Reviewed by Nikki Cotter

Opening Night verdict ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Co-written by Harry Hill and Steve Brown, Tony Blair (The Tony Blair Rock Opera) examines both the incredible rise and significant fall of Labour’s most successful Prime Minister in a sequence of musical comedy sketches varying from the downright bonkers to the outrageously brilliant.

This witty take on the former MP for Sedgefield won’t fail to raise a smile as political and cultural figures from the period are given a silly and satirical going over. We see a bagpipe toting Alastair Campbell, the coining of the ‘People’s Princess’ Diana, there’s balloon modelling from Peter Mandleson while true to life poor old Gordon Brown’s calls for meaningful change go largely ignored.

Jack Whittle is fantastic as the wide-eyed wannabe Tony Blair, grinning and green as he embarks on his Premiership while a seriously Scouse Cherie (Tori Burgess) utters an ominous “What could possibly go wrong?” as the giddy heights of No.10 are reach as we head into the interval.

This wacky waltz through Blair’s ill-fated premiership is like Ed Balls’s appearance on Strictly Come Dancing, you simply can’t stop watching and the more ridiculous the more riveted you become.

The cast are on fine form, taking on multiple roles throughout, there’s strong support from all with special mention going to Howard Samuels who spectacularly stirs the pot as Peter Mandleson. Rosie Strobel pulls off a brilliant John Prescott reminding us just how little we’d like to mess with ‘Two Jags’ and Phil Sealy shows his brilliant versatility as both Gordon Brown and Saddam Hussein.

The script is off the wall and inventive, while the songs are clever and catchy, some however would benefit from a little trimming to ensure they pack more of a punch. While the show is great fun it does at times linger slightly longer than feels necessary within several of the scenes. The committed cast however work their Labour red socks off to keep the piece moving forward.

This whistle stop tour of Blair’s giddy heights and unforgettable lows is nicely summarised in the final song, ‘The Whole Wide World’ it might not fill you with hope for a better tomorrow but it will give you a jolly good giggle today. Sir Keir take note!

TONY! (The Tony Blair Rock Opera) is on at The Lowry until Saturday 7th October tickets available here.