Humorously described as “A reckless reappraisal of the life of former Ugly Rumours front man and Britain’s first pop Prime Minister Tony Blair”, TONY! (The Tony Blair Rock Opera) is coming to Salford this October, with a six-day run at The Lowry Theatre.
TONY! is currently playing a limited season at the Leicester Square Theatre in London until 21st May, at which point it will then tour the UK including four weeks at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It will play The Lowry, Salford from Monday 2nd – Saturday 7th October, incidentally (or perhaps purposefully) coinciding with the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester.
The Tony Blair rock opera is a tongue-in-cheek take on late 90s and early 2000s British politics and current affairs, with Tony Blair, the beacon of hope with New Labour, at its heart. The show is self-proclaimed as silly and perhaps a little lax with the truth, but makes for great fun, especially for the satire lovers out there.
It tells the story of how one man went from a peace-loving, long-haired hippy and would-be pop star to warmongering multimillionaire in just a couple of decades.
Throw in a stellar cast of larger-than-life characters – Cherie Blair, Princess Diana, John Prescott, Peter Mandelson, Alastair Campbell, Osama bin Laden, George W Bush, Saddam Hussein and Gordon Brown – it’s Yes, Minister meets The Rocky Horror Show and a musical like no other.
Harry Hill and Steve Brown said: “It’s a show for Tony Lovers and Haters everywhere – and everyone in between – don’t expect a history lesson – in our world Tony’s born singing and dancing, Saddam Hussein is played as Groucho Marx and Gordon Brown occasionally turns into the Incredible Hulk – let’s just say all the facts are there… but not necessarily as they occurred!
“Tony hasn’t yet replied to our invite to see the show, but we do hope he’ll pop along to his old stomping ground of Sedgefield to give his verdict when we open there at the Parish Hall. Tony? If you’re reading this we’ve put a couple of tickets in your name on the door.”
We love a bit of satire here in Manchester, and the more involved we are with our local politics, the better – so grab tickets for the bizarre Tony Blair rock opera here before they sell out!