Henry Goodman talks about bringing Hercule Poirot to the stage

 

Henry Goodman has received near universal acclaim for his portrayal of Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express that opened in Chichester last week. Describing the Belgian sleuth as “a cop with a conscience, a detective with dignity”, earlier this month Goodman took a break from his hectic rehearsal schedule to speak with me about the production.

You can read my 5* review of Chichester's Murder on the Orient Express here

Henry Goodman returns to the Chichester stage this month, leading the cast on a newly-written version of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. One of the crime-writer’s classic yarns, the story has been committed to screen numerous times. Now, for the first time, in Ken Ludwig’s adaptation, the murder mystery is to be performed live on stage, with Goodman waxing up his moustache to step into the role of famed detective Hercule Poirot. 

“What is so exciting about the challenge of this story is Poirot. We all know I’m standing on the shoulders of giants – Kenneth Branagh, David Suchet, Peter Ustinov, John Malkovich, Albert Finney and Alfred Molina have all played him on screen – but lockdown gave me the time to read quite a lot of the novels and look at all the films. I didn’t do this to nick ideas, although there might be the odd thing that inspired me, but to soak myself up in Poirot and try to understand why he is so important to people. Why did Christie fall in love with him? I see Poirot as a figure of hope and this adaptation enhances that. I’m in my 70s, so it’s an older man who is saying: ‘This was the case that really was unique in my life. Come back and have a look at it with me.’

“Why is Poirot so refreshing, and why is he able to say things about the British that the British can’t say about themselves? It’s not just that he’s got an odd walk, or that he’s slightly eccentric in his speech, or that he is a foreigner out of place amongst all these people because in this story there are a lot of foreigners all trapped on a train who are from Russia, Sweden and Hungary. No, the interesting, exotic thing is it that this blend of cultures makes him act differently to how he does when he is with the English. Ludwig has been very clever about keeping alive the whodunnit and the questioning, but also in allowing me to observe different nationalities and different presumed attitudes. He’s not just a cop with a conscience, he is a man with a moral strength, and that’s why this case is so important to him as he invites the audience to go back and explore it with him.”

Previous Poirots have all been on film or TV where the camera can be close-up on every hair on his moustache. Here, we are in a 1300-seat auditorium, which Goodman last appeared at in 2010 when he played the role of Sir Humphrey Appleby in Yes, Prime Minister. “Live performance doesn’t necessarily mean melodrama, because it’s a wonderfully powerful and intimate space, but it’s theatre not film,” says Henry. “That means not ‘bigness’, but a different type of laser-focus on certain things that a camera can cheat on. The camera can suggest a little shot through a window or a lingering dolly shot or all sorts of things, but we have to make it happen in a different way.”

Speaking about the historical context of the story, Goodman continued: “I am very conscious that it’s set in the 1930s just after the Nazi rise of 1933. Although it’s a murder mystery, and Ken’s been very strong on the thriller element of working out what happens when and where, there are certain social attitudes built into Christie in her time. Some of these tend towards the colonial and imperialist. However, these people are trapped on a train in the ‘30s. I don’t want to give anything away, but towards the end of the play they are revealed to be acting in a particular light of current events. There are the attitudes of the thirties: of nobility, royalty, a Russian princess, an American actress. These are the characters in the novel, so they’re nothing new, but we have intensified the contrast between them, creating a strong insight into the attitudes of the time, which speak to us now because here we are with Russia invading Ukraine. In the ‘30s that’s exactly what was going on – an invasion of Europe.”

In 1997 Goodman brought Broadway’s Billy Flynn to London in Kander and Ebb’s Chicago. I ask if there are any parallels between playing a ruthless criminal defence lawyer and an investigating detective?

“I’ve played a lot of manipulative nasty people, but the reason these roles are so interesting to play, and why people enjoy reading criminal novels and dealing with dark stuff, is that there’s something charismatic about them. Flynn is manipulative, while Poirot discovers other people’s manipulation, and that is a joy to play. Poirot is passionate about his moral certitude in a world that is in danger.”

Goodman grew up in the East End and worked a pitch selling watches on Petticoat Lane. He landed his first role in 1960 in a film called Conspiracy of Hearts. He was 10. “The film was about little kids being rescued from a concentration camp by nuns. My picture was in Woman’s Weekly – the first image of myself on film was standing behind barbed wire as a little boy in a concentration camp. These things go very deep.

