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A review from 5D Music & Theatre writer Maria Robertson
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Many people have seen the film The Bodyguard with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. She plays a famous singer who receives death threats and he tries to protect her, which becomes complicated when they develop an emotional attachment to each other. In this stage show version Whitney, or Rachel Marron, is played by Melody Thornton, of Pussycat Doll fame. I felt she was trying to be Whitney, who was trying to be Rachel, which gave some confusing degrees of separation. Kevin Costner’s role as Frank Farmer was played by Ayden Callaghan, who I didn’t find as attractive, but he filled the role admirably.
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The show starts with a rather alarming gunshot as the bodyguard character and then its into concert style pyrotechnics and projections to meet the singer as she performs to an audience (who we get to play!) The production is very cleverly done with us flipping from being the audience for one of her concerts, to being back stage with the manager. Curtains are used to change sets at the back whilst our attention is taken at the front, curtains move to show a chair where the singer is writing a song, or a table where the bodyguard is checking venue layouts and planning how to keep her safe.
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Rachel’s son Fletcher befriends the bodyguard and tries to help protect his Mum. In this performance he was played by Kaylenn Aires Fonseca who was just brilliant – singing and acting like an well experienced professional. Plus he was so cute, I’m sure we all wanted to protect him from the scary stalker guy who was obsessed by his Mum. I’m sure the actor Marios Nicolaides is usually a very nice man but add some atmospheric lighting, some of which glints off a large shiny blade, and he was utterly terrifying. I actually found myself shrinking away from him, especially when he appeared with a gun at one point, the fear was real and I was not alone in screaming at another point.
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This was a fabulous production, obviously with some marvellous songs; Greatest Love Of All, I’m Every Woman and Run To You are just some of the Whitney hits that feature. They have to warn you at the start not to sing along, but we got our chance in the finale. We would not have wanted to miss the singing of the professionals, and the sister played by Emily-Mae, almost outshone the star of the show.
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If you do not manage to make any of the Aberdeen dates, why not try and catch some of the upcoming locations? You will not regret it!
Further information: https://www.thebodyguardmusical.com/
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Maria Robertson is the Chief Music & Theatre Writer for the 5D Pop Culture Website and provides reviews & coverage of local Aberdeen music & theatre gigs. She’s an experienced writer for numerous sources and is a self-confessed live gig addict ever since seeing The Counting Crows at the Barrowlands in 1994.
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