Just For One Day - Review

Old Vic, London

****

Book by John O'Farrell

Directed by Luke Sheppard

Craige Els

In a fabulous musical tribute to the 80s, Just For One Day takes David Bowie’s lyric as a link back to the global phenomenon that was the Live Aid concert of July 1985 and the Band Aid single that had preceded it in Christmas 1984. For the over-45s in the audience it is an evening of unashamed nostalgia as hit after hit is pumped out from the outstanding onstage band and sung by a cast who are all at the top of their musical theatre game.

Disbeliefs need to be seriously suspended though, for while Craige Els offers up a decent Bob (Geldof) and Jack Shallo (vocally at least) a passable Midge Ure (younger readers please Google) the other characterisations don’t quite hit the spot. 

John O’Farrell’s book crafts a corny tale that follows composite fictional character, Suzanne, from her teens in the 20th century to a middle-aged woman today, looking back at the excitement of the concert in her youth. There’s also Amara, a relief worker working at the famine’s coalface in Africa who takes us through the horrors and the challenges of what the epic fundraiser was all about.

On the night of this review, understudy Kerry Enright stepped up to the role of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, bringing just the right of comedy to counter the gravitas and delivering the show’s one original number written for the theatre, a rap duet with her and Els’ Bob: Mrs T/Mr G.

Soutra Gilmour’s striking set is driven by gig lights encased in a floor-to-ceiling 3-sided video box. It’s a stark concept that works well, conveying the rushed and improvised aura that actually belied the brilliant execution of both Band Aid and Live Aid.  

The stars of the show however are unquestionably Patrick Hurley’s 6-piece band, with standout guitar work from Matt Isaac and Kobi Pham. These musicians have the unenviable task of recreating many of the greatest rock songs ever recorded and they do so sensationally. Their work alone is worth the ticket price.

Runs until 30th March

Assassins - Review

Festival Theatre, Chichester

*****

Music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Book by John Weidman

Directed by Polly Findlay

Danny Mac

Only on for a ridiculously short two-week run, Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins is a beautifully engineered weapon, which in the hands of Polly Findlay and her company of marksmen delivers a rifle-shot straight to the heart of American culture and politics. An all-American treat, Assassins is as scathing of American hypocrisies as Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd is of the corrupt British elite.

A wickedly satirical look at the individuals who, throughout history, have taken a (sometimes fatal) shot at their President, Sondheim’s depiction of these assassins / would-be assassins is as brutal as their own intentions, with all featuring on the spectrum of social inadequacy. The show’s genius however lies in the bravado of Sondheim’s lyrical wit that,  applied to John Weidman’s book and under Findlay’s direction of a stellar cast, delivers some of the finest performances in musical theatre to be found this year.

The audience in Chichester’s Festival Theatre are pumped before the show even begins. Lizzie Clachan’s designs see the Festival’s thrust stage transformed into a TV studio cum Oval Office, with patriotic American drapes festooning the auditorium. Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ plays as the popcorn-bearing (yes, Chichester are selling popcorn for this one) throng take their seats. And in what must surely be another first for this august theatrical venue, mise-en-scene cheerleaders whip the crowd into frenzied Mexican waves anticipating kick-off.  Big screens countdown the seconds before Peter Forbes as The Proprietor takes the stage, getting proceedings underway with Everybody’s Got The Right. 

Forbes is magnificently Trumpian in his style – and while his take on the role is a masterful trompe l’oeil, it shows a partisan interpretation from Findlay that skews Sondheim’s otherwise unbiased critique of the American machine. Trump may well be a great visual in terms of razzamatazz and bombast – but Findlay’s omission of any suggested reference to the current senile and absent-minded White House incumbent, that may have offered some balance, belies her personal politics.

A scene from Assassins

Danny Mac heads the list of the show’s gunmen and women, playing Abraham Lincoln’s killer John Wilkes Booth. Mac’s take on the role is assured and defined, taking Sondheim’s wry interpretation of his character and giving it a fabulously nuanced interpretation. Booth’s interaction with Lee Harvey Oswald (Samuel Thomas) in the Texas School Book Depository, telling the nervous, hesitant and self-doubting Oswald that by shooting JFK his place in history will be assured is a dramatic masterpiece. The exchanges between these two in the number November 22nd 1963 demands flawless performance skills and with fine ensemble work in support, the song lands with pinpoint accuracy.

Carly Mercedes Dyer again shows her excellence as Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme an acolyte of Charles Manson with a plan to shoot Gerald Ford. Everything that Dyer does is outstanding and it can only be a matter of time before she is cast to headline a major musical. Nick Holder chills as Samuel Byck, the wannabe loser who believes his problems will be solved by assassinating Richard Nixon. Byck is offered no solo songs, just monologues, with Holder nailing the complex role. Jack Shalloo is equally strong as John Hinckley, the Jodie Foster-obsessed loser, out to shoot Ronald Reagan.

Sondheim’s score is another beauty. Jo Cichonska conducts her band, all finely decked out in Americana and seated in a circular pit that lines the front of the stage, with a stylish aplomb. Their take on these inspired melodies is unlikely to be bettered.

This glorious production merits a transfer to a London stage. Whether there is a mainstream British appetite for such a deeply cynical view of the USA is, of course, a different matter.

Until then, head to Chichester – for outstanding musical theatre, Assassins is unmissable.