You can read my 5* review of Chichester's Murder on the Orient Express here

Runs until 4th June at Chichester, then tours to Theatre Royal, Bath

This interview was first published in the Jewish News

Photos of Henry Goodman by Johan Persson

Julius Caesar - Review

Shakespeare's Globe, London

**

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Diane Page

Anna Crichlow

The political rhetoric of Julius Caesar is timeless. Recklessly shoehorned into today’s politically correct constraints however and the beauty of Shakespeare's verse is squandered. Diane Page’s production of the classic tragedy seeks to place gender politics centre-stage, with Brutus and Cassius both played by women. To be fair, Anna Crichlow’s Brutus is a well-spoken performance and she makes a fine interpretation of the role’s moral quagmire. But given that this casting decision has led to a part of Mark Anthony’s most famous speech being butchered into: “And, sure, she is an honourable man”, then the production’s incongruities are clear. 

There is sound work from Dickson Tyrrell as a credible Caesar and equally from Samuel Oatley whose Mark Anthony does a good job of whipping up the Globe’s groundlings into Rome's plebeians. But too much of the rest of the company’s diction, especially in dialogue rather than otherwise well-projected monologue, is garbled and inaudible.

When Cicero’s death is announced in Act 4, one is almost reminded of Chicago’s Cell Block Tango – “he had it coming” - than be lost in Shakespeare’s perfectly constructed prose, such is the play’s inconsistency. The battle scenes of the story’s endgame are mangled and the stage-combat (developed by Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown), a vital component of any high body-count Shakespeare, is very poor indeed.

There’s enough here, just, to satisfy a schools audience looking for dramatic context in support of the play’s countless classic quotes and speeches, the groundlings in particular again adding heft. But otherwise, this is a brutal assassination of the play.

Et tu Shakespeare's Globe? Then fall Caesar.

Runs until 17 September, playing at both Shakespeare's Globe and on tour across England

Photo credit: Helen Murray

Caroline O'Connor talks about returning to The Rink after 30 years

Gemma Sutton and Caroline O'Connor in rehearsal for The Rink

Commencing performances this week at the Southwark Playhouse, The Rink is a musical set in an American boardwalk-located roller skating rink that has long since seen better days. The show examines the relationship between the rink’s owner, Anna and her daughter Angel, two women who have grown apart over the years and written by Kander and Ebb, from Terrence McNally’s book, it is the rich complexity of human relationships that drives the narrative.

What makes this particular musical on London's fringe quite so mouthwatering however is its casting of Caroline O'Connor to play Anna. Thirty years ago, when the show first played in the West End, at London’s Cambridge Theatre,  a young O'Connor appeared as Angel.

O'Connor is making an incredibly bold and confident move in stepping back from an acclaimed Broadway run of Anastasia and heading instead to the humble surrounds of the Elephant and Castle. Over a beautifully sunny weekend during the show’s rehearsals, I caught up with O'Connor to talk not only about the show, but also her remarkable career.

JB:    Lets start with The Rink first time around. Tell me all about it....

Caroline:    Well, it was an amazing opportunity really. I'd been in the Me and My Girl original company and then Cabaret with the Gillian Lynne production and also A Chorus Line on national tour, playing Cassie, when the chance came along to cover Angel in the West End. Additionally, with a lot of leading ladies liking to take a show off of their schedule, (I was understudying Diane Langton) I was guaranteed one performance a week which seemed like a pretty good deal in those days.

Fred Ebb came over. John Kander was there so I had the two writers sitting in the auditorium on the day I did my first understudy call on stage, which was quite terrifying! But of course it was also thrilling for me, as a girl who grew up in Australia and just having arrived in England for a few years, to have the actual composers there in the room, along with Terrence McNally too.

Sadly the production did not last for very long and you could feel a great sense of loss amongst the theatre community. But now I feel like it's full circle. Perhaps, I was meant to come back and revisit this beautiful show and get to play the role of Anna. I'm the biggest fan in the world of Chita Rivera (who created the role of Anna on Broadway), she's such an inspiration to me. This show is huge.

JB:    Explain more, please, about the story and the themes of The Rink.

Caroline:    Well, it's a mother/daughter relationship. Angel is a young spirit, and she's gone away, like young people did at that period in the Woodstock kind of finding themselves and having more freedom. Anna however is this poor woman who’s  been left with this business to run, this rink, and her daughter's gone and she's kind of kept this thing going.

The rink belonged to her husband's family, for many years. And, suddenly, she's thinking, "You know what? I think I need some time for myself." And, as soon as she makes that decision, in walks the daughter again. And so kicks off an amazing story of: Will they connect or will they always have this fractious relationship?

