Standing at the Sky's Edge - Review

Gillian Lynne Theatre, London

***

Music and lyrics by Richard Hawley

Book by Chris Bush

Directed by Robert Hastie

The cast of Standing at the Sky's Edge

Transferring to the West End from an acclaimed run at the National Theatre, Standing At The Sky’s Edge charts three occupancies of a duplex home built in Sheffield’s Park Hill estate. The show’s timeframe runs from the estate’s opening as a massive social housing project in 1959, replacing a significant proportion of the city's slum accommodation, then through a period of neglect and dilapidation and finally to the estate's gentrification in the early 21st century and transition into private ownership. Park Hill was a massive development and to this day remains the largest listed work of architecture in Europe. A prominent feature of Sheffield’s cityscape, the estate's history offered a bold conceit for the musical’s narrative.

It is a disappointment therefore that Chris Bush’s book is little more than a thread of cliched agitprop observations of the duplex's three occupying households. From a newly wed steelworker and his bride escaping poverty, through to refugees fleeing civil war in Liberia and ultimately, a comfortably middle-class professional running away from London and a failed relationship, Bush shoehorns in as many passing nods to Sheffield’s social landscape of the last 60 years as she can. The collapse of the steel industry, the miners’ strike, Thatcherism and even Brexit are all acknowledged with shallow passing references, though one can only speculate as to why the child grooming scandals that also tarnished so much of the South Yorkshire region during this period, fail to get a mention.

Richard Hawley’s songs are musically beautiful but lyrically lazy - the tunes land gorgeously on the ear but their frequent repetitions of phrases suggest a lack of creative wit behind the songs’ otherwise powerful foundations. The cast, as is to be expected on a leading London stage, are all magnificent with standout performances from Laura Pitt-Pulford, Rachael Wooding and Lauryn Redding. Ben Stone's stage designs together with Mark Henderson's lighting are equally impressive.

40 years ago Willy Russell's Blood Brothers offered a far sharper musical take on the impact of Thatcherism on England's north and of attempts by planners to rehouse a city's poor. Perhaps in a site-specific venue on the estate, Standing At The Sky's Edge may have packed more of a punch. The musical opened in Sheffield in 2019 where regional ticket pricing would have made it affordable to many of the city’s residents. In the capital however, where ticket prices are comparatively eye-watering, agitprop has been replaced by champagne-socialism.

Booking until 3rd August

Photo credit: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg

Aspects of Love - Review

Lyric Theatre, London

***

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Lyrics by Don Black & Charles Hart

Based on the novel by David Garnett

Directed by Jonathan Kent

Michael Ball and Laura Pitt-Pulford

Returning to the London stage and complete with re-vamped orchestrations, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black / Charles Hart’s Aspects of Love takes up a modest residency at the Lyric Theatre .

Michael Ball who starred in the original production as the young Alex, here tops the bill as the avuncular George, in this curious tale of love that according to Messrs. Black and Hart, changes everything.

Ball is magnificent and so too are his company of Laura Pitt-Pulford as Rose, Jamie Bogyo (Alex), soprano Danielle De Niese as Giuletta and Anna Unwin as Jenny (with on press night Millie Gubby as her character's pre-teen iteration). It all makes for a fabulously performed ménage à cinq that on closer inspection turns out to be a most unappetising minestrone of morals.

Technically, the show is a marvel. Not just in the actors’ glorious work, but in Lloyd Webber’s melodies married with John Macfarlane’s ingenious designs and projections, that make for an evening of exquisite stagecraft.

Ultimately though, the musical is little more than a sung-through panoply of privileged, priapic, polyamory. Go see it for the gorgeous songs.

Runs until 19th August

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Falsettos - Review

The Other Palace, London


****


Music & Lyrics by William Finn
Book by William Finn and James Lapine
Directed by Tara Overfield-Wilkinson

Daniel Boys

When the patriarchal Marvin leaves his wife and young son for another man his family life is thrown into disarray. Trina, his frazzled spouse hooks up with Marvin’s psychiatrist Mendel, Marvin’s lover Whizzer is reluctantly inducted into the family’s day-to-day activities for the sake of maintaining some sense of normalcy as 10 year old Jason find himself caught in the middle of the pandemonium. 

William Finn and James Lapine’s Falsettos, originally envisioned as a pair of one act chamber musicals, really is a show of two halves. Act one, while slightly disjointed, is a fairly breezy affair, filled with pithy recitatives interspersed with zippy ensemble numbers. It’s all good fun, but while the show is funny, cutting and witty, as the interval arrives it also seems a little bit directionless. 

Not so in the second half. Picking up two years later and introducing Marvin’s delightful next door neighbours, caterer Cordelia and doctor Charlotte (‘the lesbians next door’), Falsettos delves into the confusion and chaos of the AIDS crisis. It’s a gut-wrenching decent – the darkening tone jarring uncomfortably with production designer PJ McEvoy’s kitschy set, with its cartoonish colour palette washed over with blinding bright primary coloured lighting. Tara Overfield-Wilkinson directs the turn from mayhem to tragedy perfectly, seamlessly balancing the laughs and the tears.

