When it comes to unlikely candidates for a jukebox musical The Smiths must come high on the list.
But if they were ever to make one it wouldn’t be far from Cross Cut’s one-man tale of 20-something angst soundtracked by Manchester’s finest.
William has just met the most beautiful woman he has ever seen in a coffee shop, but after a disastrous first date in Highgate Cemetery his romantic life seems doomed for failure.
His only salvations from devastation are his friend Rick the playwright, and Rick’s collection of Smiths vinyl.
Half A Person is beautifully told, and interspersed with classics from the Morrissey/Marr back catalogue, delivered with love by Joe Presley.
In the tradition of the jukebox musical the songs are interwoven into the action, but owing to Morrissey’s kitchen sink style lyrics they fit well: from William’s realisation his love life is a disaster (William, It Was Really Nothing) to a moment of regret (That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore – with its poignant coda “kick them when they fall down”).
William is a self-obsessed pretty boy it’s hard not to like, and that’s largely down to Presley’s charismatic performance, interspersed with some great self-deprecating humour.
Not just for Smiths fans.
Four stars
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