Scissorhandz – a musical reinvented by Bradley Bredeweg. Southwark Playhouse, the Elephant, 1 Dante Place, Elephant and Castle, London SE11 to 29 March 2025,

4☆☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.

“Energetic, frenetic, fabulous.”

A terrific cast, larynx destroying singing,and displays of energy by the entire cast makes this frenetic reworking by Bradley Bredeweg, who aoso directs, of Tim Burton's film Scissorhands - with some LGBT additions - an evening not to miss. Unlike the film it also has what passes for a happy ending, essential in musicals, unlike the film or Matthew Bourne's dance version. The result is it sends the audience out into the night half deaf from the volume of sound, breathless from having kept up with the goings on on stage, and feeling that all is right with the world. The plot is simple. The Inventor (Dionne Gipson rather underused), a woman, unlike in the film where the inventor of Edward Scissorhands was a man, has created Scissorhandz (Jordan Kai Burnett) and sends “Them” out in to the world, There They meet Peg, the Avon Lady, a trio of predatory women, the Avon Lady's daughter Kim, and Kim's nasty boyfriend Jim as They struggle to be accepted.

Emma Williams is a deeply sympathetic Peg, who takes pity on the being with scissors instead of fingers for hands, and displays that her range when it comes to a song is not quite what she has shown in earlier shows. As her daughter Kim, who takes time about, but does fall for Them .Lauren Jones is impressive and as Scissorhandz Jordan Kay Burnett, who created the role when the show was staged in Hollywood, has the necessary vulnerability, charm and ever so suspect sexuality this modish revised version demands.

A whirlwind of song and dance ensues as the cast perform to a series of hits from the past thirty years and do them justice, which is not always the case with juke box musicals which tend to relax and let the song take the strain. The result is loud, anything but subtle, demands the audience play along – people get asked to do things or sat upon – and is a juke box musical like no other. It is a bit of a rattletrap vehicle with a few lows amid the highs, and its on trend LGBQ message about accepting people for who they are even if they are different from you is hardly earth shaking. In a sense it no longer needs to be made, except that MAGA world folk will hate it which adds to the overall pleasure. Bredeweg has directed it slickly, there is a clever set by James Pearse Connelly, who is also responsible for the back projections, and Gregory Nabours, the music director, has come up with orchestrations which when loud are very loud, but includes when needed some that are sweet and low. It is certainly good enough to tempt people to make the journey to the Elephant and Castle and better value for money on a lot of what is currently on or around Shaftesbury Avenue.

Cast

Jordan Kai Burnett – Scissorhandz

Emma Williams – Peg

Dionne Gipson – The Inventor

Lauren Jones – Kim

Tricia Adele-Turner -Joyce Vanderpump

Annabelle Terry – Esmeralda

Ryan O'Connor – Helen/Bill?Delia Deetz

Richard Carson – Jim

Candid Mosoma, Luke Cairns,Grace Towning – Ensemble

Creatives

Director – Bradley Bredeweg

Choreographer – Alexandra Sarmiento

Music Director – Gregory Nabours

Prodiction Designer – James Pearse Connelly

Costume Design – Abby Clarke

Lighting Design – Adam King

Sound Design _ Yvonne Gilbert

Animation Designer – Alex Jansen

Fight Director – Rachid Sabitri

Musical Director/Keys – Arlene McNaught