And, of course, the production is elevated by an outrageously good ensemble cast. Daniel Boys gives a masterfully complex performance as Marvin, a man who is constantly in the middle of a precarious balancing act with Oliver Savile charming as Marvin’s sardonic and seemingly self-absorbed boyfriend. Meanwhile Laura Pitt-Pulford’s Trina is as brilliant as ever, the jilted wife putting on a happy face for the sake of her family. 

Having picked up a cult following amongst UK musical theatre lovers after its well-received 2016 Broadway revival, the UK premiere of Falsettos was massively anticipated, and this production goes a long way to showing just why. It’s a shame though that it has been marred by controversy, with some in the UK’s Jewish community  calling out the lack of Jewish representation within the production’s cast and creative team. As the story centres closely upon the Jewish experience, including a touching subplot that centres on young Jason’s looming Bar Mitzvah, it remains essential that the show never dips into distasteful parody. There’s definitely a lesson to be learned here for future iterations of this show and indeed, others. 

Judging the production at face-value though, Falsettos is well sung, ultra-smart and ultimately gutting. Those who buy a ticket will have plenty to look forward to.

Runs until 23rd November
Reviewed by Charlotte O'Growney
Photo credit: The Standout Company

takis talks- Performance Designed

The musical Side Show that recently opened at London’s Southwark Playhouse, is another achievement for one of the most distinctive stage designers around. For several years now the reputation of takis (the lower case ‘t’ is deliberate) has acquired immense respect from theatre and opera producers alike. Having admired takis’ work for years, I am one of the few reviewers to have seen much of his work in both theatre and opera as well as a number of regional productions. 

Before Side Show opened, I spoke with takis to learn a little more about his designs for the show, as well as aspects of his other work, including In The Heights.

Side Show

JB:          I have to start with your distinctive name. Please enlighten me

takis:     Well, I am from Greece and it is a Greek name! It was there that my passion with the theatre commenced. I joined an amateur theatre over there and did a lot of work with them. Everything! Performing, choreographing, designing and from the age of 14 to 18 I spent one month a year in Italy doing ancient Greek drama, festivals and touring. That's how it all built up. Then when I was 16, I was like, "That's what I want to do, costumes and design!"

So I decided to study Fine Arts and Costumes in a very old fashioned academy in Bucharest, learnt Romanian and set off.

JB:          Is Side Show your first time back at the Southwark Playhouse since In The Heights?

takis:     Yes and designing the show has been a blessing and a challenge at the same time. A blessing, as the audience have an inclusive, immersive experience of a freak/vaudeville show and are able to observe closely the life journey of (the real life conjoined twins) Violet & Daisy Hilton played extraordinary by Laura Pitt-Pulford & Louise Dearman. On the other hand, having the audience that close you need to be as authentic as possible with the overall design and its details.

Designing real people and in our case ‘freaks’ has not been an easy task. My first challenge was the conjoining of the two sisters, we kept changing the device until Laura & Louise felt connected. We are not talking about only a simple costume connection, but something more anatomical. Their joining has an impact of how they move, dance and how both embodied the two sisters. After achieving the ‘connection’ we worked on how to make them look alike and how to create all the costumes around the achieved conjoined bodies. We had also to create the ‘freaks’, real people of the 1920s with physical abnormalities. The realisation of all the freaks (bearded lady, 3 leg man, pin cushion human, cannibal, lizard man, half man/half woman, tattooed lady, fortune teller/dolly dimple, dog boy) is based on each performer and period research. All the designs are driven by the physique and look of each performer. We experimented and tested ideas until each character came alive. To be fair, the only way we were able to achieve this was to have two extremely talented team members in Clare Amos (wardrobe supervisor) and Natasha Lawes (Wigs, Make up, Prosthetics & Tech-Fx Supervisor).

Moving to the set design; from the beginning we decided that the best configuration would be ‘in thrust’ which means the actual stage space is very limited. I had to create levels, entrances and exits and then, within that, incorporate 7 musicians & 14 cast members. I always design by responding to the actual architecture of the venue, making the space a friend rather than an enemy and I have tried to create a 1920s environment which can change from a freak show to a vaudeville stage.

With the metal structure, cladded with wooden plunks and lighting bulbs I tried to play with illusions, to exaggerate height and depth, create perspective compositions. All the wooden planks are connected but are taking different directions mirroring the characters of the 2 sisters. The metal, art deco circular shapes bring glimpses of the period style, but also illustrate the circles of life; from the full circle to the interrupted ones.

I am really proud of what we have achieved here.

Oliver!