It's not just us of course. There are six other men in the show who are brilliantly versatile and extremely talented. They play the show’s other roles, the wreckers, but they also play very important characters in the story, like husband, grandfather, love interest. Just terrific, beautiful voices, great talent.

Adam Lenson our director is rejigging it a little here and there and we have a brilliant choreographer too, Fabian Aloise, who did Working recently. I did West Side Story with him years ago, so we have a connection already. There is a young team around me, which is kind of exciting because of this energy that they bring, and they're all so excited and keen, and it's a lovely feeling in the room.

And Gemma Sutton who plays Angel in the show is just so very talented. I mean, from the moment we met, we just clicked and that's always a blessing when you're doing something where you have to work so closely. And, especially a relationship where it's not exactly a love fest!

JB:    The last time that I heard you sing in London was at The Kings Of Broadway concert at the Palace Theatre. You sang Time Heals Everything from Mack and Mabel that was just gorgeous. You of course played (an Olivier nominated) Mabel when the show opened in the West End in 1995.

Caroline:    Thank you. The most wonderful time I've probably ever had was doing that show. Of course I have loved pretty much everything I've ever done, but I loved Mack and Mabel because although it's a difficult show #I never found it as difficult as a lot of people who would always say, "Oh, the book's not that good."

I never found that a problem, because I felt like we told the truth about Mabel Normand’s life, and I thought she was worth celebrating. She was such an incredible person, not only as an actress, but she was the first female director, and there were so many elements and she just wore here heart on her sleeve.

I had a lot of help too. I met Mabel’s great- nephew and we discussed a lot about her, I saw photos, and he actually gave me a couple of gifts, of items that had belonged to her. So, I felt very fortunate that I had that real insight into her through that contact.

JB:    Tell me a little about your work in Kander & Ebb's Chicago – a show that you’ve played around the world: on Broadway and in Australia, as well as over here. 

Caroline:    I played Velma in Australia and on Broadway, I played Roxie at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre as well as in Lebanon. I've done the show quite a few times and actually I did Chicago twice in Australia, 11 years apart, would you believe! You have to get yourself incredibly fit for Velma, which I quite enjoy too when it's necessary. I was torn the last time, because I was very tempted to do Roxie again, but I’m lucky that I've been able to get to play both those roles. And, now, here with The Rink, this is kind of weird, because now I'm playing both of those roles too.

JB:    And what about your own story?

My parents were Irish so I got sent to Irish dancing classes. The school I went to taught ballet so I auditioned and got into the Royal Ballet School when I was 17. That brought me to London, so that's when I fell in love with London. When I went back to Australia at 19, I was like, "Do I keep going with the ballet or not?" I wasn't like, "Oh, I want to be a big star." That wasn't my mentality. It was always that I wanted to work in theatre. I wanted to learn and to work with great directors and choreographers and people. So, I'm glad that it happened that way, and I'm glad that my success came even if it was a little later, because I had such great training up until then. 

JB:    So, where is home for you now? 

Caroline:    I have homes in Surrey and Sydney and I am lucky enough to have worked all over the world and create a pretty amazing lifestyle and also a pretty amazing, understanding husband too. 

I met him when I was doing Cabaret here in London so, we've been together for 32 years and not everybody in the industry has that kind of support system. You know those sad, tragic stories you hear about people who're in theatre and they have a great career but they have nobody at home, or they have a bit of sadness, I feel really blessed that I've had this amazing, constant love and support in my life. Without sounding too corny, it's true. And, he also just loves what we do. He loves that we travel and that we're both very passionate about music and about theatre.

JB:    You walked away from Anastasia on Broadway to do The Rink. What lay behind that decision? 

Caroline:    People say to me, "why did you come back from New York to do a show at the Southwark Playhouse?” and my reply is because this is what I do. This is my work." I'm still in a black box. I'm still in a theatre. I'm still doing what I love to do, and I would've kicked myself if I hadn't done this. As hard as it is, I really would have kicked myself.

I could have stayed in Anastasia. I was invited to stay on in the show, and I was like, "No, I think I have to do this. I just feel in my heart I have to do it." And, now, some days I'm like, "oh, my God. This is huge. This is a huge" ... When I was playing Angel, I suppose I didn't appreciate how much Josephine Blake (London's original Anna) was doing in the role, and now I look at this mammoth script and mammoth emotional journey and the vocal demands of it. And, there's dancing, and there's a little skating, in brackets. A little. So, yeah, I just think, "Wow! But, my favourite thing is a challenge."

