(3.5 / 5)

Cooper the Musical is a funny and emotional show about the magician and comedian Tommy Cooper as he reflects on his whole life in the final moments of his death. Stefan Pejic, writer, stars as Tommy Cooper himself, and he is joined by a cast of Welsh actors including Rhian Morwood (who plays Dove), Olivia Snowdon (Mary), and Mark Cainen (Miff, his manager, and Cainen is also the producer), among other actors who multi-role.

In the foyer before the show starts, you can buy fez hats as well as programmes, and when you walk into the theatre, it plays playful, funfair, seaside type of music, which is similar in the interval but slightly fuller. That, combined with the set, which has playing cards, both Aces for the first act which change to Queens for the second act (the significance of that I don’t know, but the attention to detail is a nice touch), stacked chairs downstage, a basket containing props, and magician’s wands either side of red curtains with black tassels, reminiscent of the iconic hat he wore, immediately got you immersed in the mind and style of the comedian’s life we were about to witness.

Going into this I didn’t know what to expect, as not having grown up in the 60s and 70s when he was around and not being alive when he died, I didn’t fully realise his impact and how popular he was until doing research earlier that day. From the clips and information I found, I learnt about his jokes as well as his relationship with his wife, his assistant, and alcohol. But I didn’t know about his private struggles, who he was when he wasn’t the act he portrayed to the world, to the audience. No one knew. Not even my dad, who watched the show with me and did grow up in the 70s. But I wasn’t disappointed.

The show opens with a voiceover announcing Tommy Cooper on stage along with quiz show music, and four women come on dancing. They leave the stage but he doesn’t appear. The voiceover announces him again and the women repeat the dance before leaving, and so it is a clever opening at setting the comedic tone.

There are a lot of Cooper’s iconic jokes, and Pejic does an outstanding job of embodying Cooper with his mannerisms, his distinct voice, and the style of the entire show encapsulates not only what the audience see of Cooper and his caricature, but more intimate things like his anger, drinking, the ups and downs with his wife Dove and later Mary, his assistant.

This was a very original concept and it was a very fitting decision that the musical was put on in such an iconic and intimate Welsh theatre with Cooper being born in Caerphilly himself. I also feel like it can be taken and adapted to a slightly larger theatre space, not necessarily the size of the Grand but bigger than the Arts Wing, go on tour, and possibly even taken to London, off West End. With how well Tommy Cooper is known, especially with a slightly older generation than mine, I think a lot more UK audiences could have the opportunity to enjoy this show too.

There were a lot of great moments, and overall the production was very funny as well as emotional and really gave you an insight into the man the audience knew as well as the man behind the fez. There were highs and there were lows. However, I felt at times that it was clunky. I appreciate it was a preview and the first night, so not all things will have been worked out, but the physical transitions between scenes were awkward and took longer than necessary, and the writing between scenes felt out of place. It felt like a lot of the scenes individually were good, but they were awkwardly fit together to try and tell a narrative. The second act felt a lot smoother than the first, but it still felt like the writing could have been polished and every scene thought out more carefully. I think they still have some work to do before performing this show again, if they wish to do so.

The songs also weren’t memorable. Parts of them were okay, but I like to come out of the theatre having them stuck in my head, and I couldn’t remember a single one. I also struggled understanding everything that was sung, although the dialogue was a lot clearer.

But I think it was overall a good production. Not excellent, not perfect, but it was a true portrayal of a man’s life behind closed doors and all the actors were fantastic. If you know about Tommy Cooper even a small amount, I think you’ll enjoy it. Just like that.