JB:          Looking at some of your other work, tell me firstly about the Oliver! that you designed at Leicester’s Curve last year.

takis:     Well, I’d worked a lot with the director Paul Kerryson before, so I knew that we wanted to make sure that the understanding of the period was correct. We knew that it needed to be dark as well as brightly coloured.

We have the posh characters, so you want to help that number to really be strong, have silks. Then you have Fagin’s gang, the underground, where you have the ability to bring in a lot of textures and colours of the era. Then I will put some modern fabrics within that, some fabrics that you could question them if they are of the time, but as a feeling they will give you exactly that. I went with feelings and textures.

Then of course with the main characters, I always want to meet them. I want to see, "Who do I have? What is interesting of them?" Sometimes they have incredible eyes, they have a nose which you want to exaggerate, or they have a bosom, or they have a waist. Each performer has something to give you that is good to know. Sometimes you have a conversation with them. Sometimes you have to design much earlier before you meet them, but still I do a lot of research per individual, who are these people?

JB:          Tell me more about the importance of costume in your work.

Takis:     In Bucharest we learned costume through art and through dance. Much like a choreographer will learn the dances of the period, so we understood how dress changes in society according to the movements that they made and how they danced and so on.

Then we opened up the garments to see the patterns, sometimes deconstructing them into something else. Having worked with the opera in Rome for many summers, while I was studying I learned scenic paint, costume making and many other skills. I know the basics and the tools and then I twist them to suit my needs.

JB:          Explain more about your work in opera.

takis:     Opera and ballet are on such grand scales! I did a world premiere of ballet with The Little Mermaid and it took a year to design it. The scale was enormous. The vision there, in Scandinavia, was something that we don’t have here. They're really up for exploring.

The brief that they gave me was, “takis, we want a design that will bring the classic ballet into the future". So I brought in 3D projections, floors moving up, moving down, things coming in, flying people, flying through the auditorium, things coming out. There were 12 full sets, moving floors, lifts.

JB:          That sounds spectacular - what was the budget that you had to work with for that?

takis:     I never asked!

This year in particular has been very opera-focussed for me too with an elegant Die Fledermaus at Holland Park this summer and currently the English Touring Opera’s production of Ulysses’ Homecoming and La Calisto.

We push these works to different areas, genres and feelings according to where they are performed and for which audience and why. As with musicals, the music leads you. That's what I love now more and more in musicals, opera and ballets - the stimulation is via the music.

In The Heights

JB:          Coming back to musical theatre I want to ask you about In The Heights. When you first put it together at Southwark, what were your thoughts about the show? 

takis:     I think when we heard the music, we all went, "Wow!". It is a fusion of different cultures. It hits you. It's something that moves you. It moves your body somehow.

The thing that comes out for In The Heights is the heat and the sexiness if you like, that is around there. Also, the values of friends and family are all these elements that are familiar to me because strangely enough, these Latin values are very close to Mediterranean values. We might not dance Latin, but it's these kind of things that sometimes make you respond by dance.

At Southwark we kind of brought the audience in the three sides and then I had to work with the floor and the wall. It's not a big space and we wanted to keep the key locations. Then I played with the lights of the subway, kind of taking us a different direction, different houses, different lines of like, if you like. We see the life of a society, but the life of differing individuals and how they take this cross between each other. That's kind of what's strung for it. We play with bold colours and then I just had the idea to put in fluorescence and of course Howard Hudson is an absolutely incredible lighting designer. We always work so well together.

JB:          And the transfer to the Kings Cross Theatre and sharing the venue itself with The Railway Children. That must have been a fascinating challenge from a design perspective?

takis:     Yes and you’ve driven the train there haven’t you? So you realise what the space is there! How we change between the two shows within one hour has been an amazing challenge. It was more of an engineering designing rather than designing for a show.

I had to work with platforms that are 2 meters square. We put in fills, where the trucks are and then we roll out a dance floor that brings it all together.

I feel happy that we managed to do it, in the sense of we all wanted the show to come back and it's so good that it's back, with all the Oliviers and everything that happened to it. We all have put our souls in that show. It is one of the shows that from day one, we were like, "Yeah". We were like kids, you know how you feel, no matter what age you are. We had this energy in all of us and I think that comes across to the audience.


Side Show plays at  the Southwark Playhouse until 3rd December
In The Heights plays at the Kings Cross Theatre until 8th January 2017

Side Show - Review

Southwark Playhouse, London


****

Book and lyrics by Bill Russell
Music by Henry Krieger
Additional book material by Bill Condon
Directed by Hannah Chissick

Louise Dearman and Laura Pitt-Pulford

Originally opening on Broadway in 1997 then revived in 2014, Side Show by Bill Russell and Henry Krieger finally finds its way to the London stage thanks to Hannah Chissick’s ingenious production now playing at the Southwark Playhouse.

