Reviewed by Jenny Seymour
This musical about the life of Glam rock star Marc Bolan was first launched in 2011. This new UK tour sees the musical rewritten and told with Marc himself as the narrator of “the highlights” of his life.
Sometimes a star is born when they die young – James Dean, Eddie Cochrane – all the heroes of Marc Bolan and ironically, all dying in a similar fashion.
I didn’t know much about the life of Marc Bolan before coming to see this musical but was clearly aware of his music from revivals such as “I like to Boogie” featuring in Billy Elliot and from the Brad Pitt Levi’s ad of the 90s!
The play starts with the fateful day of his death and sees Marc Bolan asking, “will people remember me?” Indeed, they do remember his iconic music, but maybe not the man himself other than the image he portrayed.
Marc Bolan had a confidence from a very early age in his ability to be a rock star and for his dreams to come true. His big blue eyes saw his mum give him everything he dreamed of and he could do no wrong. Not happy with being on the front of Town magazine as a model, we are shown how Bolan went off to “find himself” in Paris with a friend, write his own songs, engineer a meeting with Simon Napier-Bell (who immediately booked a recording session) and even engineer his relationship with his wife June Child – a publicist who had many contacts in the music industry and who first introduced him to Toni Visconti. I loved the “London Boys” song, which takes us back to Carnaby Street and the London scene in the 60s. Who knew that Marc Bolan’s first school band had Helen Shapiro as the lead vocalist! What was great about this musical is that it showed the importance of the 60s music scene and how this transformed from psychedelia to the glam rock ages of the 70s. The music scene was all integrally linked from the soul of Helen Shapiro, through Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton and indeed to Marc’s good friend, David Bowie (again I didn’t know that David Bowie was Rolan Bolan’s godfather and had helped him and his mother out so significantly since Marc Bolan’s death).
We are painted a picture of a man who has so much faith in his ability to become a god-like celebrity, that he really isn’t much of a likeable central character. It was ultimately the fame he craved that put a strain on his mental well-being and he went from teetotal to alcoholic in the studio.
It was such a cruel twist of fate that his life was cut short, just as he was getting it back on track and had become a father and also, that this would have such a long-lasting impact on both his son and Gloria Jones’ life (not only did her accident kill the father of her child, but it ruined her vocal chords and cut short her own singing career).
George Maguire had Marc Bolan down to a tee and overall, the band played incredibly live – it was a great tribute to T-Rex.
Personally, I didn’t like the way in which all of Marc Bolan’s songs were used because his lyrics were too poetical: he liked to rhyme and, for example, I’m not sure all of the lyrics worked to aid the musical (eg “womb” and “tomb” in the love song Cosmic Dancer between him and his new lover, Gloria Jones), but in other ways it worked really well: “Whatever happened to the teenage dream” prophetically telling the story of Marc Bolan’s downfall as he turned more to drink and drugs, as his fame in the US faltered. I also loved the final song at his funeral – Dandy in the Underworld – it was sung beautifully by all those who cared for him: Toni Visconti, June Child, his mother and Gloria Jones. Very moving and ironic that this was the title track from T-Rex’s final studio album that didn’t even chart.
There are some amazing vocal performances in this cast – most notably, Gloria Jones and June Child, but I have to say I don’t think there were any weak vocal performances from anyone in the cast. Some of the acting was a bit wooden at first, but I think that will be ironed out as this musical tour continues. This was the only the 3rd stop on a long UK tour, so if you like the music of the glam rock era, then I would recommend this “tribute-like” musical to get your feet tapping and singing along – I defy anyone to watch it come away without the songs in your head for your drive home!
Fans of glam rock will love the revival of this music telling the life of the Godfather of punk himself, Mr Marc Bolan. Be prepared to get out of your seats and rock with the cast!
Rating: 3/5
Tickets cost from £9 to £32.50 (booking fees may apply).
20th Century Boy is at the Buxton Opera House from 19-21 March 2018, for more information or to book tickets visit buxtonoperahouse.org.uk or call the box office on 01298 72190.
Buxton Opera House, Water Street, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6XN | 01298 72190
