You would expect a musical written by Harry Hill and Steve Brown to be funny, but this ‘rock opera’ charting the rise and fall of Tony Blair – from peace-loving hippy playing in the Oxford Uni band Ugly Rumours, to reviled warmongerer confessing his sins on his deathbed – is laugh-out-loud hilarious.
Tony!’s first scene opens with a clap of thunder, revealing a grey haired and aged Blair, prostrate and at death’s door; smoke swirls around him, Frankenstein-fashion, as he seeks absolution for his sins. To the tune of a song titled New Messiah, matters then flash back to his mother in labour – about to give birth to a baby destined to become the pop prime minister of the Cool Britannia decade.

What follows is a deliciously silly yet merciless romp through Blair’s decade in power: encompassing Labour’s landslide election victory of 1997; the death later that year of Diana, the “People’s Princess” (“She’s precious like a Ming vase, and tasty like vichyssoise,” sings Tony, in one of many absurd rhyming couplets); his “special relationship” with George W Bush and his infamous, ultimately fruitless hunt for Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction.
“We finish with a rousing chorus of The Whole World Is Run By Arseholes”
The humour of this musical will most appeal to those of us old enough to remember the 1990s. The 10-strong cast play the political figures of the era with clownish glee; the performances are delightfully burlesque and spot-on in their depictions of the mannerisms and foibles of the stalwarts of 1990s New Labour. Some of the slapstick sequences are belly-laughingly funny: Tony being savaged by David Blunkett’s guide dog, having his neck bitten by a vampirical Peter Mandelson, and seduced by the ghost of Princess Diana are standout moments.
Jack Whittle, complete with maniacal grin, hypnotic stare and energetic moves, is perfect as the hapless Blair, manipulated by the Machiavellian Mandelson and ambitious wife Cherie into a premiership he’s totally unsuited to. Phil Sealey delights in portraying a crybaby Gordon Brown: speech defect suitably exaggerated, he’s the brains behind Tony’s economic reforms and would-be prime minister in waiting. Sealey also plays a Groucho Marx-style Saddam Hussein in the second half, singing the haunting ballad I Never Done Anything Wrong.

Tony!’s second half introduces us to the three main players in its protagonist’s fall from grace – Bush, Saddam and Osama Bin Laden – and depicts how Tony’s special relationship with America led to the UK’s participation in the war in ‘I-raq’. Each character is ridiculed and lampooned by the writers and cast, and we finish with a rousing chorus of The Whole World Is Run By Arseholes, leading us to question whether the cult of personality leads us to get the leaders we deserve.
Expect manic, madcap political farce from Tony! – a hilarious saga of ambition, religion, war and power.
Tony! [The Tony Blair Rock Opera], New Theatre, Cardiff, Wed 14 June
On until Sat 17 June. Tickets: £22.50-£39. Info: here
words SARAH EDWARDS