The Bodyguard The Musical Review – New Wimbledon Theatre
A review by Charli Bruce
The Bodyguard has to be one of the most iconic movies of the 90’s starring Whitney Houston as Rachel Marron, a singer and actress who starts receiving death threats from an obsessive stalker and hires Frank Farmer (Kevin Costner) an ex secret service agent to be her bodyguard. Rachel and Frank end up falling for each other as he tries tirelessly to protect her family including her sister Nikki and son Fletcher.
We were lucky enough to see the live action musical of The Bodyguard at New Wimbledon Theatre and it didn’t disappoint. The show is starring Melody Thornton (The Pussycat Dolls) and Ayden Callaghan (Emmerdale/Hollyoaks) as the leads of the show. I personally think they made an excellent Rachel and Frank, they really evoked the characters and bought great talent to the stage.
The show starts with Rachel preforming the hit Queen of the Night which was absolutely captivating. This had the whole theatre hooked on how the rest of the show was going to pan out. The staging was absolutely flawless and the way the sets changed effortlessly really bought to life the whole movie. One of the things I liked about the musical was the fact that it kept very true to the original movie only with a few changes that didn’t disappoint.
Melody Thornton played a great Rachel Marron and was absolutely exceptional at bringing to life all of the ballads that are in the original movie, the only thing I didn’t like was the fact they had added a lot of Whitney Houstons top hits which I don’t think it needed as it felt slightly like a Whitney Houston tribute rather than keeping to the fact the story is about a fictional character, Rachel Marron.
Emily-Mae who played Nikki Marron was the underhanded star of the show for me, she played Nikki so well and this ladys voice is absolutely flawless. She is such a great actress and had such an excellent stage presence that she absolutely captivated me and kept me really interested in the show. In the movie I didn’t like Nikki Marron but the stage version of her was perfection, and I would love to watch future shows with Emily-Mae in them as I found her outstanding.
The rest of the cast really bought to life the original characters really well and I can’t believe how great the casting was for everyone, especially the stalker. The scenes where the stalker appeared in the background had you gripping your seats with a few jump scares which had the whole audience in shock. This added so much dramatic value to the show and made it so very enjoyable.
The Bodyguard is currently touring the country and I would highly recommend grabbing a ticket if it comes to a city near you soon. Click here to book tickets for The Bodyguard The Musical UK Tour and check out what other shows are currently on at New Wimbledon Theatre.
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Photo Credit: Paul Coltas