The Rink runs until 23rd June at the Southwark Playhouse

Photo credit: Darren Bell 

Cuba Gooding Jnr speaks about playing Billy Flynn in Chicago

As Cuba Gooding Jnr settles into the role of Chicago's Billy Flynn at the Phoenix Theatre, he briefly spoke with JonathanBaz.com contributor Josh Kemp about the challenge of the West End stage.

Many celebrity stars in recent years have taken on the role of Billy Flynn, the most esteemed defence lawyer in Illinois’ showbiz history. From the likes of Jerry Springer who’s neither a stranger to showbiz or politics (aren’t they the same nowadays anyway?) to David Hasselhoff!

This time around the man filling Flynn’s shoes is none other than Hollywood's Oscar-winner,  Cuba Gooding Jr. Fresh from playing the notorious defendant in television's The People vs O.J.Simpson, Cuba is no stranger to sensational court-room drama - albeit that the Cook County courthouse does come with a little more razzle dazzle. And Gooding Jnr. brings a fresh energy to the role that works perfectly. 

Showered and robed after the show, Cuba spoke to me about how the contrast he’s experiencing between the West End’s live theatre and appearing before a camera. He summed it up perfectly:

 “In TV & film there’s a few takes and then its on to the next scene and there isn’t really time to connect with what you’re doing in the moment as you quickly move on to the next part. On stage every night is different, how your fellow cast perform, the energy from the crowd, everything is different and this adds to your performance and makes every night a challenge that’s new and engaging”

Chicago remains a fun and enjoyable night out, right through from the first number to the final curtain. To catch up with my review of this revival, click here. To read my interview with Josefina Gabrielle, currently playing Velma, have a read here.

Chicago - Review

Phoenix Theatre, London



****


Music, lyrics and book by John Kander & Fred Ebb
Directed by Walter Bobbie

Cuba Gooding Jnr.

Returning to London after some years, Chicago proves why it is one of the longest ever running revivals to still be playing on Broadway. Kander & Ebb’s genius lies in focusing on complex, troubling aspects of humanity and viewing them through the prism of satirical musical theatre. But where their other works (say Cabaret or The Scottsboro Boys) have an underlying horror that rightly pricks our consciences, Chicago's guilty pleasure is that much of its satire proves to be deliciously enjoyable.

The action mainly plays out in Illinois’ Cook County jail where female felon Velma Kelly (who had murdered her husband and his lover as they were caught in-flagrante) finds herself joined by new inmate Roxie Hart (who had shot her lover as he walked out on her). In their quest for liberty rather than the gallows, both women hire celebrity lawyer Billy Flynn to fight their case. Flynn in turn, much like a modern-day Mark Anthony (or should that be Max Clifford?) seeks to play to the public’s emotions and outcries by garnering as much press coverage as he can for his sensational clients in the hope of achieving their acquittal.

Over the years, and on both sides of the Atlantic, Chicago's producers have acquired a reputation for parachuting celebrities into leading roles, with little regard to their song or dance expertise, but rather with an eye on their ability to bring a different star quality to the show, as well as to get bums on seats. So it is here, with Hollywood leading man (and Oscar winner) Cuba Gooding Jnr making his West End debut as Billy Flynn. While Gooding Jnr may not have the finest voice, he delivers impact, presence and above all credibility to the smooth-talking shyster he portrays. The wicked twinkle that he brings to Flynn more than justifies the producers’ gamble in hiring him.

Elsewhere however there is musical theatre excellence as Josefina Gabrielle brings a sultry wisdom, alongside a vocal and physical athleticism to Velma. A veteran of the London show from the last time around (where she played Roxie), hers is an assured, delightful interpretation. Also back in the London show, Sarah Soetaert reprises her Roxie Hart in a solid performance that doesn’t disappoint.

The eye-opening casting, aside from Cuba Gooding Jnr., is Ruthie Henshall who completes a personal hat-trick with the show by playing jailer Mamma Morton. Seasons past have seen Henshall not only play Velma, but also be London's first ever Roxie when Chicago opened at the Adelphi Theatre in 1997. Henshall may not have quite the burlesque/statuesque presence that When You’re Good to Mamma demands, but her vocals are unsurpassed. She and Gabrielle make the duet Class, class.

There’s fun stuff too from Paul Rider as the ineptly cuckolded Amos Hart, jazz-handedly delivering Mister Cellophane to one of the evening’s loudest cheers.

