This is my opinion on how great the Marc Bolan Musical, “20th Century Boy” is. 20th Century Boy, is a musical all about Marc Bolan’s life told through his family and friends, and is basically about his son Rolan Bolan wanting to find out more about his father, who was too beautiful to die.
T.Rex in Action
To start off this review, I am going to start talking about my journey to The Mayflower in Southampton.
Me and Mum had to catch a train to Southampton Central, which was an experience as Mum hasn’t been on a train for years, and I’ve not been to Southampton without friends. Once we got there we had to catch a taxi to the Mayflower, which isn’t actually that far away from the station. We had to wait for Dad to meet us outside the theatre, as my Dad was on call (he works for the University).
Once Dad had arrived Mum decided to head into “Bean” the cafe across the road.
We’d not been in there too long, and we were just having a cup of tea, when suddenly, Warren Sollars walks in! (Warren plays Marc in the musical). He goes to order a coffee, and I whisper to my parents “that’s the dude who plays Marc Bolan”, and we all started fan-girling. I have to admit, I was a total idiot and didn’t ask for a picture or anything, because I was too shy and embarrassed, and now I really regret it 😦
We went across the road to the theatre and my Mum bought us a program, and then we found our seats.
We were row D in seats 20, 21 and 22. We had pretty good seats, right near the front too.
All we had to do now was wait for the show to start!
By the way, it was lovely to see Jan, Sandra and Amy last night, who only sat the row in front of us! Was great to see my Bolan buddies again after so long 🙂
The show kicked off with a photo montage of Marc’s death, in pictures, from newspapers, which then led to Rolan and Gloria arguing. Rolan decides to go to London to find out more about his father, where he meets his Uncle Harry Feld and his Grandma Phyllis Feld.
The story revolves around Rolan asking questions about his Cosmic father and him getting answers from his Mother, his Grandma, his Uncle and Marc’s old roadie, where then discovers the legendary story of glam god Marc Bolan.
Gloria Jones with son Rolan Bolan
The story begins right from when Marc was a little boy and first discovered music, to when he becomes a teen and wants to be a Mod, which then leads him to covering “Blowing in the Wind” by Bob Dylan, which some must of seen and heard, as Toby Tyler. Then Marc wants to become a poet of course, leading to the “Warlock of Love” poetry book. Of course there are more stories, such as Marc’s involvement in “Suzie and the Hoola Hoops”.
Bolan will soon become a cosmic hero!
Eventually, Rolan finds out his father was married, to June Child. The story goes as we all know, meeting in a studio.. and well.. you know the rest. Eventually Marc and June get married, and it isn’t long until Marc is in partnership with Tony Visconti and starts making hit records with his new band T.Rex. Before then, Marc had his own little 2 piece band formed or himself and Steve Took, and the band was called… Tyrannosaurus Rex.
“I’m going to be bigger than Elvis”
As Rolan discovers the journey his Dad went on to become a 70’s superstar, Bolan is shown as flamboyant character who decides to bring Glam Rock and Cosmic Rock to America, where he then meets soul singer Gloria Jones. The journey of the Futuristic Dragon begins. These times show Marc’s life fueled with drugs and alcohol, where he famously tells Tony Visconti to… “fuck off”, along with the rest of T.Rex. Eventually Gloria and Marc head back to London, where his marriage to June Child comes to an abrupt end.
Gloria with her Futuristic Dragon
Marc, soon decides to clean himself up, and straighten out as his girlfriend Gloria is expecting a baby, who shall be named “Rolan Bolan” (enter joke about Zowie Bowie).
Finally, towards the end of the show Gloria tells her son Rolan what happened on the day his father tragically died in a car accident.
Get ready for tears as Marc Bolan heads into the light while singing “Cosmic Dancer”…..
To finish off, Rolan, Gloria, Harry and Phyllis meet at Marc’s tree (the shrine) to say goodbye to the cosmic bopping elf which they all loved so much.
To finish the show, the cast performed a range of T.Rex hits including “Hot Love”, “Get it on” and “20th Century Boy”. What a rocking show!
I actually got interviewed at the end, I’m not sure what for, I shall try and find out, but I was basically asked if I enjoyed the musical, If I think my friends should see the musical, why I am into Marc Bolan and if I think the musical could make it on the WestEnd. Duh, of course it can!
Warren Sollars playing the magical Marc Bolan
I recommend this show to everyone. It’s an absolutely brilliant night out, and you are guarnteed to learn something new about Marc Bolan, and also feel as if you know Marc and have become a part of his life. I found myself almost instantly being inspired! His story is just so magically, and I know for a fact Marc is up there going “I have a musical about myself, where they sing all of my songs! How cool am I”. He’d be very proud. To hear Marc’s songs being performed in the way they were, is truly unbelievable, and makes me proud to be a Bolan fan.
Best musical ever!
Favourite line from the entire night “poppadom poppadom rogan josh!” – See the musical to find out what I mean!
It’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you cry and it’ll make you want to get up and jive!
Go and see it!
Honestly, even if you don’t like T.Rex, you will love this. I can promise that for sure.
Warren Sollars
LINKS YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT:
https://www.facebook.com/BolanicProductions?fref=ts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUpBbn6ureI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJh3NtAm1Ec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qZuKAPC5Us
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxNJxA_L8II
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