Five Guys Named Moe, Marble Arch Theatre


Not many shows end Act 1 with the cast conga-lining the audience out to the bar, but then, not many shows are Five Guys Named Moe. It’s easy to see why the show has been revived and revived again, and this staging even goes to the trouble of making the security guards and ushers part of the atmosphere. It’s a fabulous night out.

Part fairytale, part party, Five Guys Named Moe takes the music of Louis Jordan, “the grandfather of rock & roll”, and infuses it into to five guys, all named Moe, who appear out of Nomax’s radio just when he needs them.

Nomax (Edward Baruwa) is a maudlin, early hours drinker, desperately wanting to make things up with his girlfriend Lorraine. The sudden appearance of the Moes – Four-Eyed Moe (Ian Carlyle), Little Moe (Idriss Kargbo), Know Moe (Dex Lee), Big Moe (Horace Oliver) and Eat Moe (Emile Ruddock) – is just what he needs to get himself right.

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Edward Baruwa as Nomax, pining for Lorraine

Clarke Peters, the writer and director of the show, rightly places the emphasis on the songs, which are staged on a revolving platform that moves through the audience.  It’s an exciting and thoroughly entertaining piece of theatre and choreography all accompanied by a brilliant band. If you’re not dancing out of the Marble Arch Theatre’s Spiegeltent and into the night humming “Saturday Night Fish Fry”, “Ain’t Nobody Here but Us Chickens”, “Push Ka Pi Shi Pie” or “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie” there’s something wrong with you.

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Ain’t no party like a five guys party

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