Blackpool Rock
Not even the angry dun-coloured sea or a howling gale could dampen the spirits on an awayday to Blackpool to see the new show Forbidden at the Pleasure Beach. Second Saturday of July, and the vacancies in exclusive sea-front B&B’s — £20 per person per night and all you can eat breakfast buffet — were as plentiful as friends of the cast at a Christopher Biggins first night.
The English seaside holiday may be a forlorn and wilting tradition, but some people never say die: my colleague Robert Gore-Langton, for instance, who boldly strapped himself into the latest ride in the Pleasure Beach park, Infusion, and travelled upside down at 80mph in a bucket seat through a forest of jet sprays.
As we’d both just been on Valhalla — with Alistair Smith of The Stage; half-way through that terrifying ride, I heard myself screaming, “Alright, I give in, I will go and see Menopause the Musical” — and got thoroughly soaked already, I passed on this one and nibbled on my candyfloss.
No stopping producers David Pugh and Michael Harrison, though. They went on everything. I think David is planning on bringing the Grand National ride to the West End, as a sort of audience-participation Starlight Express without the music. Should do well. Nothing fazes Pugh much, except the news he shared with us that Michael Ball is getting paid £25,000 a week to star in Hairspray, and Mel Smith a mere £17,500.
Forbidden itself was a gas, a sort of Talk of the Town show with lingerie and an outrageous Batman figure who snarled at the audience and turned into the Queen of the Night. Fair cop as a lavish old-style revue, but the show to see at Pleasure Beach is Hot Ice. So get your skates on, go back in time and and rush to where it’s really not at: Blackpool in the summer season.