Consider what you're about to read as my love letter to Magic Mike Live – but before we get into it, some context.
Hen dos have gotten over-the-top. There's no doubt about it. Dropping a grand on a long weekend in Mykonos? Using any more than 10% of your annual leave to party with people you barely know? Expectant brides who make you feel bad for not wanting to spend an entire months' salary on the above? Ludicrous. Truly. Yet still, I'm firmly in the camp that – when done right – hen dos can be some of the most wonderful weekends.
Hen dos are silly. They're joyous. They're a chance to make memories with long-time best friends and create new ones. Plus, weddings are ten times the fun when you've bonded over buff butlers and board games with a strong handful of the guests.
When I say done “right”, IMO, that means keeping things classic. Simple, even. Venturing to Ibiza in matching outfits is, in most cases, not needed – particularly when half of your bridal party lives in or around London. My vote? Remaining a tube ride away from my own bed, not using any annual leave, and spending the money I would have spent on a far-away room reminiscent of university halls on one of the best experiences London has to offer. Something a little like Magic Mike Live.
I know exactly what you're thinking, because it's exactly what I thought before stepping inside the doors of the Leicester Square Hippodrome, too. Magic Mike is cringey. Awkward. Sleazy, even. But I implore you to let yourself be proven wrong.
Yes, there are very oily, very shirtless men swinging from the rooftops. Yes, there is bottomless Prosecco. Yes, you might get a lap dance if you're lucky. But the laughter, joy, empowerment and cheer I felt during the 90-minute Magic Mike Live show? Like nothing else I had ever experienced. I arrived feeling nervous and left grinning from ear-to-ear. It turns out Magic Mike has quietly, brilliantly become the ultimate hen party event — not despite feminism, but partly because of it.
It's worth nothing that I had never seen the Magic Mike film before attending the live show – I don't think that matters – so I expected it to be a glorified strip tease. Note here, also, that I was terrified of being dragged on stage, against my will, and danced on top of. But that doesn't happen.
I'm not saying there was much of a storyline, per se – but a glorified strip tease it was not. The dancers asked for the consent of everyone they took onto the stage, and actually, I felt myself feeling jealous that the dancers weren't spending more time at our table.
The male and female dancers are incredible, the music is the most feel-good – and the (sparse) dialogue does a great job of making the audience think the show will play into gender stereotypes before doing a complete 180 and doing a great job of challenging them. (There's a line which says 'here's the sexy CEO who pays men and women the same' – and the entire audience cheers).
The performance feels as though it's for the (mostly) female audience – not at their expense – and I loved the fact that it felt as though women were reclaiming the right to want to see attractive men dance. It felt like the audience was reclaiming what, in the past, only ever happened to them.
I also think it's worth shouting about – outside of the show itself, how amazing the service is – When we arrived at the Hippodrome, my hen party group was taken straight to the casino bar, served drinks – before having our drinks carried through to the theatre for us. The Prosecco was free-flowing – I probably had my glass filled up five or six times during the course of the show – and there were almost as many waiting staff as there were audience members. All doing the most to make everyone feel comfortable. It's the best set-up for a hen party, like, ever.
Magic Mike Live is 90 minutes with no interval – but it felt as though it lasted 10. Almost entirely with thanks to the screaming, unapologetically excited largely-female audience, I wanted to watch it again. And again. And again.
It's true: Magic Mike has earned its place as the modern hen party essential. It’s not about stripping down to objectify; it’s about stripping back expectations, preconceptions, self-judgment, even comfort zones. Feminist? Yes. Fun? Absolutely. Surprising? Totally. Even if you expect to hate it, chances are you’ll love it — or at the very least, you’ll have a story to tell. And honestly, what’s more fun than that?
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