Choreographed by Ann Reinking in the style of Bob Fosse, this staging which is now into its third decade, speaks of a world that is highly sexually charged. The costumes are provocative with both men and women (aside from the two male leads)scantily clad, in outfits outlining provocative sexuality. Recent months of course have seen sexual politics being radically re-evaluated, and against that backdrop it is interesting to consider Chicago's own distinct stance on the matter. Kelly, Hart and Flynn understand the power of sex, while the Cell Block Tango number is a celebration of women who (for the most part) have exacted righteous retribution on the disappointing or treacherous men in their life. It's a complex argument for sure but at least within its on-stage iteration, Chicago's women are victors rather than victims.  

Chicago remains fine Fosseian musical theatre. Strong story, stylish dance, and Kander & Ebb’s brilliant songs. Class, indeed.

Booking until 6th October

Photo credit: Tristram Kenton

Josefina Gabrielle talks about Chicago

Sarah Soetaert and Josefina Gabrielle

As Chicago returns to London, I spoke with Josefina Gabrielle who as Velma is sharing the show’s leading credits, about the piece and her career.

Josefina:    Well, it's the longest running American musical. It's been running for 21 years on Broadway and it is wonderful to have it back in the West End. Chicago holds a very dear place in my heart, because I've had so many wonderful experiences with it. And I also have to admit an obsession with it too! Before I’d even saw the show, the original cast album had been a favourite of mine. I love to watch it and I love being in it.

It also has a real international appeal. Not only do theatre lovers come to see the show, but it brings other audiences too. It makes me feel very proud, and Cuba Gooding Jr., by the way, is a diamond. We love him, an absolute superstar. He's a true star - a lovely, warm, funny man and an excellent company leader too. And of course, to work with Ruthie Henshall is a privilege and a dream. I've followed her for years and admired her and we've meet socially on occasions too, but to finally get to work together, and to sing Class with such a classy lady, is a thrill.

JB:    You’re playing Velma but when Chicago was last in town you played Roxie. Tell me about that contrast.

Josefina:    It is terribly interesting, because I played Roxie for the first time, 18 years ago. I went in and out of Chicago on various occasions during its run. I think the last time I was involved as 10 years ago. So now I am Velma watching Roxie, having been Roxie watching Velma.

I suppose, maybe because of who I am now, 18 years later, my Velma certainly feels very grown up. Looking back at Roxie, I felt more sort of twinkly and girlie then. Now I feel more calculating, more of a planner, whereas Roxie didn't really think about consequences. She sort of turns on a six pence and just cleans up as she goes along, whereas Velma is more calculating. 

JB:    You’ve played a number of phenomenal roles in recent years. What have you brought from your experience to date, to add to your take on Velma?

Josefina:    Interestingly and thinking of Merrily We Roll Along from four years ago, I've tapped into Gussie quite a few times. 

JB:    The sexual politics of Chicago take on a different hue post-Weinstein. This production’s publicity shots follow the tradition of presenting Roxie, Velma and here, Mama Morton too, clad in underwear, while Billy Flynn (and Amos) remain fully clothed. How can that styling be explained, today?

Josefina:    I feel that the entire company, men and women, with the exception of Billy and Amos maybe, are owning their life with sexuality and physicality. Fosse is such a very strong, wonderful style of choreography, and we are wearing outfits and costumes that represent that style of the show and its dance.

If you think of any ballet company, any dance company, it's no different. It is a dance and singing and acting show, so you're covering everything, really. I don't feel anyone is being exploited or feeling weak, because of what they're wearing. 

JB:    Tell me your thoughts on performing Kander and Ebb's work. 

Josefina:    My experience with Kander and Ebb and also Rodgers and Hammerstein are that the subjects that they pick are so fascinating and very often ahead of their times. How they portray those subjects, the structure of the shows and the music is just so wonderful, such brilliant numbers, that is it pure, pure entertainment that really sort of picks you up and makes you soar, soar as in fly to the sky.

But when you really think about the message that you're putting across, it is wonderful food for thought of the whole sensationalising criminal behaviour in Chicago. Cabaret with the rise of the Nazis in Berlin. They touch on such fascinating subjects, moving you. And then, when you explore what you've celebrated, it opens your eyes. It's wonderful. 

JB:    I'm glad that you touched upon Rodgers and Hammerstein because the first time that I came across your work was at the National Theatre 20 years ago in Trevor Nunn’s remarkable Oklahoma! What do you mean by those composers being "ahead of their time"?

