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BAZ BAMIGBOYE: Now Queen Helen is putting Blair in the hot seat

Published: 18:41 EST, 26 February 2015 | Updated: 18:45 EST, 26 February 2015

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On the new war discussion scenes in The Audience, Helen Mirren said: ‘We wanted to show that the Queen understood the historical parallels of Suez and Iraq, and that she has, quite literally, seen it all before'

The Queen, played powerfully by Helen Mirren, is shown making an impassioned plea to Tony Blair not to rush into war with Iraq in the new Broadway production of The Audience.

In the show, which details Her Majesty’s weekly meetings with her Prime Ministers at Buckingham Palace, she comes close to pleading with Blair, in the hope that a diplomatic solution could be reached.

The Labour PM was not depicted in the original London run of The Audience two years ago. But in New York he makes an appearance in Act I, where he discusses with the Queen the likelihood of invading Iraq.

The scene is echoed, beautifully, by another in Act 2, where the Queen and Anthony Eden discuss the 1956 Suez Crisis, and she demonstrates her astuteness over foreign affairs.

‘We wanted to show that the Queen understood the historical parallels of Suez and Iraq, and that she has, quite literally, seen it all before,’ Mirren told me in her dressing room at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in Manhattan (where I spotted a nod to the sovereign, a toy Corgi, on her day bed).

Mirren gives a performance that has grown in depth since she portrayed Elizabeth II in the film The Queen, for which she won all the major movie awards going, including an Oscar and a Bafta.

Peter Morgan, who wrote the play and the movie, explained yesterday that featuring Blair emphasised the fact that the Queen has been around for so long that ‘she’s seen historical mistakes being made again and again’.

‘In the case of both incursions, I think there’s a great deal of regret, and loss of national dignity, as a result,’ Morgan said. ‘And both imperilled the United Kingdom unnecessarily, in my view.’

The dramatist viewed Eden and Blair’s actions as ‘acts of hubris and headstrong individualism’. Both men ‘sort of willed the invasions’, he said, although he noted: ‘Sometimes, dynamic leadership of that kind is to be applauded’.

In the play, directed by Stephen Daldry, the Queen doesn’t express her opinion directly, but it’s implicit. Morgan said he didn’t think Her Majesty would ever expressly say: ‘I disapprove of what you’re doing!’

Rather, ‘by asking strategic questions such as, “Are you sure you don’t want to go back to the UN and give it more time, and do this through diplomatic channels?” she was asking questions that all the rest of us were asking, too.’

He said he rigorously questioned people who would know how the Queen ‘might have reasonably behaved, and who would know or guess her attitude about certain matters’, to get the tone right.

In The Audience on Broadway, Blair is portrayed by British actor Rufus Wright. Interestingly, Wright also portrays David Cameron — as he did in the London version that starred Mirren.

Actor Rufus Wright playing both David Cameron (left) and Tony Blair

Morgan has also introduced Blair into the second London production, that begins rehearsals in two weeks’ time at the Apollo on Shaftesbury Avenue, with Kristin Scott Thomas as the Queen.

The playwright said the Apollo production would not mirror the Broadway version because the General Election and the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war would both be taking centre stage during the London run.

The American audience at the show I caught seemed more attentive than the ones I recall from London.

That might be because Morgan has taken out some jokes, and also because Americans aren’t as au fait with our Prime Ministers. ‘They’re not judging the impressions, the accents and the costumes,’ Morgan said. ‘They’re engaged in the text.’

He toned down the humour, he explained, to stress that the heart of the drama was about being in office. ‘It’s a privilege to serve, but it’s an excruciatingly difficult thing to do.

‘They [the PMs] are under fire all the time and their terms are destined to end in ignominy and failure — and she [the Queen] is trapped and lonely, and I just wanted to make sure we didn’t lose sight of the fact it’s difficult.’

It's Kinky - and a huge hit on stage, to boot!

Harvey Fierstein, who wrote the hit Broadway musical Kinky Boots, went through it line by line to ensure that no Americanisms would slip into a show that’s supposed to be set in a shoe factory in Northampton.

Harvey Fierstein, who wrote the hit Broadway musical Kinky Boots (pictured), went through it line by line to ensure that no Americanisms would slip into a show that’s supposed to be set in a shoe factory in Northampton

The production, which won the Tony award for best musical, is high-kicking its way into the West End. And Fierstein — who based his book for the show on the 2005 film version of Kinky Boots starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Joel Edgerton — wanted to make sure it was word-perfect for an English audience.

He liaised with Geoff Deane, who wrote the film with Tim Firth. ‘I sent him the script and Geoff wrote back and said: “We don’t do condos”, so I changed that to converted lofts.

‘You want to be very respectful of your audience. If words are wrong, it puts you right off the show,’ Fierstein told me.

Kinky Boots, directed with brio by Jerry Mitchell, is about two young men — and also about parental expectations.

Charlie is set to inherit the family shoe company, while Lola is a transvestite who sees a niche market in stiletto-heeled ‘kinky boots’ for men. Both had conflicted relationships with their fathers.

Watching the show again at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on Broadway, I was struck by the fact that what it really boils down to is accepting someone for who they are. It’s a message presented with pizzazz, thanks to Mitchell’s boundless energy and electricity.

In addition to Mitchell, Fierstein collaborated with Cyndi Lauper, who wrote the music and lyrics.

‘You never know what will work,’ he said, of their combined efforts. ‘You put it in the oven and see what comes out!’

What came out, in this case, was a huge hit.