Last night I attended Paul Carroll’s Music Hall Tavern (MHT) at the Dancehouse Theatre. Firstly a note on the venue- It’s always brilliant to see a relatively new and upcoming theatre doing so well and that can certainly be targeted down to their comfortable and happy setting, I felt at home as soon as I walked in, a lovely venue.
Now onto the performance, it’s hard to imagine what this show hasn’t got! It seems to include everything but the kitchen sink which makes for a spectacle, the track includes all the great diva hits which kept the audience joyful and tapping their feet.
The basic set can look limited but the performers in this show prove us wrong! They use it to its full advantage and it looks great overall with the production. It stars the fabulous Mrs T who keeps this chaotic show running with all the hilarity that can be imagined. Her glitz and glamour comes along every time she walks onstage, the costumes dazzle us and her voice is one of the best I’ve heard from a drag performer. 
The hilarity she brings to the show is great and her comic timing and her obvious experience makes her a sure crowd favourite.
She has taken this show and her act to all 4 islands of the Canaries so it was definitely a polished and confident performance. Alongside her is the incomparable Peggy Lee a performer who brings in the laughs every time, keeping the audience in stitches!
Unfortunately not all performers seemed to be enjoying the night as much as we did, some at times seemed less energetic and even at points unhappy to be onstage and this is certainly not a show to not be smiling in, it’s difficult to be watching a comedy routine or song and having one member letting the cast down, but I’m sure it was just a bad day or such. Never the less it is still an amazing show that has done it’s fair bit of travelling which shows it tenacious nature that it can run for as long as there is demand.
Overall, a fantastic production filled with some real gems of the drag community. The costumes are glitzy, the performances are effortless and the show is fabulous! MHT now I believe goes on a UK and Ireland tour details of which you can find on the website, where you can also pre-order the DVD of the 2016 tour, www.musichalltavern.com
Reviewer: Brad Wilson
Reviewed: 21st February 2016
