It was with curious anticipation that I attended the opening night of previews of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, starring former X Factor contestant Diana Vickers.

I’ll preface this review by saying that I didn’t follow X Factor while she was on it so I had no pre-formed opinions one way or the other about her. I also don’t consider myself to be a theatre snob, and openly admit to loving shows which the majority of critics think are trash. So all in all, I went in relatively unbiased.

Despite my open-mindedness, I walked away a little horrified. Can she sing? Sure. Can she act? To be fair, I’ve seen much worse performances on West End stages. Can she do even half-decent vocal impersonations? Absolutely not. My friend and I were left wondering if any of Vickers’ fans in the audience had ever actually heard Judy Garland, Shirley Bassey, Edith Piaf or Cilla Black (surely everyone knows what Cilla is supposed to sound like?!), as the spontaneous applause that followed mediocre impression after mediocre impression seemed to suggest not.

While we’re on the subject of applause, if you’ve never been to the theatre before but decide that the casting of your most favourite starlet is reason enough to remedy that, here’s a little tip; the applause comes at the end of songs, not just whenever you can’t contain yourself any longer. Still, maybe I’m expecting too much from people who, for example, spend the first five minutes of Act II trying to shove their empty wine glass into their handbag (yes, I did notice you doing that).

Putting aside all things Vickers for a moment, I’m still undecided how I feel about Lez Brotherston’s set design. While the rotation of the set seemed to provide a logical solution to the lack of space on the Vaudeville’s stage, it destroyed any sense of illusion and seeing stealthy stagehands creeping around in other parts of the set stole focus from the actors. I was also fearful for a precariously-balanced lamp that wobbled worryingly every time the set rotated.

In general, it’s a shame to admit that this production very much suffers from its stunt-casting. While there were some genuinely excellent performances from the adult cast (Scarborough accents notwithstanding), and even some compelling acting from Vickers at times, the authenticity of this play never comes down to simply casting people who can act. Choosing to cast a pop singer who is not vocally mature enough to carry off the impersonations makes the discovery of the character’s miraculous talent rather anti-climactic and makes the whole thing quite, well, pointless.

One shouldn’t find themselves siding with Little Voice’s awful mother who shrieks that she will never let her go on stage again (I’m inclined to agree that Edith Piaf has been through enough).

I’d be very interested to see Natalie Garner, Vickers’ understudy, perform the role. Whether she could carry off the impersonations any better, and whether this would bring a cohesiveness to the production which was very much lacking with Vickers in the role, I don’t know. What I do know is that despite the atrocious vocal impersonations, Vickers will most likely continue to get standing ovations because people are not there for the play; they are there to see that girl off the X Factor.

Tagged as: cilla black, diana vickers, edith piaf, judy garland, little voice, shirley bassey

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