Come Dine With Me - The Musical
An hilarious homage to Channel 4's much-loved television show
Norwich Theatre
Norwich Theatre Playhouse's 'Festival of New Musicals' continues this week with a real feast of laughter, song and culinary chaos, as 'Come Dine With Me : The Musical' mixes together four larger than life contestants, all egged on by a desperate three piece production crew, and cooking up an hilarious homage to Channel 4's much-loved show, a daytime television delight that has entertained and enthralled us for almost a decade.
Co-created by Nell Butler and Genevieve Welch (who had both worked on the original television series), and written by Sam Norman and Aaron King, the show begins even as we are taking our seats – 'producer' Mary (Danielle Coombe), 'sound engineer' Teddy (Harry Chandler) and 'videographer' Roy (Tom Bowen) are moving around the audience, marshalling us and conducting 'vox pop' interviews with much hilarity.
The format of 'Come Dine With Me' will be familiar to anyone who has not been hiding under a rock for the last ten years. Four contestants take it in turns to host a dinner party. Television cameras are there to record all of the preparations, all of the awkwardness, and all of the tantrums, as each contestant is marked by their three dinner guests. The one who gets most points wins the competition.
The four 'contestants' assembled for our musical drama and delight are snobbish French-food fanatic Barbara (Kim Ismay), vegan lifestyle guru Ernest (Leo Udvarlaky), earthy pork-pie expert Duncan (Paul Hazel), and bubbly youngster Janey (Sophie Hutchison). Desperate to create and capture some magic within each of the four dinner dates, producer Mary will attempt almost anything to spice up her fictional 1000th episode of the show. Meanwhile it appears that sound man Teddy and contestant Janey may have met before.
Essentially a comedy about the magic of human connection, who wins becomes almost irrelevant as these characters all strive to impress, even whilst coping with their individual fears and shortcomings. It is a show that serves up an affectionate homage to one of television’s most-loved guilty pleasures. Cook for 60 minutes, and enjoy.
'Come Dine With Me – The Musical' continues at Norwich Theatre Playhouse until Sunday July 28th, after which it heads north to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
