That Was Nearly Us

[elliemorris.livejournal.com]

Has anybody seen the "By Jeeves" musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber? I'm not sure that I saw it mentioned here as I joined the fray rather late, as it is.
I'd have loved to see a Jeeves musical live, especially "Perfect Nonsense" which I once heard being called 'saucy' or something of the sort (a good article here) - but the dates didn't correspond to when I would be able to get away to see it, so I had to drop the idea. :(

You can get the "By Jeeves" musical on DVD, and while I do love it, I have to admit that there is a LOT of crack-y situations that make me roll my eyes; where Florence and Honoria mistook Bertie climbing through their window in a pig mask as a real pig, and the finale where everyone is dressed up as a Wizard of Oz character...

There is one song that I love, called "That was nearly us", a duet between sweet Bertie and Honoria Glossop. You can listen to it on Spotify and YouTube, though I don't have a link to speak of right now. The lyrics are hilarious, as is the more and more feverish and passionate way that Honoria persits despite Bertie's nervousness, and at one point Honoria calls him a "hot-blooded heterosexual"! At this, Bertie sounds perplexed and embarrassed, bless him!
Those two adjectives could certainly be wasted on poor Bertie, and I'm sure Indeed Sir could back me up on that one!
Do you think that was Sir Lloyd Webber employing a little in-joke about Bertie's sexual orientation to his lyrics, or could it be exaggerating Bertie's constant stream of engagements, as some people do interpret him as being a womanizer?

Also, has anybody seen a Jeevesian musical in person? How was it?!

Comments

[derien.livejournal.com]

Oh, I must look up "That Was Nearly Us!"

...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvjgaM6SNwg

Ahaha! And the little 'yike!' look when she shakes her breasts in his face! :)

[elliemorris.livejournal.com]

Haha, I know! It's rather risqué for Wodehouse, but that's one of the main attractions! I have a bit of a soft spot for Honoria for some reason, so I suppose I can forgive her for traumatizing poor Bertie. ;) I think it's one of the best parts of the musical, that, and the actors who play Madeline and Gussie.

Couldn't you just imagine Bertie watching something like this at one of his shows, and coming away blushing like a child!

[horriyuo.livejournal.com]

I saw 'Perfect Nonsense', I wouldn't really describe it as a Wodehouse musical though there's a little dancing at the end but no singing. It was a very sweet show and only contained 3 actors. The premise was Bertie retelling the story of the infamous cow creamer with Jeeves & Seppings to assist. It was beautifully done and the set was gorgeous especially Totleigh towers as the set rotated in order to show new rooms (Seppings had to get on a bike and pedal to achieve the rotation.)

Jeeves and Seppings played an array of characters... If I remember rightly Jeeves played Madeline, Aunt D & Gussie Seppings played Spode(which was hilarious as the actor was short & therefore had to stand on various items of furniture to become intimidating), Watkin Bassett & the shop owner. I can't remember who 'played' Stiffy & such...

There were naturally lots of Wodehousian jokes(e.g. an audience member looked after a policemans helmet) plus jokes about the fact there were only 3 actors within the play. One of the best scenes was when Madeline (played by Jeeves) kissed Bertie. A great scene if you ship Jooster...

I saw it a few months ago when Bertie was being played by Robert Webb, the cast overall were really excellent.

[elliemorris.livejournal.com]

Ooh, you've made me very excited as my parents have booked tickets for the middle of September, just when I thought there were no more showings! I adore Jooster, so I know this play will be great fun!

[cherrypep.livejournal.com]

I saw it too in the end! Not in London, but later, when it was touring.

Kicking myself for not having seen it while still in London, although it's been a long and nasty year or so and probably that (and the cost of the tickets for seeing it in Londinium) accounts for it to some extent. Perfect Nonsense was so, so much fun.

In my memory of it, both Stiffy and Sir Watkyn Bassett were played by Jeeves. Wasn't there a scene at the end where Jeeves manages, solo, to portray the argument about whether Stiffy will marry Stinker Pinker or Wooster? And a pipe prop with a moustache stuck to it was involved somewhere, as well as some very clever tailoring,

I had a feeling Seppings was Spode and Aunt Dahlia - I have some memory of Seppings climbing down from his mobile Spode fortress/tower wearing high heels and a dress concealed behind the coat of the Great Dictator - but it's been a while, so I could be wrong about that too :)