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Thursday 13 December 3:57 p.m.
By Megan Slovak
New Spice Girls musical Viva Forever! has been hit
with a slew of harsh reviews following its West End
debut on Tuesday.
Singers
Melanie Chisholm, Emma Bunton, Melanie Brown, Geri Halliwell and Victoria
Beckham reunited in London
for the opening night of the big-budget stage show, which incorporates the girl
group's greatest hits, but critics were less than impressed with the
production.
Paul Taylor of
Britain's
The Independent newspaper gave Viva Forever! just two out of five stars and
called comedienne Jennifer Saunders' script "charmless, messy,
lacklustre", before declaring, "Viva Forever! forever? I rather think
not."
The Daily
Telegraph's Charles Spencer branded the plot "insultingly banal",
writing, "This musical is tawdry, lazy and unedifying, and one could sense
a miasma of disappointment emanating from an audience of up-for-it Spice Girls
fans realising that they had paid top whack (a lot of money) to see a
clunker."
Alex Petridis
of The Guardian blamed the Spice Girls' back catalogue for the show's failures,
insisting, "There aren't enough memorable hits in a career that lasted for
three albums to support two hours of theatre... The lyrics are required to
drive the action on, and these lyrics are appalling."
But he concedes scathing reviews won't hamper the musical's success,
adding, "Judging by the crowds of thirtysomething ladies leaving the
theatre singing Stop and Say You'll Be There, Viva Forever! is
critic-proof."