Josefina:    Well I've done three Rodgers and Hammersteins now. Oklahoma!, Carousel and The King and I and every time it's an education. It's the birth of a nation in Oklahoma! as that state was just coming into existence. The musical is about the land rush, starting from scratch and setting up communities. That's an entire education on the history of the birth of a state.

The King and I is all about cultural differences. Where you believe yourself to be superior, because you think you know better, but then another culture opens your eyes to your ignorance and you learn from each other. It's always been a wonderful education, and a sort of sense of coming home to, every time I've done a Rodgers and Hammerstein – the material is just so rich. 

JB:    And of course you are one of the few West End leading ladies to have played opposite Hugh Jackman!

Josefina:    Yes. I mean on stage, it's just me, isn't it?

JB:    And now, together with Ruthie Henshall and Sarah Soetaert, you can add Cuba Gooding Jnr to that tally too!

Chicago plays at the Phoenix Theatre and is booking until 6th October.

Photo credit: Tristram Kenton

Chicago The Musical - Review

Churchill Theatre, Bromley


*****

Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Music by John Kander
Book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse
Directed by Walter Bobbie

John Partridge and Hayley Tamaddon

Were it not for a young reporter - Maurine Dallas Watkins - being assigned to cover the trials of women accused of murder, for the Chicago Tribune, the world would have missed out on the long-running musical named after that same city. Some very real characters from the early 20th century provided the inspiration for iconic names such as Roxie Hart, Velma Kelly and Billy Flynn - all of whom are brilliantly brought to life by the cast of Chicago The Musical, currently touring the UK.

The tale of murder, deception and glamour is played out against the backdrop of Cook County Jail, where dazzling black costumes and stage lights replace orange jumpsuits and jail bars. The media's morbid fascination with some of its more attractive criminals enables Roxie and Velma to engineer a route to a new life of celebrity.

A social commentary on fame and justice - but more than that, Chicago is a fast-paced extravaganza, whirling through iconic numbers such as All That Jazz, Razzle Dazzle and Cell Block Tango with the cast and orchestra never missing a beat, step or line. 

The principals in this line-up are equally strong, each bringing stellar vocals and a convincing embodiment of their characters to the stage. Jessie Wallace as Mama Morton, John Partridge as Billy Flynn and Neil Ditt as Amos Hart blow the audience away with their solos but are also a joy to watch working with the rest of the cast. Hayley Tamaddon's Roxie and Sophie Carmen-Jones' Velma both play beautifully off against each other, shining while on stage every time. 

The chorus also puts on an impressive show, seamlessly transitioning from scene to scene while retaining a high level of energy throughout. Gary Chryst's recreation of Bob Fosse's choreography and Ann Reinking's original choreography transports the audience back to the roaring 1920s but never feels dated. 

The orchestra is the other star of the show. Under Léon Charles' direction, the score is slick and cheeky and the musicians - centre stage throughout - work beautifully with the actors. The clever staging also ensures that the stage never feels cramped or that it is a touring production. 

Particularly striking is the absence of a dull moment. The show starts with a literal bang and, never resting on its laurels, continues to ramp up the momentum throughout. As Velma and Mama Morton muse about the notion of class, the answer is evident - it's all being held by this production of Chicago.  

Runs until 15th October, then tours

Reviewed by Bhakti Gajjar

Photo credit Catherine Ashmore

Desperate Divas Cabaret - Review

*****

Tiffany Graves, Tom Wakeley and Anita Louise Combe

Tiffany Graves and Anita Louise Combes are West End leading ladies who amongst other things, have both played Chicago’s Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly even if never in the production at the same time as the other. It was Tom Wakeley however, a former Musical Director of the Kander & Ebb hit, that spotted the potential of pairing the two as a double act. It has taken a couple of years to bring Wakeley’s idea to fruition, but their cabaret Desperate Divas, a collection of show tunes loosely themed around the trials of modern dating, is now finally receiving its premier at the St James Studio.

Graves and Combes are vocal sensations and this show is all the more remarkable for having been put together whilst both actresses are currently rehearsing major openings. Graves is shortly to commence touring as Ulla in The Producers, whilst Combes in preparation for the transfer of last year’s sensational Gypsy, from Chichester to the West End’s Savoy. It was a neat touch that saw the gig open with a mash up of When You Got it Flaunt It together with Let Me Entertain You from each show respectively. The tweaked lyrics may have been a little bit cheesy but the songs provided a classy moment that set the tone for the rest of the night.