Based on the true story of the Daisy and Violet Hilton– conjoined twins who became famous in the 1930s as a vaudeville double act – the musical follows the decade of their fame from its beginnings in Texas through to New York and ultimately their Hollywood debut.

Through their fascinating and unconventional lives, Side Show succeeds in engaging the audience with an open question about individuality and identity; the two girls’ struggle to just be themselves (or “Like Everyone Else” as they sing) is a never-ending controversial and painful process of auto-definition. The contradiction lies in their desiring to be two separate people, on the one hand and the fear of losing a deep part of their inner selves in doing so, on the other.

Bringing a fabulous pedigree to the show, its strong cast is led by Louise Dearman as a saucy and strong Daisy and Laura Pitt-Pulford who plays the sensitive and dreamy Violet. The two are the living embodiment of yin and yang, where the need to be accepted and the desire to live a normal life are intertwined with the sparkle of showbiz and they are utterly convincing in portraying the twins’ double act, especially in songs like “Buddy Kissed Me” and “Typical Girls Next Door”. Their male counterparts are equally impressive: Haydn Oakley is a rascally, charming Terry while Dominic Hodson is a naïve and controversial Buddy.

To deliver such a distinctive story the show can count on some striking songs, from the strongly energetic opening number “Come Look At The Freaks”, to the funny and entertaining “Very Well Connected” and “One Plus One Equals Three”, to the tender “Feelings You’ve Got To Hide” that clearly succeed in moving the audience.

Chissick guides her top-notch company through a virtually flawless production, thanks also to takis’ thought-provoking set which, in its simplicity cleverly alludes as much to the golden lights of the music hall as it does the harsh restraint of circus cages, alongside his glamorous costume designs. As ever, Howard Hudson's lighting plots excel, while Jo Cichonska keeps the band perfectly nuanced under her classy direction.

An uncommon musical infused with both uneasiness and joy, Side Show is a unique, rare experience that will stay with you long after the finale. Go and see it!

Runs until 3rd  December
Reviewed by Simona Negretto
Photo credit: Pamela Raith

MS. A Song Cycle - Review

*****

An album themed around the impact of a disease makes for an unusual release at the best of times and yet there is an unexpected noble beauty to Rory Sherman's MS. A Song Cycle. As Sherman writes in his CD sleeve notes, most of the people diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) are women, often in their 20s or 30s whose lives are at best, rearranged and at worst, devastated. Drawn from his own conversations with friends and family, Sherman has written a collection 14 songs, each one set to music by a different composer, and each recorded by a different woman drawn from amongst the cream of Britain's musical theatre performers.

Whilst all of the recordings are as humbling as they are beautifully crafted, a number are particularly profound, moving or even dammit downright entertaining. Robert J. Sherman (he of the illustrious songwriting line of Shermans and no relation to Rory) has scored the reflective Mondays, recorded by Rosemary Ashe. There's an innate sense of wisdom in Ashe's timbre, singing of the therapy found in a weekly group meeting - with Sherman's gentle melodies only enhancing the song's message.

What's That Jim? scored by George Stiles and sung by Caroline Quentin has a music-hall ring to its take on a woman's frustration at her condition, with a clever fusion of wit and irony in  Quentin’s delivery. Likewise the satire in Mummy's Not Well sung by Lauren Samuels with music by Paul Boyd is another bittersweet gem. The song tells of a child's perspective on her mother's diagnosis, the lyrics bringing a clever poignancy - naive, yet knowing.

Laura Pitt-Pulford's Cerulean Skies (penned by the talented Sarah Travis, more often to be found directing other people's music rather than composing her own) offers a deeply personal message from a mother contemplating her own decline in health as she addresses her child. 

One of the most heartbreaking perspectives on the album comes from Caroline Sheen's Tortoise & Hare (composer Gianni Onori) - sung by a woman who sees her partner physically speeding up in comparison to her own battle with MS, that is leaving her impaired and slow. It's perceptive, painful songwriting, powerfully performed.

And that last sentence is actually an apt description for the entire album. This review has highlighted those that tracks I found left the deepest personal impression and the key word there is “personal”. There's a bevy of other songs from other talented performers and creatives, each of whose contribution may strike each listener differently. They all deserve credit so: Also appearing on the album are Alexia Khadime, Lillie Flynne, Anna Francolini, Jodie Jacobs, Siubhan Harrison, Josefina Gabrielle, Preeya Kalidas, Janie Dee and Julie Atherton. Additional compositions come from George Maguire, Brian Lowdermilk, Erin Murray Quinlan, Verity Quade, Amy Bowie, Luke Di Somma, Tamar Broadbent, Robbie White and Eamonn O'Dwyer.

And on nearly all of the tracks, Ellie Verkerk puts in sterling work on the piano.

