Bend it Like Beckham - Phoenix Theatre

England football shirt

I wonder how David Beckham feels about this musical. It must be amazing to know there's a show running in the West End that depicts you as one of the best and most admired footballers of your generation and (in a more minor way) an object of desire, AND has your name in the title. What's more, this being the progressive, feminist-minded oeuvre that it is, it is the female protagonist, Jess, who sees Mr Beckham purely in terms of his footballing prowess and the gay male character, Tony, who makes (the only?) reference to his physical attractiveness.

Because of such feminist qualities including, most obviously, its championing of women's football - and of course, its exploration of other important issues such as balancing familial/cultural expectations with achieving an ambition, being held back by prejudice etc. - I wish I could say that I loved this musical, but unfortunately I did not. Everyone else in the audience seemed to love it, though, so maybe I wasn't in the right mood. I enjoyed the film very much and just didn't think the story worked as well in musical form.

Good points first: Natalie Dew as Jess was instantly likeable with her open, friendly face and earnest expressions, and completely believable. It was good to see Lauren Samuels of Over the Rainbow fame as Jules. At the risk of sounding humourless, I found Preeya Kalidas' exaggerated south London/Indian accent as Pinky tooth-setting-on-edge irritating. However, I enjoyed all her scenes with Teetu (Raj Bajaj), particularly the engagement party dancing scene near the beginning. Jess's dad (Tony Jayawardena) was very funny in a dry, deadpan sort of way; his understated reactions to the various goings-on provided some of the best humour in the show.

The musical showed more of the parents' perspectives than the film, as far as I can remember. Both sets of parents - Jess's parents and Jules's mum - came across as more sympathetic in the musical. Jules' mum (Sophie-Louise Dann) came across as particularly sympathetic as a single mum anxious to develop a close relationship with a daughter she didn't understand and to whom she couldn't easily relate. Her mistaken belief that Jules was a lesbian made for some very funny moments.

Things I wasn't keen on/didn't think translated well into a musical:

• The football. They did their best to depict the playing of football but the game is ultimately more exciting when you actually see it being played as opposed to simulated with light effects and through dance. 
• The songs. Enjoyable enough while watching the show, but I have not had a hankering to hear them again since. And I actively did not like 'Glorious'.
• It went on for too long. The full Greek tragedy-esque cycle of Jess deciding, after much agonising, not to play football but then playing football and being discovered and then deciding not to play football again seemed to occur at least one time too many.

photo credit: Come on England via photopin (license)

Next: Akhnaten