Muted Cupid, the national gay and lesbian theatre company, has built up an estimable CV since it opened for business circa 1990. This new production has been adapted by Alan Kinsella from an off-Broadway play by Charles Busch which ran for some years. It is an energetic musical romp which evokes those heavy-on-the-consonants words like kitsch and schmaltz, and entertains erratically through sheer tongue-in-cheek attack.
There is a thread of a storyline, beginning in Sodom, where a Succubus (James Barry) drinks the blood of a Virgin Girl (Regina McFadden) and transforms her into a vampire. We meet them again in modern times, where they have become Hollywood rivals and, later, Las Vegas showbiz stars. Their feud, and their bloodthirsty ways, are the basis for a variety of fun, games and songs.
A selection of their warblings gives the po-faced tone. They put across with gusto such numbers as That Old Black Magic, I've Got You Under My Skin, I'm Still Here and The Lady Is A Vamp, and save a big musical climax, with all present in best costumes, for the ending. It has, improbably, a lot in common with pantomime.
There are just so many laughs in the vampire motif, and that is a limitation in a show so demanding of audience good humour; but two performances lift it to a respectable - may I use that word? - level. Regina McFadden can really sing and dance, and has the true, comic touch; a special talent. James Barry is the other stalwart, with a good voice and robust personality. They have an enthusiastic backing team, some of whose singing attempts are overwhelmed by the piano-playing.
It has been described as a B-Movie for the stage, and that about sums it up.