Silence! The Musical takes the beloved psychological horror film The Silence of the Lambs and poses a very important question. What if the lambs weren’t silent? What if they sang? The musical pays irreverent homage to the movie while adding song, dance and a whole shedload of smutty jokes.
For those unfamiliar with the original plot, the show follows rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling (Phoebe Panaretos), who is charged with visiting Hannibal ‘the cannibal’ Lecter (Mark Oxtoby), a psychiatrist incarcerated in an asylum after killing and eating a number of victims. Clarice needs Hannibal’s help to catch another serial killer, Buffalo Bill (Jake Anthony), who rather than eating his victims prefers to wear their skin.
Clarice and Lecter are accompanied onstage by an ensemble of singing lambs, an artistic choice which sets the audience up for a fever dream of a parody. Sadly, the show rarely plumbs the depths of insanity needed to make this kind of parody soar. While Hunter Bell’s book and Jon and Al Kaplan’s songs are very funny in places, they too often default to over-repetition of a joke, which wasn’t particularly funny to begin with. The show is often at its most amusing when it leans into its fringe elements and breaks the fourth wall, such as one character groaning ‘ow’ from offstage after being flung into the wings on a wheelie chair.
There is also enjoyable choreography from Christopher Gattelli, hitting most of the familiar musical theatre notes. The dream sequence featuring Sebastian Goffin as Dream Hannibal and Nathalie Marrable as Dream Clarice is a particular highlight here, as is the lewdly-named song which accompanies it (the programme did promise songs with unprintable titles).
Oxtoby as Hannibal Lecter is delightfully creepy and steals every scene which he appears in, while Panaretos is an amusing Clarice, although her imitation of Jodie Foster’s trademark lisp becomes less funny and more grating as the show goes on. Jenay Naima is also a standout from the supporting cast as Ardelia, showcasing outstanding vocals.
A spirited and amusing parody, Silence! The Musical may not hit all the right notes but it will certainly be enjoyed by any fan of the film. Silence! The Musical runs at the Turbine Theatre until 28th September. For more information and tickets, follow the link here.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3*)
Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | photography by Mark Senior
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