The divas’ patter was mostly classy, even if occasionally clunky. But this was their first gig – and when schedules allow these talented women to re-group and perform again, (which they must) their spiel will only get better.

The songs however were flawless, combining familiar numbers (in a set list that was inevitably heavy on offerings from Chicago) together with showtunes some of which have yet to be performed in the UK. One of Combes’ desperate deliveries was Where In The World Is My Prince from William Finn’s Little Miss Sunshine, which included the sparklingly memorable rhyme that she’d been “trained by Nikinsky and coached by Lewinsky”. Other treats of the first half included Graves’ (now clad in a wedding dress – bravo to the backstage dressers for executing such speedy costume changes) Always A Bridesmaid from I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, whilst the pair closed act one with Side Show’s plaintive Who Will Love Me As I Am, delivered with stunning harmonies and a thrilling anthemic power.

Graves had played a stunning Sukie Rougemont in the 2013 prodcution of The Witches of Eastwick at Newbury’s Watermill (reviewed here). So to see Words,Words,Words, a bogglingly complex number rarely heard on the cabaret circuit, listed amongst the second half gems, whetted appetites. Graves duly smashed the song, to showstopping whoops from the packed crowd.

Tom Wakeley excelled on piano throughout – ably accompanied by Paul Moylan on double bass.

The pair closed with Chicago’s Class and Nowadays – done to perfection by two singers who could not know their material more intimately nor with greater understanding. That they also threw in a very slick Hot Honey Rag dance routine, tailored brilliantly to the Studio’s confines, was but an added bonus. These women are at the top of their game with voices that are perfectly tuned. Cabaret singing doesn’t get better than this!

Photo credit - Jonathan Hilder of Piers Photography

The Scottsboro Boys

Young Vic Theatre,  London

*****

Music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb

Book by David Thompson

Directed and choreography by Susan Stroman

Colman Domingo and Forrest McClendon look down on Kyle Scatliffe

The legendary Broadway partnership of John Kander and Fred Ebb achieved their final collaboration with The Scottsboro Boys, a glorious treatment of an infamous chapter in the history of the American South. Kander and Ebb don’t do easy. Their view of the world is always through a sharply skewed prism, they strip away facades and revel in exposing the frailties that lie beneath. So it was that around the end of the 20th century, when these two wily writers scanned the history books for inspiration, their gaze settled upon the travesty of an injustice that befell nine innocent black men.

Riding the rails from Georgia in 1931, the train these nine had hopped stopped suddenly in Scottsboro, Alabama following a fight on board (that had not involved them). Two white women then falsely accused the nine of rape and they were summarily arrested, convicted and were to spend many years and endure countless appeals and retrials as death sentences were repeatedly pronounced and adjourned. For a time, the Scottsboro Boys were a cause celebre, polarising the USA across very old divisions. The South wanted them executed whilst the liberal North sought their liberty. That those Boys who were eventually paroled, were only freed after having had to falsely “admit” their guilt, only added to the cruel irony of the shameful saga. One man Haywood Patterson (a tour de force performance from American actor Kyle Scatliffe) could not bring himself to confess to a crime he hadn't committed and some twenty years later, was to die in jail.

Its grim material for a show, but that’s where Kander and Ebb are at their finest. Where their Chicago was scenes from Death Row staged as a series of Vaudeville numbers and Cabaret played out in a sleazy Berlin bar, so The Scottsboro Boys is told through the vehicle of a traditional minstrel show. Nine men play the Boys, whilst two other actors play the traditional minstrel roles of Mr Tambo and Mr Bones. Overseeing the whole on stage performance is the white-man authority figure of the minstrel show’s Interlocutor. 

Ebb died in 2004, some 6 years before Susan Stroman was to bring the show firstly to Broadway and now to London. Stroman extracts theatrical gold from her UK company, who include (amongst other Broadway performers, over on an Equity swap) Forrest McClendon and Colman Domingo reprising the extreme satirists Tambo and Bones that they created in New York. In white suit and top hat, veteran brit Julian Glover is the evening’s Interlocutor, presenting a chillingly benign face of the all too acceptable racism that built the South. Drawing on ragtime, blues and spirituals for inspiration, the songs are all pointed. Go Back Home in particular, being a mournfully despairing blues number sung by Patterson and the youngest boy, Eugene. (And made all the more special on the Broadway cast recording by being sung by John Kander himself, solo, as an album extra. Buy it!)