No personal gain is being made from the album, with profits going to The MS Society. All the artists involved have donated their time and talent, with Richard O'Brien providing the cash to get the CD released. As such, this review can only be a loving appraisal - to critique would be invidious - as would be to award anything less than 5 stars. MS. A Song Cycle is beautifully performed. Buy it!

Flowers For Mrs Harris - Review

Crucible Theatre, Sheffield

****

Based on the novel by Paul Gallico

Music and lyrics by Richard Taylor

Book by Rachel Wagstaff

Directed by Daniel Evans

Clare Burt

Flowers For Mrs Harris marks Daniel Evans’ farewell production at Sheffield’s Crucible and he bows out premiering a musical that is elegant, charming and beautifully crafted.

Paul Gallico’s novel, set just after the Second World War tells of Ada Harris, a charlady widowed during the Great War and who, upon setting eyes on a Christian Dior dress in a client’s house, falls in love with the frock and sets about earning enough cash to buy one of her own. The strength of Gallico’s tale hangs upon Harris’ steely humble resolve in a world that has shown her few favours. Radiating an enchanted kindness to all those she encounters and inspired at first by the spirit of her dead husband with whom she shares private conversations, act one is about Ada raising the near-fortune of £500 to purchase the dress, with the second half centred around her antics upon reaching Dior’s salon in Paris.

And at risk of spoiling, that's it for the plot - save to say that this hardened critic, who was expecting to be entertained if not necessarily moved by a show about a woman and a dress, was in tears at the denouement.

Gallico’s work is a minute examination of post-war England. A time of rationed austerity, where class was prevalent and everyone knew their place. His world also demonstrates the timeless virtues of grace and kindness, demonstrating that whilst some people of power and wealth can behave like pigs, so too and on both sides of the Channel, can privileged folk act with love and compassion.

At the centre of this journey is Clare Burt’s astonishing performance as Ada Harris. A glorious everywoman, Burt makes us believe in the utmost modesty of her lifestyle and its contrast with her dazzling Dior dream. We root for her endeavours and we (literally and audibly) gasp in anguish at her setbacks and stoicism. Imagine a female Jean Valjean, only this time from Battersea, and you start to get close to the genius that lies at the heart of Burt’s creation. 

Like Valjean’s encounters in Les Miserables, it is the individuals who Mrs Harris meets on her journey that make this tale. In assembling his cast Evans has plundered the A-List of Britain's musical theatre performers, with a neat conceit seeing all the cast (Burt excluded) double up from playing one role in Battersea to another in Paris – a touch that only makes the show’s charm sparkle more.

There is much for Anna-Jane Casey to do in London as Ada’s fellow widowed charlady, Violet Butterfield. Casey nails not only nails the female camaraderie of south London working class, but after the break returning as a fag hag of a Parisian femme de ménage, she is a hilarious delight. Rebecca Caine’s opera trained voice thrills, first as a wealthy Londoner and then as the manageress of the Dior salon who learns to overcome her own prejudiced snobbery.

Laura Pitt-Pulford plays a well observed, petulant, wannabe movie actress in London, who cares little for her cleaner, Mrs Harris. But act two sees this gifted actress metamorphose into Natasha, Dior’s star model and in sporting the scarlet Rose ballgown, the highlight of the season’s collection on the Paris runway, Pitt-Pulford takes our breath away.

There's a measured dignity to Mark Meadows’ supporting work, firstly as the ghost of Mr Harris and later on as a kindly French patrician, while Louis Maskell offers some beautifully sung romance as the young André, out to woo Natasha.

Lez Brotherston’s set design suggests a bombed out Battersea, all power station and gasworks. But as the interval strikes his grim London is flown away to reveal a skyline of Paris highlights – only enhancing the magic of Mrs Harris’ arrival in the French capital. Brotherston's imagery is embellished with the imaginative use of a revolve - a further nod to Les Mis?

The costumes are magnificent with act two’s fashion show proving a jaw-dropper. But badged as a musical – and to be fair Tom Brady’s 10piece band make fine work of the score – the tunes are hard to recall and frustratingly the show’s programme does not include a list of musical numbers. One’s memory can almost almost hint at having attended a play with songs.

Either way, the show is pure class and let's hope that London producers will have travelled to Sheffield for make no mistake, the underlying production values of Flowers For Mrs Harris are exquisite. If the right West End venue were to be found then this new musical, Clare Burt, and her stellar company would surely deserve Olivier-nomination.

Runs until 4th June

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Guys and Dolls - Review

Savoy Theatre, London

****

Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser

Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows

Directed by Gordon Greenberg

Jamie Parker

It is a sound idea that has seen Chichester Festival Theatre send their acclaimed 2014 production of Guys and Dolls on the road. The UK tour that commenced in Manchester in November last year is now making a 3 month stop at London's Savoy and it proves fun to re-visit some of this productions more inspired moments.

