I Can’t Sing: The X Factor Musical - Anything the Spice Girls can do, Harry Hill can do better

Alice Jones' Arts Diary

Nigel Harman who plays Simon Cowell and Simon Cowell at a photo-call for the X Factor musical I Can't Sing (PA)

It is often the case that the bigger the hype around a musical, the bigger the flop it will make come press night. Still, the early signs for I Can’t Sing: The X Factor Musical look good

With a book and lyrics by Harry Hill, and Sean Foley ( The Play What I Wrote and The Ladykillers) directing, the tone appears to be pleasingly irreverent. In particular, the lyrics to the title song “ I Can’t Sing” – sung at this week’s launch by Cynthia Erivo – have plenty of Hill’s trademark wit: “Open my throat and windows start to crack / I thought a quaver was a cheese-based snack”. The song also features a dig at a former Spice Girl: “Didn’t think I could. Thought I made Geri Halliwell sound good.” With that sort of talk, it can’t afford to be another Viva Forever!-style flop, can it?

Carey Mulligan and "hubby" Marcus Mumford

 

Carey Mulligan gives a run for her money

Runners in Sunday’s Run to the Beat half-marathon in London may find themselves sprinting alongside a star. Carey Mulligan has signed up to run for the Alzheimer’s Society. Her grandmother has had dementia for more than a decade.

Her Just Giving page shows that she has raised £1,900 so far, including an unspecified donation from “Hubby”, aka Marcus Mumford (above, with Mulligan), with the message “Don’t fall over, noodle.”

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