The Color Purple At Home - Review

*****

Book by Marsha Norman
Music & lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray

Directed by Tinuke Craig

T'Shan Williams

In a stunning fusion of musical theatre and ingenious photography, Curve Leicester together with Birmingham Hippodrome have revived their 2019 production of The Color Purple, re-imagining the show not only for a cast that must now be socially distanced, but for a remote audience confined to a digital stream.

A couple of months ago Curve streamed their gorgeous Sunset Boulevard, in so doing giving the locked-down theatre world new ways to dream. Building on the success of that show, The Color Purple proves to be close to flawless in director Tinuke Craig’s streamed screen translation. Simply staged, deploying the Curve’s revolve, minimal props and a handful of superimposed scene-setters,  Craig relieves her actors and musicians free any supportive gimmickry, letting her company that has been cast to perfection, tell the story with their talents.

T’Shan Williams leads as Celie, making this most complex of roles, her own. Essentially a modest and unglamorous character, Celie has to thrive in the show based solely on her performer's ability to act and sing (and briefly, deliciously, dance). And in Craig's take on the show, Williams delivers her Celie with a heart-breaking strength and perception. Where typically, a musical theatre performer has to deliver to a large, distant (albeit live and present) audience, in a streamed show, much like in the movies, it's also about the close-ups too. Williams' acting – through speech, song and movement, hits the mark every time. 

Carly Mercedes Dyer

Vocally, Williams is a class act – not just in Celie’s powerful final solo I’m Here, but perfectly duetting with Carly Mercedes Dyer’s Shug Avery in What About Love. Dyer herself is but one of a cast that drips with performers chosen solely for their ability. Avery is another enigmatic woman, with Dyer capturing her magnetism and vulnerability. Also outstanding in their supporting roles are Karen Mavundukure’s tragi-comic Sofia and Danielle Fiamanya as Nettie.

Danielle Fiamanya and Ako Mitchell

Amongst the men, Ako Mitchell delivers one of the finest interpretations of Mister. Another complex character, initially the most vile and misogynistic of men who by the finale is transformed via a heroic redemption,  Mitchell brings both menace and pathos to his performance in equal measure. And credit where it is due - alongside the few individuals named in this review, there is excellence everywhere from all the performers on stage.

Craig’s creative crew are equally talented. Mark Smith's choreography is inventive and inspired, recognising the challenges of our times with movement across the show that is both thrilling and immaculately nuanced. Alex Parker musically directs the 7 piece band with his usual flair. Their interpretation of the score is a delight with a particular mention to Ben Fletcher’s work on guitars. Ben Cracknell lights the massive Curve space with a mixture of both intimacy and passion, while the video crew from Crosscut Media are fast becoming experts in this  niche field of taking live work and re-engineering it for transmission. 

Hopefully the Curve – along with the rest of the nation’s theatres – will be welcoming the return of live audiences in the not too distant future. Until then, streamed productions such as The Color Purple At Home are the pinnacle of outstanding musical theatre.

The production streams until 7 March - Tickets available via www.curveonline.co.uk

Photo credit: Pamela Raith

Iolanthe - Review

Greenwich Theatre, London



****


Music by Arthur Sullivan
Libretto by W.S. Gilbert
Directed by Sasha Regan

The all male company of Iolanthe

Greenwich Theatre may have seen its first night of Sasha Regan’s All Male Iolanthe this week, but this wonderful production is now entering the final leg of its UK tour. As such, the cast – who, reviews have suggested, were excellent to begin with judging by earlier reviews - have now matured into a perfect company, enchanting in both voice and movement.

Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta has that everyday backstory of Lord meets Fairy and they have a child (half sprite / half mortal). 25 years pass and we join the story as it offers up a string of romances and dalliances, peers mingling with fairies, mortality taken to its very limits and everything being wrapped up into a deliriously happy ending.

The genius of taking yet another of Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic scores and playing it men-only, lies in exploiting the wit of Gilbert’s libretto. The verve and cheek of his rhymes lend themselves to camp-ness at the best of times. Here however, a company of men taking to the stage as a chorus of perfectly drilled fairies creates sets a new altitude record for high-camp. If it wasn’t so damn good it would be downright ridiculous.

But Regan (in this, the third revival of her interpretation) directs acutely. She teases out the timeless genius of the songs, while Mark Smith choreographs with a meticulous imaginative detail that is as witty as it is inspired. The company of 16 are all, to a man, excellent – memorable moments of sharpened satire coming from Duncan Sandilands and Alastair Hill. In a show that will have lent itself well to a road trip (Kingsley Hall’s design work being minimal in extremis), Musical Director Richard Baker, provides the sole musical support on piano, puts in a heroic and faultless shift leading his cast and entertaining the audience through the classic melodies.

It’s not all dancing around fairy rings though. Gilbert and Sullivan’s verses poked merciless fun at parliament and the judiciary and remember too that the show was written way back in the pre-EU days of the last century. A time when parliament, then still sovereign as opposed to its shambolic present, merited affectionate mockery.

As London swelters gloriously, its hard to justify an evening in a hazy and (for the second half at least) hot auditorium. But Iolanthe is simply marvellous theatre, and well worth a trip to Greenwich.

Runs until 28th July

Photo credit: Harriet Buckingham

Tommy - Review

Theatre Royal Stratford East, London


*****

Music and lyrics by Pete Townsend

Book by Pete Townsend and Des McAnuff

Additional music and lyrics by John Entwhistle and Keith Moon

Directed by Kerry Michael

Ramps On The Moon’s production of Tommy, directed by Kerry Michael, is a truly wonderful production. As the rock opera created by The Who is famously about a “deaf, dumb and blind kid”, so does this work build upon a cast, at least half of whom triumph in their performance over a range of disabilities.

