have a penchant for feathers and glitter, love a bit of glitz and glam with some boobs and brains thrown in, then Miss Nightingale, subtitled the “Burlesque Musical”, isn’t your thing.
Commercial burlesque has got to be careful. It’ll be too easy for it to slide gracefully into full-blown nostalgia, where only victory rolls and seamed stockings will be allowed onstage. Whilst it’s true that burlesque is, quite rightly, linked to post-war Americana and the freedom that brought, it’s also important to remember that it’s a living, breathing artform and needs to be pushed forward as well as romanticised. An important point though: setting a show in wartime Britain doesn’t automatically maketh a burlesque show.
Miss Nightingale is the My Fair Lady-style story of Maggie Brown, a northern nurse who is determined to do her bit for the men fighting the war. She performs catchy songs written by her songwriting Jewish Polish friend, George Nowodny, who also happens to be a dab-hand with the clarinet. Maggie is soon discovered, Moulin Rouge style, by a man who just wants to, as Harold Zidler puts it, INVEST! The only problem is that Sir Frank Worthington-Blythe, the investor, also happens to take rather a fancy to George, who hasn’t told Maggie that he had a four year relationship with her other brother, Bill, when he lived in Berlin. Keeping up at the back?
The story deals with so many themes it’s sometimes hard to decide whose side we’re meant to be on and, more importantly, who is boffing whom right now. Anti-semitism, the invasion of Poland, concentration camps, homophobia (and the idea that gay people were “the enemy within“), abortion, blackmail, adultery…Miss Nightingale had it all, and more. The script has very funny and touching moments, but could have dealt with being a great deal simpler. It’s also rather neatly concluded with a deus ex machina that Walt Disney would admire.
Ilan Goodman, as Nowodny, arguably steals the limelight with his funny one-liners (“Have you always known that you were…” “Jewish? It’s hard to ignore the evidence.” “No, homosexual.”) and intense sadness when hearing about the destruction of his homeland and family. Again, though, this character has a huge amount to deal with. Gay, Polish, Jewish and he used to live in Berlin until Maggie helped him to escape, he starts a love affair with a man who has to keep up appearances and struggles to reconcile himself with his sexuality. He plays the clarinet throughout the show and at times all the cast get to sing or play an instrument; often both.
Maggie is played by burlesque star Amber Topaz, who is enthusiastic and talented but she also has so much to deal with it’s hard for her to really get into each situation. It’s a shame that it’s about two hours into the show before there is any striptease. And it’s the angriest striptease I’ve ever seen. The thing is, Maggie is a music-hall singer. If this is a burlesque show, then why were her acts as Miss Nightingale all songs? Why did she not tease, titillate, take off a glove and wink until right at the end? Even then, the striptease is there to shock and this just isn’t enough to sustain it as a burlesque show.
Miss Nightingale is fun, smart and an enjoyable piece of theatre. The “play-within-a-play” is a trick that’s been used many times, to great effect (Moulin Rouge, Noises Off, heck, even The Canterbury Tales) and it is a great device to allow the audience to follow, and often see how “on-stage” mirrors, the action off-stage.
However, a burlesque musical it is not.
Miss Nightingale. Written and directed by Matthew Bugg. Leicester Square Theatre, London, WC2H 7BX. Runs until 7 July 2013. £25 (£23 concessions). www.leicestersquaretheatre.com
I went and saw Miss Nightingale last night and to me, THAT is burlesque – no, it’s not striptease but then again, striptease is not the be all and end all of burlesque.
Long ago, people who performed in burlesque houses had to do it all; sing, dance, play instruments, juggle, act, move sets around…be able to step in at a moment’s notice to fill in or take over. From what I saw of the show and cast last night, everyone was a burlesque performer – they sang, they danced, they acted and kept the audience entertained from beginning to end.
I’ve been an entertainer for (my whole life) about 14 years in public now and have been performing in burlesque shows for 11 of those years and before I even did any research, I knew I liked it for the variety it provided to myself and the audience. Perhaps this is why it appeals to such a broad spectrum of people because there is something in it for everyone, it isn’t just about striptease.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend going to enjoy this show. You won’t be disappointed if you love burlesque in all it’s glory!
Yours truly,
Mysti Vine
Ooo I feel compelled to retort…
As company manager for the famous Whoopee club who also produced the Tournament of Tease, director of Burlexe & Boylexe, a judge for the inaugural London Cabaret Awards and an ex musical theatre actress, I thought musical, burlesque, I’m going to like this.
And like it I did, in fact I loved it.
If it were billed Miss Nightingale the Striptease Musical, I would wholeheartedly agree, but it isn’t and it wasn’t. It was 100% burlesque! Numbers such as the northern Mother Hubbard character with comedy glasses singing a song full of innuendo whilst flashing a stocking topped leg would have been more than some men could take in 1942. Not to mention the cock references delighting the homosexuals.
Have you read the definition of Burlesque? The producers did, and printed it in their programme and honoured it with a show that made me wish that shows like that still existed. Wall to wall strip tease is frankly boring. If every single cabaret number Maggie sang was to include striptease, we wouldn’t have felt anything for the character at all. I heard audible relief from the audience that she hadn’t been killed by a bomb, suggesting we all went along with her complicated life quite happily.
And then there was the one and only striptease. I can honestly say that it was up there in the top 3 stripteases I have ever seen. And I have seen A LOT. How one wouldn’t find it empowering is beyond me. An able, angry, ultimate stick it to the man. I was thrilled. I wish the 44,000 1950’s housewife routines I’ve seen had an ounce of anger and regaining of power that Miss Topaz’s strip had. Utterly wonderful.
And thank you for describing my life as Disney worthy. This unmarried mother of an illegitimate child with 5 gay guardians (2 of which I’ve had a straight relationship with) feels much better about life, so much so, I may sing about it in the style of a musical. In fact, I may suggest to those 5 men that we start a Berlin style cabaret club including my child and a dancing dog for good measure.