We will heavily caveat this feature by advising we don’t think it would be fair to give OSCAR at The Crown a full review: we weren’t able to attend the show’s recent press night, so we attended a performance a few days later. Unfortunately, for our show, due to company illness the cast performed a reduced version of OSCAR at The Crown – more akin to a staged concert. We were still able to enjoy most of the songs and some of the choreography, but we know we weren’t getting the full experience – hopefully we’ll have an opportunity to return later in the run.
We can of course share our impressions of what we saw – which we thoroughly enjoyed. A purpose-built underground club on Tottenham Court Road, The Crown is full of London references and nods to various queer creatives – it’s a super cool venue, with a positive vibe as soon as you walk in. In the full version of the show the action will unfurl all around the audience within the venue, but for the most part our performance took place on the main stage (although a few scenes unfolded on the dance floor).
So what exactly is OSCAR at The Crown? It’s a new musical – it made its debut in New York a few years ago and had a short stint at the Edinburgh Fringe festival before opening in London earlier this summer. The subject matter is rather unusual – it’s (sort of) about the life and times of Oscar Wilde, but there’s a lot of crossover with the Real Housewives series and various references to Julie from The OC. It doesn’t make a huge amount of sense – and given that Wilde’s life story is actually quite interesting, we’re not convinced that these additions were necessary – but it’s an enjoyable enough narrative nonetheless.
The music is the real highlight here – there are some great songs (by Andrew Barret Cox, who is also responsible for the choreography and costume design) and the performers in this show are absolute powerhouse vocalists. Jan Sport (of Drag Race US fame) currently leads the cast – and Jan is a superb singer and wonderful host – but it’s very much an ensemble piece. Everyone can really hold their own and the harmonies absolutely sparkle. We’re aware we only saw a glimpse of the choreography, but what we saw was truly impressive.
We had a great night with OSCAR at The Crown: it’s a fun new queer musical in a cool venue. At time of writing there’s a ticket offer (all tickets £25) – we’d have gladly paid that for the reduced version of the show we saw, so we expect the full show for that price is an absolute steal.
More information can be found here.