{"id":2788,"date":"2023-03-28T10:45:54","date_gmt":"2023-03-28T10:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/?p=2788"},"modified":"2023-03-30T22:47:13","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T22:47:13","slug":"ive-got-the-stuff-that-you-want-the-bodyguard-orchard-theatre-dartford-27-03-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/?p=2788","title":{"rendered":"‘I’ve got the stuff that you want’ – The Bodyguard, Orchard Theatre, Dartford. 27.03.2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This one had a lot to live up to. The Bodyguard <\/em>is one of my all-time favourite films, Whitney Houston practically invented the term \u2018powerhouse\u2019, and I was devastated when it closed in the West End before I had a chance to see it. No pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you haven\u2019t seen the film, former Secret Service agent turned bodyguard Frank Farmer is hired to protect superstar Rachel Marron from a stalker who has been sending threatening letters. They both expect to be in charge, but they don\u2019t expect to fall in love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Melody Thornton is Queen of the Night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have to confess, there was a split second in the opening number where I thought this wasn\u2019t going to live up to the film. They opened with a bang, starting with \u2018Queen of the Night\u2019 \u2013 my favourite song \u2013 and it was slightly underwhelming in terms of vocals. However, based on the rest of the performance this was clearly a hiccup. I think perhaps the combination of high-energy dancing and the handheld mic didn\u2019t best showcase Melody Thornton\u2019s fantastic voice as Rachel Marron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it is fantastic. Melody Thornton absolutely has the stuff that you want for this role. She doesn\u2019t try to imitate Whitney too exactly, and she demonstrates her own extraordinary talent in songs such as \u2018I Have Nothing\u2019 and \u2018One Moment in Time\u2019. She smashes \u2018I Will Always Love You\u2019 in the finale. It\u2019s no mean feat either, in the role of Rachel Marron Melody has to carry the show, doing at least 80% of the singing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The only other singing, other than a brief and very heart-warming few lines from Frankie Keita as Fletcher and a comically awkward karaoke performance from Ayden Callaghan as Frank Farmer, was done by Emily-Mae as Nicki Marron. Relatively unknown, Emily-Mae is clearly a rising star and one to watch in the future. Her voice is comfortably on a par with Melody\u2019s and they perform beautifully together in their duets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond that it is the acting and dancing that brings the show together. Kayne Gordon stood out as one of strongest dancers on stage, although little Frankie Keita also looks like he might have a good future in that department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The actors all played their roles very well and in line with how the characters are played in the movie. Ayden Callaghan captures Frank Farmer\u2019s stiff, deadpan attitude; John Macauley as Bill Devaney emulates the trusting relationship he and Rachel have; Graham Elwell is hardman head of security Tony Scibelli; and James Groom captures Sy Spector\u2019s annoying fame for thirst and power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The show starts with a literal bang of a gunshot which most of the audience weren\u2019t ready for and had the potential to cause a heart attack. Marios Nicolaides as The Stalker provided the show\u2019s creepy moments, causing everyone in the audience (yet again) to jump about three feet into the air when he appears in the doorway and ultimately kills Nikki, leading to a moving scene between her and Rachel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, this small cast delivers something phenomenal. Melody Thornton gave it her all, and the cast do a terrific job of supporting her in the role of Rachel Marron. Emily-Mae also shines and I can\u2019t wait to see what she goes onto next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bodyguard<\/em> is on at The Orchard Theatre in Dartford until Saturday 1 April 2023. Tickets can be bought here<\/a>. I highly recommend booking now if you want to see it \u2013 last night\u2019s performance was packed, and I hear it\u2019s selling out fast for the rest of the week.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tTweet<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This one had a lot to live up to. The Bodyguard is one of my all-time favourite films, Whitney Houston practically invented the term \u2018powerhouse\u2019, and I was devastated when it closed in the West End before I had a chance to see it. No pressure. If you haven\u2019t seen the film, former Secret Service […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1485,19],"tags":[526,38,524,43],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2788"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2788"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2793,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2788\/revisions\/2793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}