Hull New Theatre – until- 17th May 2025
Reviewed by Dawn Bennett
5*****
Cruel Intentions: The ‘90s Musical, presented by Bill Kenwright Ltd. opened with a bang at Hull New Theatre last night. Based on the film of the same name and inspired by Les Liaisons Dangereuses it was created by Jordan Ross, Lindsey Rosin and Roger Kumble.
The show tells the story of Sebastian Valmont (Will Callan) and his stepsister Kathryn Merteuil (Nic Myers) who decide to have a cruel bet with each other. Kathryn tells Sebastain that he has to seduce the new Headmasters daughter Annette Hargrove (Abbie Budden) or he will lose the bet and his classic car amongst other things. Sebastian is used to get his own way with women and at the very exclusive New York High that they all go to, we see the different characters emerge, from Cecile Caldwell (Lucy Carter) the innocent from an all-girls school and Blaine Tuttle (Luke Conner Hall) who is in a secret relationship with football player Greg McConnell (Joe Simmons). But as Sebastian slowly falls for Annette will he or his step sister win the bet?
If you are a fan of ‘90s music, and particularly a good juke production, this is the show for you. The band and the music, under musical director Will Joy, were really, really good. The toe tapping tunes included songs by R.E.M, The Verve, Britney Spears, Boyz II Men and lots more. All the cast were brilliant, singing the easily recognisable songs with ease. They managed to put in a large number of songs into the show and this didn’t distract from the storyline at all, in fact they enhanced it.
This was an excellent production, I really enjoyed it and the cast kept the energy up from the beginning right up to the end
As someone who spent a lot of the ‘90s clubbing I loved it, it had a good storyline, great cast and fabulous music, what more do you need? Well, you need to go and watch it, it really does deserve full houses every night, I really don’t think that you will be disappointed!