Victor Victoria! Is She a King or is He a Queen?

Caught the musical Victor Victoria with a friend. Originally starring Julie Andrews in the 1982 original, this version featured Laura Fygi as Victoria Grant / Count Victor Grazinski.

Here's my take on the 2h30min show.

(Warning: while the show itself is PG, the content is probably NOT suitable for the young, and those uncomfortable with gay themes!)

The Singing
Starting off a little shaky, Laura Fygi managed to warm up and give an entertaining performance. Her voice was easily the best and strongest of the entire cast. Matt Greg's Carroll Todd the Queen who helps Victoria with her act was easily the most fun and enjoyable character.

Nicole Ainton who played the (intentionally) annoying dumb blonde Norma Cassidy managed to bring across her high pitched whining role with such humour that one couldn't help but forgive her character. Jake Macapagal's King Marchan (the Chicago gangster who falls for Victoria) made me nervous because he had a strong Philippines accent while speaking, which somehow managed to give way to a strong accent-free singing voice.

In fact, the rest of the cast had really terrible inconsistent accents. The mixed international cast which included Singaporeans just couldn't hang on to their fake French / American accents consistently. It's a bit disconcerting to hear someone start off in a Singaporean accent only to complete the sentence in a fake American one.

The Dancing
The male dancers were pretty good, well co-ordinated and with exciting dance moves. The ladies on the other hand... it was pretty sloppy to be totally honest. They definitely needed more rehearsals.

The Music
I liked the band and the jazzy numbers, but don't expect catchy songs that you can hum along to as you wash the dishes or fold the laundry.

The Wardrobe
I actually loved the brightly sequined costumes that flashed beautifully under the stage lights during the dance scenes, but there were too many wardrobe errors to be forgiven...

First Victoria's bracelet flew off her wrist and managed to get kicked around by the dancers on stage until one of them finally managed to pick it up and throw it into the wings. Second one of the dancers lost his hat during a dance move where he had to put it on the floor, and there it remained for quite a while. Third, a white piece of cloth from someone's costume managed to fall off while dancing and there it lay on front of the stage again...

Overall, I still did enjoy the show. Our mistake was probably going so early in the run, when the cast hadn't yet polished their roles enough. Victor/Victoria is showing at the Esplanade until the end of the month, so you can still catch it if you want.