Hooray For Hollywood - Review

Wilton's Music Hall, London

*****

Liza Pulman and Joe Stilgoe

There are occasions in the life of a reviewer when five-stars for a performance or production are simply not enough. So it is with Hooray For Hollywood, a stunning revue of songs from the movies performed by Liza Pulman and Joe Stilgoe. It is not just that the pair have compiled a selection of melodies spanning from the early 20th century through to the present day. Rather, it is their wit and excellence that has gone into the songs’ adaptation and delivery that makes this evening such a flawless combination of theatre and cabaret. 

Pulman and Stilgoe’s technical skills are unsurpassed. He on the piano (and briefly on bass) with not a printed sheet of music to be seen, whirls through the programme with the air and genius of a relaxed virtuoso. As Pulman sings I Got Rhythm, a song originally from George Gershwin’s Broadway hit Girl Crazy but which made it onto the screen as a part of An American In Paris, Stilgoe accompanies. But when the song reaches its bridge, Stilgoe performs a breathtaking Gershwin mini-medley, going so far as to include a hint of Rhapsody In Blue! 

Dotted throughout the setlist are a number of sublimely structured two-part harmonies. From My Fair Lady, Wouldn’t It Be Loverly is fused with I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face as For Good from Wicked melds mellifluously into Something Good from The Sound of Music. The musical wizardry continues as Pulman and Stilgoe work absolute magic in their combination of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s People Will Say We’re In Love (Oklahoma!) with If I Loved You (Carousel).

A brief compilation of song-free music from the movies led into the interval, with Stilgoe tinkling his way through extracts from Jaws (complete with a hilariously brilliant vocal interpretation of the brass lines from the movie’s theme) Star Wars, E.T., Raiders Of The Lost Ark. When he'd finished with John Williams, snatches of Ennio Morricone's Cinema Paradiso and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly completed this delicious treat of a performance. 

And there was so much more. Hits from the RKO golden-era of musical movies included Cheek To Cheek (from Top Hat) and The Way You Look Tonight (from Swing Time). A homely and tender tribute to both performers’ (equally talented) sets of parents led to an exquisite arrangement of Sunrise, Sunset from Fiddler on the Roof. A nod to Stephen Sondheim offered up delicately wondrous interpretations of Not While I’m Around from Sweeney Todd and No One Is Alone from Into The Woods. And finally, a much-deserved standing ovation led into an encore of West Side Story's Somewhere, again beautifully arranged into a two-part harmony.

Liza Pulman and Joe Stilgoe return for a Christmas special in December, with Hooray for Hollywood likely to be back on the road next year. Truly unmissable entertainment.

Photo credit: Matt Crockett