Guys and Dolls is long acknowledged as one of the Broadway greats (Kenneth Tynan famously commented that along with Death Of A Salesman, the musical was the finest example of American literature) the Savoy show throws into relief how well the show works as a study of love and the human condition. But a cautionary tale. Its cute 1940's New York patter can easily become dated and too many of the show's gags need a punchy comic delivery that not all of this company are up to.

Staying with the production from Chichester's original cast, Jamie Parker's Sky Masterson is up there with the best. His Sky has the gorgeous insouciance that the gambler demands, yet as he realises that he's never been in love before meeting Sarah, Parker reveals the cutest vulnerability too. And boy can he sing. Parker must surely rank amongst the best of his generation in acting through song.

The other gem amongst the show's four leading roles is Sophie Thompson's Miss Adelaide. Barely clad in more mink than a mink, Thompson milks Loesser's wry Manhattan wit with spot-on timing, earning our chuckling sympathy for this most long-term of fiancées.

David Haig plays Nathan Detroit. Whilst Haig may well be a national treasure in waiting, a good Detroit is a tough call and it could be suggested that Haig is also, possibly, a tad too old for the part. Aside from Sue Me he doesn't have too many singing responsibilities (probably a good thing In Haig's case). Above all Haig lacks the ridiculously implausible New York chutzpah that Bob Hoskins defined in 1982 and which, frankly, we ain't seen since. To be fair, Peter Polycarpou who triumphed in the role at Chichester, came close and he is sorely missed from this touring cast. (see note)

This reviewer is missing Clare Foster too – Siubhan Harrison makes a decent stab at Sarah Brown, but doesn't quite rise to the role's tough challenge.

The dance work however is spectacular. Andrew Wright with Carlos Acosta has created some gorgeous routines - and with imaginative Runyonland and Cuba numbers, along with some sensational sewer-dance in the Crapshooters' Ballet the show's choreography is surely amongst the best musical theatre footwork in town right now. And the Hot Box Girls are gorgeously wonderful!

The scenery (marquee lights and advertising hoardings that again suggest a nod to the National's 1982 ground-breaker) is more lightweight than lavish - though remember that this show is on tour so portable sets rather than a full blown West End set of trucks is to be expected.

If you love the show, or just simply adore imaginative dance work then it's well worth a trip to the Savoy.

NOTE:

If Sonia Friedman is reading this review here's my suggestion for a Guys and Dolls dream cast that is probably best staged within the next five years.

Jamie Parker needs to stay as Sky - he won't be bettered. But Parker, a former History Boy, needs to be re-united with his classmate James Corden as Nathan Detroit. Lob in Sheridan Smith as Miss Adelaide and with either Clare Foster or Laura Pitt-Pulford as Sarah Brown and I believe there'd be platinum fol-de-rol for Friedman.

Runs until 12th March, then tours

Oliver! - Review

Curve Theatre, Leicester


****


Music, lyrics and book by Lionel Bart

Directed by Paul Kerryson

The Company

The Christmas decorations may be taken down - but at Leicester's Curve the seasonal family show has another two weeks to run and judging by Friday’s packed, cheering audience it is continuing to bring much festive joy to the city.

Oliver! has always been best suited to a large stage and the Curve's main house proves ideal. Matt Kinley's impressive designs: grim ironmongery for the workhouse; beaten up timbers for Fagin's kitchen including a brilliantly silhouetted St Pauls Cathedral; and chocolate box Georgian for Brownlow's Bloomsbury are ingenious and expansive - though a minor niggle, the portrait of Brownlow’s beloved Agnes isn’t visible to those seated stage left.

Paul Kerryson places this glimpse of Victoriana in a warts and all context, pulling no punches with the tale's underlying sex and violence. It has been a while since the genius of Bart's craft in both lyric and score has been so carefully exposed.

In the title role Albert Hart capture's Oliver's wise naïveté. His presence commands the audience (he is almost angelic in Who Will Buy) and if he wisely avoids singing some of the role's highest notes, it's no big deal. Hart rises above the audience's "aahs" and alongside Joel Fossard-Jones' Artful Dodger, the pair achieve a delightfully cheese-less cheekiness.

Aside from the leading parts, it's the detail of the minor characters that work so well in this take on one of the most English musicals in the canon. We get an early glimpse of the show’s passionate darkness with Jenna Boyd and James Gant (Widow Corney and Beadle Bumble respectively) bringing a neatly worked hint of Carry On humour (another most English genre in itself) to their capers.

Likewise Jez Unwin's ghoulish Sowerberry and Natalie Moore-Williams as his ghastly wife. Inspired direction sees a macabre It's Your Funeral partly played out with the two borne aloft, corpse-like as they sing.

The show's splendour opens up in London of course, where Peter Polycarpou's Fagin (clad in an inspired takis-designed robe) is another musical theatre treat. If his semitic caricature was perhaps a tad too stereotypical, in all other respects the actor’s portrayal of this most complex of villains is as beautifully performed as it is cleverly layered. Reviewing The Situation proving Polycarpou as one of the masters of his craft.