Runs until 24th June

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Jack & The Beanstalk - Review

Theatre Royal, Stratford East


***

Book and lyrics by Paul Sirett
Music and lyrics by Wayne Nunes and Perry Melius
Directed by Dawn Reid

Oliver Taheri and Jack Shalloo

The Theatre Royal in London’s Stratford has a reputation for excellence in its Christmas offering each year. Jack & The Beanstalk, this season’s pantomime is a big visual extravaganza that will keep the kids well entertained for a couple of hours, but it may leave the parents wishing for a bit more of a meal than Jack’s magic beans.

Paul Sirett takes the classic fairy tale, introducing us to Jack as the traditional good for nothing, albeit with a talent for body-popping. Jorell Coiffic-Kamall plays Jack and his movement and expression together with his wide eyed innocence, make him a hero that children can believe in, identify with and cheer along as well when the going gets surprisingly scary. Michael Bertenshaw a veteran of Stratford East who plays Jack's mum, is a talented and well experienced dame, deliciously grotesque on the eye and with a voice that’s wonderfully tuneless. Whilst Sirett has made only minor tweaks to the traditional narrative, he seems to have forgotten that there will be a significant adult constituent to his show’s audience, particularly when the school groups cease over the holiday period. Disappointingly, very few of Bertenshaw’s gags are aimed at the grown-ups and a local panto in particular should be able to be cheeky, mocking and satirical, as well as being top notch entertainment for the young ‘uns.

The supporting cast are a talented bunch. Jack Shalloo and Oliver Taheri provide the comic relief as a pair of bungling burglars. They ham it up appropriately, Shalloo’s singing voice also providing some brief moments of quality harmony. Outstanding vocals are also delivered by Allyson Ava-Brown as Harpo, a woman with a harp joined to her head by the ogre (yes, that possibly is a tad grotesque for a panto). Brown is an accomplished chanteuse and her voice and presence would make for an excellent, home-grown, Rachel Marron one day.

The ogre’s lair and the giant-sized ogre himself, a cleverly designed and animated puppet, have a slightly distasteful air of the Saw movies horror franchise, a suggestion further enhanced by the oversize tools that hang in the ogre's kitchen and the nasty little radio-controlled cars that scoot across the stage adorned with severed limbs. If any stage blood had been added the show would have garnered a 16+ recommendation.  And at the risk of sounding like a “don’t try this at home” preacher, why in what is clearly aimed at being a children’s show, were characters allowed to climb into an oven, of all things, to hide?

The show’s music has some clever moments with minor interludes of blues and soul, but again comes over as a touch too anodyne. A nod to one or two popular and familiar songs would not have gone amiss.

This is Sirett’s first effort at panto writing and it shows. Many fine writers before him have run aground on the treacherous rocks of comedy creation. Pantomime, like commedia dell ‘arte needs perceptive pencraft, married to excellent performance and whilst in this production, the talent on stage is first rate, their material seems to be focussed too much on diversity and political correctness at the expense of humour. If the writers did not wish to offend, they have also largely failed to amuse. Where were the snappy or even visual gags and where was that well drilled slapstick? One should not expect a mega-bucks production at Stratford East, that is not what the theatre is famous for. It is however renowned for being a home of sharp comment, pointed and well-rehearsed comedy as well as cheeky pantomime excellence. Young kids will love this Jack and those accompanying them will delight in their glee, but this production is really just a seasonal children's show rather than a pantomime that is fun for all the the family. As an honoured festive tradition, this platter is in need of a little more sauce.

Runs until January 19

Show Off - Review

Waterloo East Theatre, London

****
March 19 2012

This review was originally written for The Public Reviews



Show Off is an innovative concept from the emerging theatrical dynamo that is Jack Shalloo. With an impressive string of acting credits to his name, and his solo album released last year, Shalloo has now turned impresario, mounting this 80 minute one-act showcase, comprising five play extracts from different writers and a glimpse of his own forthcoming musical London Time.

Worthy of mention was Next by Duncan MacInnes, a fast-paced irreverent observation of young actors eking out a living. Innocent, by the same writer, tackling the gritty issue of murder and presumed guilt, stumbled a little and was probably hindered by its allocated, but unforgiving, ten minute slot.

The evening’s penultimate performance, Reconciled by David Proud, was excellent. The play tackled death, incest and an ultimately murderous jealousy borne of sibling rivalry, with insight and a chilling sensitivity. Vanessa Carr gave a tour de force performance as a daughter abused by her now dead father, but jealous of her profoundly deaf sister who had been spared the abuse because of her disability.

The final turn was a 4 song extract from London Time, a musical drawn from Shalloo’s album London Soul. Shalloo directed this, ably assisted by his co-composer Spesh Maloney and choreographer Adam Murray. The book of the musical is being developed by James Muller, whose play Grace, had been performed earlier in the evening. The show displays immense promise and Shalloo’s songs are undoubtedly strong and often witty. The storyline though is currently too shallow, and as with his play, Muller needs to check his writing for credibility.

Musically, some of the numbers, particularly Dad Song, made the transition from CD to stage brilliantly and truly benefited from an ensemble treatment. Shalloo however is a tough act to follow and Chris Carswell as Matt, the story’s protagonist, lacked the cheeky flair that the writer had breathed into the original solo recordings. Katie Bernstein’s performance as Matt’s (authentically Mancunian) out of town love interest, who tires of his boorish City Boy lifestyle was another of the evening’s highlights.

Whilst some of the night’s material was 3 star, other parts were considerably better and suggest several good things to look out for in the future. And what was undoubtedly 5 star was Shalloo’s vision in putting the show together: he’s clearly a shrewd young man. When the next Show Off comes around, try not to miss it.