TONY! review: A madcap romp that’s refreshingly near the knuckle

Creators Harry Hill and Steve Brown are covering all bases when they say that TONY! is “a show for Tony lovers and haters, everyone and everyone in between”. Tony being Tony Blair, the former Labour Party leader and UK Prime Minister on whose life this parenthetically dubbed Tony Blair Rock Opera is based.

Loosely based. Very loosely. “Don’t expect a history lesson,” is Hill and Brown’s caveat for a musical that has Blair dancing his way out of the womb, Gordon Brown morphing into The Hulk, Tony coming very close to snogging George Bush and Saddam Hussein being played by Groucho Marx.

It’s a madcap romp that has Hill’s stamp all over it. Everything is heightened and slightly surreal. The pace is so fast that one character is baffled by Princess Diana’s death occurring (off stage) just five minutes after she’s waltzed with the PM. And Brown’s hummable score is pastiche-heavy as it takes in rock-and-roll, a bit of Monty Python and lots of nods to Sondheim and Les Mis.

Some might find it too frenetic but I was in stitches. Others might consider it tasteless but when comedy these days is such a minefield of political correctness its willingness to get as near to the knuckle as possible is refreshing.

It begins and ends with Blair (who is very much still alive in reality) on his deathbed. Then it charts his rise from his early days as a wannabe rocker to his tenure as the UK’s first rock-and-roll Prime Minister who invited Oasis round to Number 10 and fashioned himself on Mick Jagger. (Or Mick Jaggers, as he keeps calling the Rolling Stone frontman – another very Harry Hill touch.) 

It’s easy to have mixed feelings about the man himself. He said last year that it was “not sensible” to criticise World Cup hosts Qatar because of the country’s human rights record and views on LGBT+ people. But his government pushed through the equalisation of the age of consent, the repeal of section 28 and the legalisation of civil partnerships.

The latter is referenced in a show that nevertheless isn’t blind to the man’s faults, including the fact he lead us into four wars. As played by Jack Whittle, he’s a nitwit who ties his tie round his head and calls for a “war on terror” without having the faintest idea what it means. 

Whittle is handsomer than the man himself but he’s got the same fixed smile. He’s the head of a terrific multitasking cast in which Howard Samuels is a standout as a very camp Peter Mandelson.

There are some misfires, like Bin Laden’s song at the start of act two. Not because it’s in poor taste but simply because it’s not a good tune. And the frenzied pacing gets wearisome at times. But it ends on a hilarious high with Tony and cronies singing “The whole wide world is run by assholes” – and ain’t that the truth!

TONY! is at the Leicester Square Theatre, London, until 21 May and tours the UK from 25 May. Get tickets here