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Jake and Elwood still rock on
The All New Original Tribute to The Blues
Brothers Birmingham Hippodrome **** THE Blues Brothers have been around since
1977 and, on opening night at least for the first act, it was starting
to show. The classy seven piece band was on song, the
Bluettes backing singers were bopping in harmony and Jake and Elwood
were all non-stop action – but somehow it was all a bit flat, a bit
tired. The spark was missing. It was all a bit going through the motions Luckily the half time oranges did the trick
though and Jake and Elwood cranked up the show and the audience into
what we have come to expect of a Blues Brothers tribute show. Comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi first
featured the Blues Brothers on American TV show Saturday Night Live
in 1978 but had used the act as a warm up for the show for a year prior
to that. A film came in 1980 and there were tours
and concerts but in 1983, just six years after Jake and Elwood had been
born Belushi was dead – ironically it was a rockers demise from
heroin and cocaine poisoning in a Hollywood hotel. Not a huge box office success the first time
around the film became a cult classic and since then enough tribute acts
and shows have sprung up to populate a small country with people in pork
pie hats, black ties, shades, crumpled black suits and white socks. This show is about the brothers but even manages
a couple of songs that predates them. Before Jake and Elwood evolved
Aykroyd and Belushi had sung blues together in a section of the TV show
where members of the Saturday Night team appeared singing a song dressed
as bees. Aykroyd and Belushi did Muddy Waters' I'm a King Bee. It apparently got rapturous applause back in 1976
but how things have changed. It is resurrected in this show and, to be
honest, the bee suits do not really work and the second song in the
stripe costunes, Rubber Biscuits, a Chips number from
1956, sung by Elwood, is the weakest in the show. How that song is still
being performed by anyone beats me. For the rest Brad Henshaw, who is also the
director, as Jake and Daniel Fletcher as Elwood make a more than
decent fist of the brothers in a lively first half which is lifted
by the trio of Bluettes, Jocasta Almgill, Alexus Ruth and Victoria
Goddard, in numbers such as Shake a Tail Feather and Respect. Come the second half though and the that
undefinable spark is back. This isn't just a rhythm and blues concert
any more, this is the Blues Brothers with Jake dragging everyone
to their feet for Flip, Flop Fly – with actions and song sheet.
The Bluettes give us Aretha Franklin's Think
while there are two quieter moments with Elwood singing that Drifters'
classic Under the Boardwalk backed by Jake and the Bluettes in
what was a beautiful version and perhaps most poignant of all Henshaw as
Jake singing Randy Newman's Guilty. Belushi found the song about drinking, drugs and
letting people down hard to sing in concert – too close to home and it
always moved him and audeinces. Henshw does the song and Belushi
justice. From that point on though it is party time for
Soul Man, Sweet Home Chicago, Jailhouse Rack, a medley and a reprise
of the opener and Blues Brothers favourite Everybody. A mention as well for Luke Jasztal who provides a
decent Cab Calloway in Minnie the Moocher . By the end everyone was on their feet dancing and
clapping and that is what the Blues Brothers is all about. The cast work
hard and it is only fair to expect the audience to do the same. Roger Clarke
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