Review: Cake: The Marie Antoinette Playlist, UK Tour, at the Lowry Theatre, Salford

"Let them eat cake!" the famous phrase goes, made by former French Queen Marie Antoinette. And the hope is that a brand new work formed by Morgan Lloyd (Emilia) Drew McOnie (Carousel) and Paul Taylor-Mills (Heathers), will give you a great night out as well as a slice of fancy gateau. 

Cake: The Marie Antoinette Playlist, is an amalgamation of musical, gig, dance show and cabaret, to tell an untold story leading to the French Revolution, how one person can spark a huge fire. 

No interval: 67 minutes straight through of storytelling. (Side note, I had never been home for a show in my life) 

Like, well, a cake, there's a lot that goes into it to pull of the product. And this one seems if anything like a carrot cake (similar); you wouldn't think these ingredients would work, but it does. 

Said ingredients: music going from dancehall, grunge to some operatic high notes. And dance that screams Drew McOnie - earthy, modern, heavily inspired by both street and contemporary. And then there is the book by Morgan Lloyd, which ties everything together. 

In the same vein of giving previously unheard stories the spotlight, such as SIX, Hamilton, and Lloyd's own Emilia, our Narrator is Jeanne (played by Renee Lamb (Fantastically Great Women who Changed the World), a peasant living in Paris during the era of King Louis and Marie Antoinette. Wanting a piece of, well, cake, Jeanne plots to take the Queen down, setting off a "Revolutionary" spark. Known in history as "The Affair of the Diamond Necklace". 

Lamb holds your attention well, with an eyebrow-raise ready, and face-melting vocals. Especially in her moments with Marie Antoinette herself. Their relationship, and how it develops in the piece reminded me of Wicked's Elphaba and Glinda if I am being honest. Event the costume and lighting in their scenes was often pink and green! 

As the Queen herself, Zizi Strallen fits it like cake batter into a mould 

Coming on in a skimpy get-up that would have her most recent and famous role, Mary Poppins, reaching for the smelling salts, Strallen gets do everything she's best at. That being, kicking her legs up, looking glamourous being carted around, and getting to use that soprano operatic belt synonymous to her voice. 

The rest of the cast is excellent, but I'd particularly like to shout out B Terry (RENT), as you couldn't seem to take your eyes off them. And then they truly get to shine nearer the end of the piece when prostitute Nicole comes on the scene. 

I would recommend Cake if you are a fan of any of the said pieces I have linked to throughout, and/or want to try something a bit different and intriguing. Plus I think it's important to support new work. Cake is finishing its run in the Quays Theatre at the Lowry this weekend, but it continues its tour across the country.