Big Up the Big Life!

In 2005 we saw theatrical history being made with Britain’s first home grown black musical to hit the west end. In its’ short run The Big Life has been given standing ovations and unprecedented critical acclaim for its infectious energy and big heart. X-CEL’s editor went along to big up The Big Life.

Firstly, whilst it may seem incredible that it has taken till now for a black British musical to hit the West End, let it be known that this musical stands on its own merits. With its feel-good ska tunes and upbeat calypso - played by a heavenly band on-stage dressed in angel wings- The Big Life roams through almost every conceivable emotion during its toe-tapping tale of Caribbean migrants striving for a better life in London.

Written by Paul Sirret, The Big Life is an upbeat ska musical which transports the plot of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost to 1950’s London. On the Windrush over from the Caribbean to England, a pact is made by a group of men not to get involved with women for three years while they work to better themselves; but Cupid has another plan. Paul Josephs score of toe-tapping numbers adds a context and flavour which enriches Shakespeare’s drama of postponed satisfaction and the irrepressibility of young love.

Whilst this is a simple show with limited sets, as we have come to expect from the big “West End Musical”, The Big Life relies purely on the simple power of its performers, score and script and it is this simplicity which is key to a production that is all heart. This is a British folk story for real people set in real times. The laughter is real and so are the tears as the show never glosses over the hardship these visitors faced when they arrived in England. It offers a human angle to a slice of social history on the backdrop of a tale that should have been told in the West End years ago.

Whilst the show sadly closed on October 1st 2005 the associate producer Phillip Headley, who nurtured it through two Stratford East runs, says this is only the beginning for the show that he now intends to tour. The Big Life therefore could herald a dawning of a new golden age for British musicals.

“At the end of The Big Life the audience stood up and cheered: as they have done on every occaision I’ve seen this musical. With its catchy songs and charming cast, if you don’t come out of it happy you need therapy, not theatre…There are some killer individual voices but it’s the ensemble singing that raises the hairs on your neck…This charismatic musical is a good time in a smart package, a joyful night out with just enough grit to make you think as well as smile.”
- The Sunday Telegraph