Review of Frankenstein-based cabaret show at Soho Theatre

New York cabaret powerhouse Salty Brine says he likes to use ‘Frankenstein’ as a verb, meaning to stitch together disparate ideas to make an all-new creature.

Well, he’s Frankensteined the hell out of this show which somehow makes a hybrid of Mary Shelley’s gothic classic, The Smith’s The Queen Is Dead album and autobiographical tales of thwarted poetic ambitions and the loneliness of dating in New York into a monster success.

Showing what a jukebox musical could be with a real shot of artistic vision, Bigmouth Strikes Again is about the lyrical hearts of sensitive outsiders: Shelley’s, the Creature’s, his own and Morrissey’s. The more recent troubling pronouncements of the frontman are certainly not permitted to sour his reputation as a songwriter of rare vulnerability and humanity in his heyday.

Cemetry Gates, with its lyrics noting that ‘Keats and Yeats are on your side’ provides a convenient link between The Smiths and the romantic poets of which Shelley and her husband Percy Bysshe were a part. Meanwhile The Creature goes from the titular Bigmouth  to The Boy With The Thorn In His Side. It’s not on the right album, but How Soon Is Now is press-ganged into service for its pertinent line:  ‘I am human and I need to be loved, just like everybody else does.’

Vicar In A Tutu is definitely more about the glamorous Brine – who performs in a baby-doll dress for most of the show – than Victor Frankenstein’s creation. And who knew Frankly, Mr Shankly would make such a banging, jaunty showtune? But in the very capable hands - and mighty lungs - of Brine, almost anything could be. A four-piece backing band adds another touch of showmanship, even if their energy is relatively restrained.

Brice is a compelling performer, putting his own spin on all these familiar tracks with the aid of musical director Ben Moss, and powering the multistranded narrative through the considerable force of his personality. He also exploits the fact most audiences aren’t au fait with some of the finer points of the Frankenstein story, from a tale of immigrant love to the Arctic framing device, to illuminate new perspectives with his considerable dramatic storytelling skills. 

In Cemetry Gates, Morrissey referenced his propensity for occasionally using the lines of others, including within that very track, when he sang:  ‘The words you use should be your own, don’t plagiarise or take "on loan".’ Similarly, Brine takes in some famous last words and the occasional juicy quote to illustrate his show that is already plundering the horror masterpiece, yet make it into something that is unmistakably his.

A touch of They Might Be Giants is also grafted onto this cabaret cadaver, but that works, too. Even tragedies such as the infant deaths of Mary Shelley’s children do not seem unreasonable inclusions, despite the general tone of predatory camp. Samples of his poetry are a bit more clunky, but even then the ironic bed of discordant music sells it well.

Brine has previously repurposed several musicians’ back catalogues for shows under his Living Record Collection banner, including the likes of Annie Lennox, Prince and Radiohead. Bigmouth Strikes Again is his UK debut, but deserves to be the start of many return visits. The pleasure, the privilege, would be ours.

• Salty Brine: Bigmouth Strikes Again – The Smiths Show is on at the Soho Theatre, London, until September 16.

Review date: 6 Sep 2023
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Soho Theatre