The story telling is clear and alongside Michael’s deft and moving direction, Mark Smith (himself deaf and who choreographed a stunning Tommy two years ago at Greenwich) again does wonders with his dancework, offering yet even more truth and honesty to the complex moralities of the tale.

The casting is ingenious. Peter Straker’s Acid Queen is astonishing vocally, with a stage presence alone that exudes power and is worth the price of admission! Pete Townsend has even written him a new song in Act 2, that rounds off his character perfectly - and remember: when Tommy first played in the West End in 1979, Straker was the show's Narrator. 

Shekinah McFarlane’s take on Mother is out of this world - this talented performer has a voice that firmly places her in the diva category as she remains one to watch. 

In the title role, Tommy is played beautifully and emotionally by newcomer William Glint. When he sees his father for the first time and shouts out ‘Daddy’, spines tingle. Max Runham sings powerfully as Captain Walker and his scenes with Glint are very touching. Garry Robson is a suitably gruesome Uncle Ernie.

The whole ensemble play, sing and dance many roles throughout the show, with a mention too to Robert Hyman’s sensational band, who break out into character parts as well as playing their instruments.

This Tommy is a magnificent production that serves to highlight the scarcity of disabled people on stage generally and it is a shame that it takes a ground-breaking production like this to point that out. Hopefully more theatre companies will be inspired by this example.

Reviewed by Trevor Davies

Touring until 1st July

Tommy - Review

Greenwich Theatre, London

*****

Music and lyrics by Pete Townsend

Book by Pete Townsend and Des McAnuff

Additional music and lyrics by John Entwhistle and Keith Moon

Directed by Michael Strassen

Ashley Birchall

Amidst the present day plethora of so called "juke box" musicals, in which bands' and singers' back catalogues are ruthlessly plundered to provide musical highlights for a show that is either autobiographical or worse still, downright anodyne in its narrative, it is an absolute joy for London to be re-united with Tommy.

Released in 1969, The Who's brave and stunning concept album was the first (and arguably the best ever) rock opera, telling an original tale of a young boy turned deaf, dumb and blind after witnessing his RAF pilot father, until then missing presumed shot down in a Second World War dogfight, return home unexpectedly after the War and shoot dead his wife's (Tommy's mother) new lover.

Trapped in a life of sensory deprivation, evil and abusive family members heap merciless bullying and sexual abuse onto Tommy's torments until, by chance, he discovers a gift for pinball - and a road to his salvation emerges. Painting a gritty if sometimes psychedelic picture of a post-war Britain struggling to define itself through rock music, Tommy is not only a fabulous work of fiction – it also makes for fascinating social comment.  

I must declare an interest. Having grown up with Tommy as one of my soundtracks to the 1970s, along with hard-wired memories of Ken Russell’s 1975 film adaptation, my expectations (riskily) ran high for Michael Strassen's production at the Greenwich Theatre. Those expectations were not only met, but like Tommy's mirror they were smashed, in a show that offered an all too rare trinity of perfection in song, movement and music.

Credit first to the band. Under Kevin Oliver Jones' direction and guitar work, Lauren Storer on keyboards, bassist Paolo Minervini, with Kamil Bartnik on drums create a sound that offers a beautifully weighted tribute to the original mix, with a rock pulse that could have come straight from a time machine. One minor criticism is that the show’s sound desk still need to get the balance finely tuned.

The Overture’s opening bars set the standard for the rest of the evening. As Jones' band work their way through the score's iconic motifs, Mark Smith's choreography plays out the prologue's complex narrative solely through dance and mime. Smith’s routines are expert in both conception and execution and combined with Strassen's interpretation of the libretto, give rise to tableaux that are breathtaking in their ingenuity, simplicity and brilliance.

In the title role Ashley Birchall leads the company, onstage throughout, with a performance fused with energy and sensitivity. Birchall’s energy in I’m Free complementing the heart rending sensitivity he offers in See Me, Feel Me.  In a role that by definition demands an extensive use of mime and physicality Smith and Strassen had between them coaxed excellence from the young man. Miranda Wilford delivers her usual level of brilliance as Mrs Walker (Tommy’s mother) having to age, both physically and in attitude, from carefree young teenager to a middle aged matriarch, her Smash The Mirror an impressive solo.

Giovanni Spano is every inch a school bully as his Cousin Kevin tortures Tommy, though even his wickedness is trumped by John Barr, whose sensational take on the vile paedophile, Tommy’s Uncle Ernie offers perhaps one of the nastiest characters in the canon. If the lyrics to Fiddle About are shocking, they were matched only by the ghastly yet skilfully undertstated performance of Barr’s toothless menacing molester. Barr’s monstrous creation is enhanced later in act one by Smith’s choreography of Eyesight To The Blind, with both Ernie and Kevin in a Fosse-inspired routine – tatty trilbys replacing the legendary choreographer’s signature bowler hats.

Confined by a modest budget, Nik Corrall’s vision of the show’s sets is masterful. A clever use of rope suggested a domestic living room – whilst the brilliance of the pinball sequence will not be given away in this review.

Only here for three weeks, Tommy is unmissable and up there with the very best of musical theatre on offer in London today. See it, hear it!


Runs until 23rd August
Photo credit: Claire Bilyard