REVIEW | Salty Brine: Bigmouth Strikes Again - The Smiths Show
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Reviewer - Russell
*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review
Great buzz and a packed room in the Soho Theatre to see the London debut and understated entrance of Salty Brine, draped in a fake fur coat and wearing a candelabra on his head, glamour and pizzazz abound in his amazing tribute to The Smiths’ finest album 'The Queen Ds Dead'.
Just a small warning, this isn't a mainstream night out, this is as sophisticated, raucous and sharp as a long-running, New York-based, drag-cabaret residency act could possibly be.
It's an old-style cabaret performer and an outrageous stage show that runs for a fabulous ninety minutes.
A brilliant captivating performance.
Think Judy Garland. Think Lisa Minnelli. Think Freddie Mercury. It’s camper than Elton John's Teddy Bears tea party.
I'll make an attempt to explain what the show is about but, strap yourself in, it's a weird one.
The ‘Living record collection’ is Salty's wonderful idea, taking classic albums and putting his cabaret, torch song twist to them.
And what a twist it is.
Salty is a superb performer.
Based in The Big Apple but originally from North Carolina (I think) where he was apparently bullied and pushed around by the bigger boys and the soccer studs and touched by more strangers than the piano at Grand Central station.
This is one funny funny man. I mean proper funny. A singer, dancer, and raconteur, who tells us a fantastical tale. Somehow interweaving and twisting the tragic story of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, with what many consider to be The Smiths’ imperial phase and stories from his own life, oh and some of his own filthy dirty, naughty-salty poetry.
What a voice though.
What a wit.
What a toosh (Tush?).
He loves an audience walkabout, teasing and cavorting as he sings songs that take The Smiths to a whole new world and delivers a richness to Morrissey's words that none of us Smith fans from back in the 80s could ever have dreamed possible. Once he overcomes his shyness this Salty Brine chap could be quite the performer!
Oh and he’s backed by a superb quartet of Musical Director Ben Moss on Piano, Migdalia van der Hoven on drums, Will Clark on Violin, and Jess Martin on Bass.
And yes, if you’re wondering, he does address what he calls 'The monster in the room', Morrissey or Mo-Mo as his close friends call him. It's difficult these days.
Difficult to listen to the music of your youth, when a lot of them turned out to be not what you expected. I think we all just wish that you would stop saying ‘the thoughts’ out loud Morrissey.
It’s okay to say ‘the thoughts’ out loud when you’re walking by the canal all by yourself, or on a desolate hillside, or when you're popping into your local florist for the weekly Gladioli order. But please please please stop saying them out loud to the journalists.
Because we want to forgive you.
We remember that voice.
And we remember those lyrics.
And we remember the flowers sticking out the back of your kecks.
I love The Smiths and what this ‘Smiths-Diva’ has done with their songs.
It’s such a brilliant night out.
Each song given a different treatment that Mo-Mo and the boys could never have dreamed of.
And Salty has finally found the best way to get his revenge on his school days detractors and bullies by being a big star not only in New York but now in London too.
Please please please go and see this show, It’s on until the 16th of September, but probably don't take your maiden aunt (if there is such a thing anymore?)
I'd like to borrow some stars from some other shows please, because five stars for this just aren't enough.
At Soho Theatre until 16 September.
