Taylor Mac says early on his show is pure "theatre" and it really is. He is dressed up like an explosion in a Quality Street factory, but he draws the whole audience out with songs, stories, poetry and emails (seriously) that he fills with panache, energy, pathos, comedy and surrealism. By the end the audience is so in his world the whole crowd is standing up doing something fun that I'll not give away the surprise by describing.
The basic structure is the songs on Bowie's concept album "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" so songs like 5 years, Starman and Sufragette City are all in there, but interpreted in a unique way. He mixes in Tiny Tim songs too and a few others. It works a bit like the TV show Glee where the songs are part of the story and in this case it is his life story and his whole philosophy. The main theme is Comparison and how it can be used to diminish someone's originality. I am guilty of it since I just compared his show to Glee. He talks honestly about who his inspirations really were and how creativity is not something exclusive or unique, it is something we can all express and we should. He says when people compare they are saying "you are not original" I think he's right, sort of, but the main point is nothing is original and that's OK.The show is 90 minutes long and it was too short for me and only featured two songs on the uke, but still recommended to anyone from kids to trannies, I mean grannies! 10/10, 5 stars, a must see etc.
By the way, if you are a fan of Bowie, you can go and visit the street where the cover of the album was photographed, it's 23 Haddon Street just off Regent Street, quite near the Soho Theatre, you can visit there in person (http://www.5years.com/heddon.htm) or just visit via Google Maps Street view! Show is only on until the end of the week at the Soho Theatre.
