Fangs
Billed as a rock-musical comedy, Fangs was created in the 1970s, after the success of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Fangs is a South African production which hasn’t been staged for over 20 years.
According to the press release, the production has been “adapted and rewritten by the [authors] who have totally upgraded the storyline as well as the music” and it makes you wonder what the original was like. Sure, the musical is quite a bit of fun, as I had a smile on my face during the whole show, but it’s by no means a classic. Still, particularly the second half is way above average, with some great scenes and songs, not in the least because of Bill Flynn, playing the Afrikaans cop and Tobie Cronje as the shrink.
The whole script has been set in rhyming couplets resulting in the occasional brilliant find, but deteriorating at times in too simple and banal pieces of text.
I seriously enjoyed the choreography, which was not only very diverse, but also fitted the music and the shows very well. Of course, the fact that most of the ladies were very scantily dressed and attractive helped, seemingly not having enough money to buy new stockings, judging from the many holes in them.
The story is about a ‘man’ called Suckula, “a neurotic Elvis-impersonating vampire” who accidently loses his fangs and decides to go for psychiatric counseling.