‘Spitting Image’ has acquired renowned status thanks to the long running satirical TV series and producers Avalon feel it’s time to take it even further by staging its own musical.

Saying ‘musical’ – there is no band, no live vocals and the songs are covers of already well-known tracks with their lyrics changed (“Putin on the Blitz” should give you the idea).

The story Idiots Assemble is the best that writers Al Murray, Matt Forde and Sean Foley can do at bringing together the most celebrities from far and wide, mainly politicians, all under the same simple, far-fetched plot. Basically, from what I can understand, Boris Johnson wishes to steal the crown from the newly coronated King Charles so he hires Tom Cruise to gather as many famous people as he can muster to help out. The likes of Tyson Fury, Rishi Sunak and Meghan Markle to name but a few.

Thanks to the recent television revival of the well-known programme, many of Roger Law’s caricaturist puppets are available to reuse in this show. Harry Kane and Ed Sheeran appear for literally seconds but it’s very useful to keep the show fresh and moving fast. Law’s puppets need no introduction – they have such a familiar look and are hilarious caricatures of the real people. The occasional less-known character relies on a name check before the audience realise exactly who it is, but they really are a feat of engineering and brought to life wonderfully by the talented troupe of puppeteers.

It’s those puppeteers who make this show. Impeccable lip-syncing, fast costume changes and full-blown dance routines are just some of the skills asked of them. 

Voice over artists such as Luke Kempner, Jess Robinson & Debra Stephenson provide identical impressions to aid the puppets and deliver the persistent gags with perfect comic timing. Where the script can sometimes be a little predictable, there are jokes aplenty and the laughs come regularly. There must be the constant worry, however, that the show will drift out of date. Charles’ coronation already feels slightly dated and jokes about Pizza Express, Covid and Boris’ rule breaking aren’t exactly new. Saying that, there are nice up-to-date references to Phillip Schofield and Nicola Sturgeon which must have been fed late on.

The television programme worked so well because the sketches were quick, ever-changing and the entire show lasted 30 minutes. Here, a two hour musical becomes slightly repetitive and loses what works so well on air. You’re wondering how much further this can go by the interval.

It is however a silly, entertaining, pantomimic night at the theatre although not an escape from the outside world – if anything, it digs cleverly into the hidden truths about it. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️