By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Saturday 1 June 2024, closes 30 June 2024 RUNTIME: 135 minutes (including a 15-minute interval) Update: now extended through 27 July 2024

We 1st saw this Pet Shop Boys musical on its debut at the intimate Arts Theatre in London’s West End in 2001 and then on its revival at Above The Stag in Vauxhall in 2019 and said: ‘If you’re a Pet Shop Boys fan you’ll marvel at just how good these songs are but also why being so ahead of its time can be the only reason why it wasn’t a bigger hit’. 

• Read on for reasons including how this is our favourite ever musical and this is its best revival

Frances Barber originated the role of Vic’s nightclub hostess Billie Trix and in this production she is moved centre stage and given a different spin by the fabulously voiced Frances Ruffelle who originated the Tony-winning role of Eponine in Les Miserables and competed for the UK in the 1994 Eurovision finishing 10th in Dublin with Lonely Symphony.

Ruffelle retains the flinty vulnerability and stoicism Barber imbued her with which saw her have her own show in 2019 (MUSIK, Leicester Square Theatre) and her infuriating eccentricity is still there but, boy, can she now sing and the anthemic torch song Friendly Fire is now the show’s highlight (see below).

We loved Courtney Bowman in Legally Blonde at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and she’s brilliant here as the daughter of the club’s gay owner Vic who falls for barman and would-be popstar ‘Straight’ Dave and their break-up anthem Out Of My System is so well sung that it almost pips Friendly Fire as the showstopper.

Closer To Heaven is set in a gay London nightclub at the turn of the century and there is no pre-allocated seating at this venue with its layout changed so there are now cabaret seats around a walkway-type stage which crosses almost two-thirds of the venue with more traditional theatre seating on a rake at the back.

People in those cabaret seats are given red or green beer-mat type cards they can place on their tables which indicate whether they are happy (green) – or not (red) – to be interacted with by the cast who come out a lot into the audience during this show particularly during riotous opener My Night.

We sat in the 40 or so traditional-style theatre seating at the back of the venue and had a great view thanks to that area’s raking. There was a bit of a bundle for the seating and we felt staff could have done more to better organise the experience which saw people queue for admission from 6.30pm only to be finally let in to the bunfight that was the actual seating at 7pm.

Venue CCTV figures hugely in the show’s plot and someone’s clearly seen Jamie Lloyd’s Olivier smash Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy because we also get filmed footage from Trix’s dressing room as she prepares to go onstage as well as a glimpse inside the gents’ loos where ‘Straight’ Dave is about to cast doubt on that moniker.

Closer To Heaven is penned by Jonathan Harvey (Beautiful Thing) and is a classic boy moves to London, goes clubbing and then finds love with a girl … and then a boy story. The script is vintage Harvey and is fabulously filthy particularly whenever band manager Bob Saunders, a hilarious Bob Muscat is onstage, especially during comic number Call Me Old Fashioned.

There are lots of drugs in it which some may find offputting but its real draw is that it boasts Pet Shop Boys banger after banger.

This is the 3rd time we’ve seen it and our 3rd different ending. The original and Above The Stag version climaxed with ‘Straight’ Dave’s accession to pop stardom with Positive Role Model in the original and Vocal in the revival.

This time the best song from MUSIK is used to close the show and it further accentuates the promotion of Ruffelle’s Trix to centrestage.

Closer To Heaven is probably our favourite ever musical and this is the best revival of it we have thus far seen and, although not quite yet at the pearly gates of perfection, is certainly 1 step nearer.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Turbine Theatre Tickets
• Have you seen a Turbine Theatre show before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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