There's more delicious detail in Lucy Thomas' Bet - Nancy's friend - who again brings a shading to this modest role that's rarely seen. Likewise John Griffiths as the principled and patrician Brownlow works well.

Bill Sikes is a cracking turn from Oliver Boot. There's all the traditional scary menace associated with this misogynist thug, yet Boot also cleverly works in a vulnerability. His Sikes struggles with both his love for Nancy and his uncontrollable and ultimately murderous abuse of her.

And then there's Nancy…

Bravely stepping in to the role for the run's final three weeks, Laura Pitt-Pulford again shows her professional devotion to director Kerryson, as long has he needs her. Earning a UK Theatre Awards nomination this time last year for her marvellous Maria (and who knows, if she hadn't have been up against Imelda Staunton's unstoppable Rose, she might well have scooped the gong) one can only hope that the award's assessors are calling in at the Curve to catch Pitt-Pulford’s takeover. I'd go anywhere to see this actress and with good reason. Her powerful As Long As He Needs Me is magnificent, reducing many in the house to tears, whilst the loving sensitivity showed towards Oliver (and which Pitt-Pulford portrayed so well towards the Von-Trapp brats a year ago) displays the skill of a performer who not only exudes excellence, but inspires a respect and affection from her fellow company members that is rarely seen in such sincerity.

It is only on re-listening to Bart's score that his melodic genius truly filters through - and under Jo Cichonska's baton the 11 piece orchestra offer an excellent interpretation. A mention to Guy Button, Steve Cooper and Sophie Gledhill whose strings work skilfully brings out the haunting klezmer riffs that underlie Fagin's performance. Choreographer Andrew Wright goes to town with the show's big numbers. We first see Wright's grand visions kick-off in Consider Yourself and he goes on to bring moments of ingenious wit to I'd Do Anything and of course the carnival of street-vendor splendour that is Who Will Buy.

Paul Kerryson gives a classy treatment to a classic show. With only two more weeks left, you should buy these wonderful tickets!

Runs until 23rd January

Photo credit: Pamela Raith

Kings Of Broadway - Review

Palace Theatre, London

*****

Directed by Alastair Knights

Conducted by Alex Parker

James Bolam and Anne Reid

Christmas came early to the West End last night, for just like Max Bialystock, Mel Brooks’ legendary king of Broadway, Alex Parker has done it again with his own Kings Of Broadway. Though where Bialystock famously flopped, yet again this remarkable conductor cum impresario succeeded spectacularly in mounting a one-night only extravaganza of the work of Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Jerry Herman. Either Parker has amassed a multitude of favours to call in, or, and this is far more likely, he has simply earned the respect of an army of talented professionals including a 30-piece(!) orchestra and a cast of stellar proportions, to put on a concert that proved to be as polished as it was entertaining.

Reprising a partnership that worked well for the recent A Little Night Music, Alastair Knights again directed, with Parker remaining strictly on the baton. This time around however, Knights was assisted by Emma Annetts’ choreography, an addition that only enhanced the show. Staged only amidst a small space to the front of the on-stage orchestra, and with all the performers pleasingly “off-book” the whole occasion was really rather splendid. In a nod to Broadway’s Golden Age, and with Imelda Staunton’s spectacular Gypsy having closed only the night before, Parker got the evening underway with that show’s overture (abbreviated) delivered with panache and flair. 

The night was packed with riches. In a duet that was to stun the packed Palace, the accomplished Anne Reid and James Bolam performed Jerry Herman’s Almost Young from the little known Mrs Santa Claus. Who knew Bolam could sing? And even if this likely lad wasn’t quite pitch perfect, to see these two national treasures singing side by side re-defined the phrase “northern powerhouse”.

Knights and Annetts were at their best in their arrangements for female ensembles. The first half was to close with a medley of “parade” themed numbers that featured Caroline Sheen offering Before The Parade Passes By, Zoe Doano singing Parade In Town and Celinde Schoenmaker storming her way through Don’t Rain On My Parade, the three women creating an exquisite harmony. 

Towards the end of the second half a phenomenal female five-some left the audience stunned as Sheen smashed If from Two On The Aisle, Anne Reid was divine with And I Was Beautiful whilst Janie Dee came close to making everybody rise with a scorching Ladies Who Lunch. Caroline O’Connor (London’s original Mabel from nearly 20 years ago) brought a heartfelt nuance to Time Heals Everything, whilst completing this quintet the ever excellent Laura Pitt-Pulford (who is arguably the best Mabel we’ve seen this century) delivered her own particular version of excellence with a thrilling take on Funny Girl’s People. 