The tale makes much of the importance of truth. The Alabama women lie whilst the Scottsboro Boys who are freed, only obtain liberty through a false confession. The song Make Friends With The Truth is possibly one of Kander and Ebb's best, telling the tale of a fictional black boy Billy, who after being lynched confesses his crimes to St Peter. Whilst Billy's honest confession gains him entry to Heaven, the last laugh is on him as he finds the pearly gates barred and discovers that even the afterlife is segregated, where a black man has to enter via the back door. 

Other memorable numbers are the false accusations made by the Alabama Ladies in the song of that title. Forrest McClendon’s That’s Not The Way We Do Things, sees him play a New York defence lawyer in a goggle eyed performance that suggests the mania of Cabaret’s Emcee, whilst Haywood’s beautifully defiant final number You Can’t Do Me, echoes the soft yet sinister, harsh staccato sound that Kander and Ebb deployed so masterfully in Cabaret’s Finale.

Stroman’s vision eschews fancy sets, relying instead on simple chairs, planks and the outstanding singing, dancing and acting of her troupe. In a year that has seen this show together with The Amen Corner and The Color Purple all staged within the creative powerhouse that is London's SE1 postal district, the capital has witnessed some truly astonishing theatre based around stories of the 20th century African American heritage. The Scottsboro Boys is an ugly story, beautifully told. As with Chicago and Cabaret, it could also, one day, make for a wonderful movie.

The Broadway original cast recording of The Scottsboro Boys is available to download from iTunes.

Chicago

Curve Theatre, Leicester

****

Book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse
Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Directed by Paul Kerryson

Sandra Marvin and Verity Rushworth

Bob Fosse co wrote the book of Chicago. He also famously inspired the show’s choreography, which could be found on tour in the UK even up until last year. But not any more. That famously coquettish and provocative sexuality has been laid to rest and there’s a new dance style in the Windy City. Like an impetuous child, young British choreographer Drew McOnie has taken some of Broadway’s biggest numbers and re-imagined their steamy suggestiveness into a style that is entirely 21st century.

Paul Kerryson directs on the sleek modern vastness of the Curve’s main auditorium. It’s a big (and possibly expensive) space to fill, sometimes too big and if occasionally the intimacy of a bedroom scene or a lawyer's office seems dwarfed, one does not have to wait long until McOnie’s routines fill the stage. The show is such that one’s eyes are often drawn to the fascinating and complex company dance work rather than the singing lead.

The murderous partners in crime, Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart, are played by the accomplished Verity Rushworth and Gemma Sutton respectively. Both women are vocally stunning, with Rushworth flashing occasional glimpses of breathaking acrobatic talent. Not quite the finished article yet, their poor synchronisation in the eleven o’clock number Nowadays is a distraction. Nothing though that can't be mended with a spot of drilled rehearsal and a few days settling into the run.

Kerryson is at his best when exploiting the bleak humanity of Kander and Ebb’s caustic wit. The comic pathos of Amos Hart’s Mister Cellophane is a brilliant turn from Matthew Barrow, whilst the sardonic irony of Sandra Marvin’s Mama Morton singing Class with Rushworth is another gem. Credit too to Marvin’s When Your’re Good To Mama. Her Curve-filling curves deliver a thrilling sound and to quote her signature song, she sure deserves a lot of tat for what she’s got to give.

David Leonard is Billy Flynn. He does everything just fine, but somehow there’s a touch of star quality pizazz that’s lacking. Hopefully that too will develop into the run. Notably brilliant amongst the company are Adam Bailey’s Mary Sunshine and Zizi Strallen’s Mona along with her other ensemble responsibilities. One suspects that her understudy Velma will be very watchable too.

The star of the show however is undoubtedly McOnie’s dance work, enhanced by takis’ androgynously metro-sexual costumes. In Razzle Dazzle, when Flynn sings of the court room being a three-ring circus, McOnie sculpts his company, using their limbs together with ropes and harnesses to create a writhing mass of syncopated beauty. Moulding bodies into art forms, in time to the brassy rhythms of Ben Atkinson’s immaculately performing seven piece band, his images are breathtaking. See this show if for no other reason than to glimpse the future of showtune choreography.

Curve’s Chicago is a stylish Xmas offering to a city that has become accustomed to festive excellence from Kerryson and his company. Its a thrilling show and if you have a passion for innovative musical theatre, then its simply unmissable!

Chicago runs to 18th January 2014. To book tickets, click here

To read my interview with director Paul Kerryson, click here