Musical Review: Cruel Intentions

Cruel Intentions is a provocative and comedic teen drama musical based on the 1999 film of the same name, which itself was inspired by the 1782 book Les Liaisons Dangereuses. The story follows manipulative step siblings, Sebastian Valmont (Will Callan) and Kathryn Merteuil (Nic Myers) as they make a bet to seduce Annette Hargrove (Abbie Budden), the headmaster’s virgin daughter, and involve others in their twisted games.

One does not need prior knowledge of the film to enjoy Cruel Intentions, as popular 90s hits like ‘Bye Bye Bye,’ ‘Wannabe,’ ‘Genie In a Bottle,’ and others are enough to keep the audience singing along to the tunes while watching the drama unfold. Cruel Intentions has a mix of fast, flashy moments to slow emotional scenes, which provides a good balance in terms of pacing. It starts with the energetic opening number, ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca,’ and keeps that momentum through out the show, but still gives the audience breathers with mellow songs like ‘Torn.’

Raunchy and hilarious, but with a good moral lesson

All songs are delivered with emotion and the actors’ vocals make them even more enjoyable to listen to. A highlight performance is ‘Bittersweet Symphony,’ where the cast beautifully harmonises the chorus, earning a loud applause from the audience. The choreography for each song is also captivating. A personal favourite is the ‘Colour Blind’ performance, which not only has interesting body movements but also outfit movements that sync to the beat and scene.

The actors fully embody their characters and show off great acting skills through out the show. The leads, Callan (Sebastian) and Myers (Kathryn), are very convincing narcissistic characters, and their chemistry shows a perfect mix of desire and disdain. Callan also has great romantic chemistry with Budden (Annette), who comes off as strong-minded with a hint of doubt. Lucy Carter (Cecile Caldwell) personally stands out, as she perfectly plays an annoying naïve character. Her performance of ‘I’ll Make Love To You’ is definitely a crowd favourite.

The costumes in Cruel Intentions reflect late 90’s teen fashion with short skirts, fancy dresses, and Kathryn’s gladiator heels. Each character matches well with their outfits, with Annette put in more sophisticated and softer looks compared to other girls to highlight her purity.

popular 90s hits like ‘Bye Bye Bye,’ ‘Wannabe,’ ‘Genie In a Bottle,’ […] keep the audience singing along to the tunes

The production of the show is also stellar. The lighting always reflects the mood of the scene, with blue for sadder scenes, and red for seductive and tension driven scenes. The backdrop is versatile, and it is hard to spot when it switches from indoor to outdoor settings as the prop transitions are quite quick: almost seeming like they are part of the performances. They even have props thrown from higher levels that land at their exact spots. The dialogue is reminiscent to the 1999 film and conversations that were normalised in the 90s. Due to this, there are some sexual and racial jokes that are uncomfortable to hear, but the show tries to have some characters subtly suggest that they are unpleasant.

Overall, Cruel Intentions is a wonderful musical. Raunchy and hilarious, but with a good moral lesson to keep one thinking. Great acting is backed up with amazing vocals and a great soundtrack to keep one engaged. If you choose to watch it, as Kathryn says, “happy hunting.”

Cruel Intentions plays at the Birmingham Hippodrome from Tuesday 3rd June – Saturday 7th June. Book your tickets here.