In an evening festooned with sparkling performances, Laura Tebbutt’s Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend proved another treat whilst Jordan Lee Davis’ glamorously frocked interpretation of I Am What I Am was mostly excellent – but when we see Davis do this number again (and let’s hope we do) he needs to give more of a belt to the song’s spectacular build-up.

A novel twist saw Jamie Parker and real life wife Deborah Crowe play the Baker and his Wife from Into The Woods, whilst the impressively maned Bradley Jaden sang West Side Story’s Maria with a perfect and rugged fidelity. A mention too for Andy Conaghan’s Mack, singing Movies Were Movies and to Richard Fleeshman who gave a whole new slant (literally) to Buddy’s Blues.

Two impressive ensemble numbers wrapped the show up. A gorgeous Being Alive stunned with its group harmonics, before Jack North led the entire company in Hello Dolly's Put On Your Sunday Clothes. 

To be fair, this review only mentions a selection of the musical theatre talent that Parker and Wrights had assembled – there was much, much more on stage and London (or maybe a tour, producers take note) surely deserves nights like these to run for longer. The Kings Of Broadway demonstrated not only excellence in execution, but also a meticulous approach in its planning and arranging, with Parker’s attention to orchestral detail, evident in the cleverly tailored number-linking segues, a craft in itself.

Here’s to his next event. Everybody rise.


Photo credit: Darren Bell

Jason Robert Brown - Live In Concert - Review

Royal Festival Hall, London

****

Jason Robert Brown

Returning to a London concert for one night only, New York composer Jason Robert Brown plus West End guests, performed to an adoring Royal Festival Hall. Opening the gig with the overture from Honeymoon in Vegas, his latest to show to open (and after 3 months, close) on Broadway, there was an air of refreshing even if disarmingly honesty self-deprecation as Brown told his audience that the show was "the latest in a long series of shows you're not going to see over here!”

Musical director Torquil Munro had assembled an impressive orchestra for the evening, though given the venue’s vast expanse, a little more attention needed to have been paid to the sound-mix that occasionally went awry.  In what was to prove an event of two quite distinct halves, the evening’s first section was, for the most part, little more than a simply entertaining line-up. It was post-interval however that Brown’s selection of both singer and song became jewel-encrusted. 

Memorable from act one was wunderkind Eleanor Worthington-Cox’s What It Means To Be A Friend from Brown's paean to teenage angst, 13, whilst Bertie Carvel offered a touching reprise of his Leo Frank from the Donmar Warehouse's 2007 production of Parade of 2007. The highlight of the half however was Laura Pitt-Pulford (who merited a second half re-appearance) re-visiting her Lucille Frank, also from Parade only this time the Southwark Playhouse’s 2011 production. Pitt-Pulford's You Don't Know This Man offered a performance of beautifully measured power alongside quite possibly the best example of acting-through-song of the night.

Act two kicked off with a medley from The Bridges of Madison County, another of Brown's briefly lived Broadway shows - and whilst Caroline Sheen was exquisite as Italian immigrant Francesca, singing opposite both Matt Henry and Sean Palmer, too often the numbers suggested a Gaelic rather than Latin pulse, or maybe that was down to the hall's acoustics too. It took a one-off composition from Brown, Melinda, drawn from a fusion of the music of 1970's New York for the second half to truly ignite. Beautifully channelling a Billy Joel inspired sound, Melinda offered a rare moment to witness Brown's dazzling keyboard skills.

Amy Booth-Steel got the evening’s  The Last Five Years chapter underway with a beautifully nuanced I'm Still Hurting, though it was to be Cynthia Erivo's I Can Do Better Than That that saw this “national treasure in waiting” of musical theatre Festival Hall’s roof clean off!. It was tough on Oliver Tompsett who had to follow Erivo with a thoroughly decent (but by now, completely overshadowed) Moving Too Fast. In a number that was to see her powerfully duet with Brown, Willemijn Verkaik was on fine form with And I Will Follow. 

Whilst Brown's melodies are consistently ingenious, his lyrics vary. The caustic irony he imbued in The Last Five Years and in Parade was a mark of genius that matches Sondheim’s best for its pinpoint, minimalist dissection of the human condition, yet the evening's snatches of The Bridges Of Madison County seemed to lack the perceptive wit of his earlier years.  

Amara Okereke led a Drew McOnie choreographed Brand New You routine from 13, complete with a nearly drilled adolescent NYMT ensemble reprising their West End premiere from some years back, before Brown took the microphone again to encore with a passionate Someone To Fall Back On.

Seeming genuinely taken aback at the blazing warmth of his reception, Brown commented to the crowd who stood as one to salute him, that he "doesn’t see that every day!” Much like fellow American Scott Alan who himself only recently played London, one senses that both New Yorkers feel more appreciated on this side of the pond than back home.

Jason Robert Brown should return here soon, to a more intimate venue and for a (better rehearsed) residency of modest length. His talent as writer, pianist and heavenly-voiced singer too is unquestioned and what is more, London loves him.