When you’ve been reviewing as long as I have, you get to see the good, the bad and the ugly and I’m afraid Snap! a new musical at the King’s Head is mostly bad and a lot of the time ugly too.
I usually try and give an idea of the plot of the play or musical I’m reviewing but in this case there isn’t really much of one. There’s a photographer called Max (the snapper of Snap!), his assistant/lover/partner Sheila, an old friend, Angela and her partner/lover Tom. For some reason, Max thinks Tom, an ordinary looking young man who spends his time playing video games, would make a good model for an advertising campaign for tea. Tom is soon strutting his stuff in front of the camera and when Max leaves, goes to bed with Sheila. Max then goes to bed with Angela and they all live happily ever after – or something like that.
David O’Brien’s lyrics are trite, clichéd and occasionally rhyme. The music played by an invisible pianist are unmemorable and his book – well, see above. The direction from Jack Storm is flabby and unfocussed and the performances from the four strong cast who do their best with some awful material, are average at best although it seemed on the night I went their head microphones weren’t working although I don’t think amplifying them would have made much of a difference. One of the characters is so mis-cast it brought giggles from the audience. There were some out of focus projections and an odd instrumental interlude which I think was supposed to denote time passing as there was a slide of the moon and then one of sunrise.
Am I being too harsh here? No, I don’t think so. This looked and felt like a work in progress but the theatre are charging up to £28 to see a show that really doesn’t work on so many levels although there weren’t too many in the audience when I went and it was a Saturday night. And those that were there often didn’t clap after another dire song came and went and they seemed to be bemused by the car crash of a show they were watching.
To quote the esteemed critic Walter Kerr after he saw a play called I Am A Camera, “Me no Leica” (it’s a make of camera) – and me no Leica Snap! either!
Review by Alan Fitter
“One snap can capture a moment… or change everything.”
In this bold and captivating new musical, the glamorous yet cutthroat world of photography becomes the backdrop for a tangled web of ambition, passion, and deception. When renowned photographer Max lands a major campaign, he pulls his assistant Sheila and an unsuspecting young model, Tom, into a high-stakes game of manipulation. Meanwhile, Tom’s girlfriend Angela is left questioning everything when a single text threatens to tear their relationship apart.
As emotions blur and secrets come into focus, SNAP: A New Musical takes audiences on a stylish, sharp-witted journey through love, betrayal, and the power of the perfect image. Featuring an electrifying original score and razor-sharp storytelling, this thrilling musical will have you questioning—are we ever really in control of our own narrative?
CAST
Tom | Will Usherwood -Bliss
Max | Matteo Giambiasi
Angela | Hayley Maybury
Sheila | Justine Marie Mead
CREATIVES
Director | Jack Storm
Producer | Alistair Lindsay Entertainment
Book/Music and Lyrics | David O’Brien
Musical Director | Debbi Clarke
Sound Design | Richard Carter
Lighting Designer | Alistair Lindsay
SNAP! A NEW MUSICAL
King’s Head Theatre
3 to 25 May 2025
