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Charlie Talbot, who plays the part of financier Max Klein, with his show’s brass band ensamble |
Back in Black? From boom to bust to oompah
Songs from Tom Jones, AC/DC and Kylie in new credit crunch musical at King’s Head
TO many, it seemed to appear from nowhere, but even for those who feared that reckless lending by the banks would cause economic woe, the current financial crisis has a surreal feel to it.
But not, perhaps, quite as surreal as a five-piece brass band telling the story of the global economic downturn via the songs of Kylie, AC/DC and Tom Jones – all played in the style of a Bavarian beer hall knees-up.
Blow Up! The Credit Crunch Musical – which received rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe earlier this year and officially opened on Wednesday at Upper Street’s King’s Head theatre – promises to bring such apparently dry concepts as fiscal stimuli and quantitative easing to life via the blowing of trombones, tubas and French horns.
The creation of ex-City-headhunter-turned-comedian Charlie Talbot and his producer father Philip, the show tells the story of Max Klein, a global financier who tries to create the world’s most successful oompah-pah band after losing his job as a banker.
The idea for the show took root when a friend of Philip’s, who played in an oompah band, mentioned that he had gotten tired of playing traditional Germanic music.
“My friend told me he’d started playing pop songs in oompah style and that the audience loved it,” Mr Talbot explained.
“People don’t know what the credit crunch is about and we try to explain it in an amusing way.
“To illustrate the concept of toxic debt we play Toxic by Britney Spears. When we’re explaining how derivatives work we use a trumpet player who plays up – to represent shares that are going up – and a trombone player who plays down – to illustrate shares going down.
“We explain why the collapse happened using the whole band and the concept of an ‘oompah bond’.”
So is there a chance that a musical about the economy going down the pan could itself be a money-spinner?
“I don’t think anyone who puts on shows at the King’s Head gets rich out of it,” says Talbot, “but it would be nice to make a bit of money.”
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