This is a beautiful, bittersweet musical comedy about two peoples love for Mae West, the ‘Dirty Blonde’, wonderfully directed by James Lapine.

The two meet at Mae’s grave on the anniversary of her birthday, both realising their common idolisation, they become friends, regaling and uniting stories of the blonde bombshell.

During the two hour show, the clever use of flashback interspersed with vaudeville review songs, photo backdrops, simplistic set, diverse lighting and of course, Mae’s clever one- liners brings the shadows of Mae and the yesteryear just that little bit closer to a 2004 audience.

Kevin Chamberlain plays the man lovingly obsessed with Mae, having met her on several occasions as a teen and has some very powerful monologues and audience narrative to convey just how much she meant to him.

Through Jo (played beautifully by Claudia Shear who also helped develop the play and hauntingly mimics Mae perfectly), he sees that she resembles West and encourages her, without giving too much of the plot away, to hit the town dressed up as their idol, in a dress presented to him by Mae.This enables the flashback scenes to swoop in and out of the present, moving the story along and getting deeper into the hearts and minds of all the characters you feel you can laugh with them, feel for them and understand them.

Both myself and my companion left the theatre feeling lifted by this sexy, sassy, heart wrenching and very funny tale of  the woman ‘born platinum but who became a dirty blonde’

 “Come up and see me some time…”

I strongly recommend this thought provoking play to all. Whether you are a wannabe ‘bad girl’, an avid theatregoer, fan of the bombshell, new to the theatre or just looking for an entertaining night out, I guarantee you will enjoy it!

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