Our House - A Musical Love Story - The Madness Musical Details

Absolutely brilliant!

Absolutely brilliant is my verdict on ‘Our House’. Scriptwriter Tim Firth had the difficult job of writing a story linking the songs of Madness. He succeeded well, with a ‘Sliding Doors’ type story.

Thank goodness someone had the foresight to make a recording of this musical before it closed, or the result of all that labour would have been lost.

Reasons for the early closing are put down to economic problems following 9/11 causing a lack of tourists. Costing £2.5 million to stage, Suggs himself took on the role of father to try to boost attendance, but after 10 months the show had to close. The cast were not to blame. The energy going into the dance numbers has to be seen to be believed.

Michael Jibson may seem like a strange male lead, but very quickly you warm to him. Julia Gay is truly brilliant as the female lead. All the cast are excellent.

During ‘Driving in my Car’ a view of streets, passing countryside, and even a giant woodie rollercoaster, were projected onto the rear of the stage from four BARCO projectors strapped to the underside of the dress circle.

As a lover of musicals this is without doubt the best DVD I have seen in the last 12 months.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Like going to a show

I found this thoroughly enjoyable. I like madness music, but I certainly was never a die hard fan. The reviewer that complained about the lighting ect, obviously didnt read the info properly. What do you expect it was filmed on a live stage. It did drag a little bit in the middle, and I made a cuppa, but the majority of it was very entertaining and sometimes very funny. I have seen this on tv before so I hired to watch again. Second time around it wasn't as good as I remembered, but only cos of the middle bit. Rent it if you like musicals, stage shows or madness.