Crazy For You - Review

Watermill Theatre, Newbury

****

Music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin

Book by Ken Ludwig

Directed by Paul Hart

Caroline Sheen, Tom Chambers and Company

Crazy For You is a musical drawn up by Ken Ludwig in the 1990's and broadly based on the Gershwins’ Broadway foray Girl Crazy from some 60 years earlier. While the show's narrative may hang on a story that lacks both consequence and credibility, it does comprise some of the 20th century’s finest songs, along with the opportunity for some spectacular dance routines.

The Watermill has cast the show perfectly, with Tom Chambers and Caroline Sheen leading the company. But whilst the theatre may have landed one of musical theatre’s finest male dancers, unfortunately the venue’s flat performing space (there is no raised stage) means that most of Chambers’ fleet-footed brilliance is invisible to anyone in the stalls who’s had the misfortune to be sat behind the front two rows. The tap dances choreographed by Nathan M Wright sound terrific for sure – but in row 7 one barely catches a glimpse. 

The acting is strong throughout, with some fine moments of physical comedy too, but where this production excels in in its treatment of the classic songs. Sheen’s character Polly is given the lion’s share of the Gershwin greats and she delivers them with excellence and flair. Her interpretations of Someone To Watch Over Me, Embraceable You and the heartbreaking But Not For Me are spine-tinglingly good. 

Some of the singing spoils are shared: Lucy Thatcher delivers a wonderfully steamy Naughty Baby as she seduces Jeremy Legat’s (also excellent) hotelier and there’s a delightful ensemble of rednecks offering a very droll interpretation of Bidin’ My Time.

Diego Pitarch’s imaginative designs can’t conceal the fact that the show is a quart being awkwardly squeezed into the Watermill’s pint-pot, though Howard Hudson’s lighting wizardry (with some fabulous use of mirrored follow spots) does a fine job of trying to “big-up” the space. For the most part the actor-muso set up works well even if occasional lapses suggest an Arvide Abernathy's Save A Soul Mission tribute band. No doubt the musical hiccoughs will settle down over the run.

Notwithstanding the production’s flaws, the talent on display here still makes for an evening of fine entertainment - if you can grab a seat in the circle or front stalls, even better. And with Caroline Sheen’s enchanting take on a handful of the American Songbook’s greats, who could ask for anything more?

Runs until 17th September 2016

Photo credit: Richard Davenport

Thérèse Racquin - Review

Park Theatre, London

****

By Émile Zola
Adaptation, book and lyrics by Nona Shepphard
Music by Craig Adams
Directed by Nona Shepphard

Greg Barnett and Julie Atherton

Thérèse Racquin, the new musical that wowed the Finborough earlier this year, makes a short journey across West London to be staged at the larger, though still intimate, Park 200 auditorium. French classics clearly prove a rich seam for composers. Where 30 years ago Boublil and Schönberg tackled Hugo's Les Miserables, so now do composer Craig Adams and writer Nona Shepphard take on Émile Zola's classic study on desire, guilt and most importantly the corrosive effect of these two emotions upon the human condition.

The story may be more than a hundred years old but it's a strong morality fable that responds well to Shepphard's "radical" adaptation and Adam's jarring melodies. This is no easy show to watch. The themes of lust, betrayal and hauntings, as well as some distinct nods to Zola's theatrical naturalism and all strung around a murderously macabre ménage á trois, demand an adult audience.

The performers are a treat. Who better than Jeremy Legat to play the cuckolded Camille, Therese's husband, with such sensitivity and marked understatement? Usurping his place in the marital bed, Greg Barnett plays the louche Laurent, Camille's childhood friend. Of swarthy peasant stock, muscular and vital, he is the alpha-male that Thérèse burns and yearns for. Proving a decaying and ultimately suspicious force within the home, Camille's mother Mme. Racquin is a cracking performance from the ever accomplished and occasionally menacing Tara Hugo.

The success of this show however, ultimately rests upon the slender and adulterous (though only in character, of course) shoulders of Julie Atherton as Thérèse. On stage for virtually the entire show, Atherton is silent for the first fourty-five minutes, before releasing her pent up desire for Laurent in the passionate I Breathe You In, sung as the two lovers consummate their lust. It is not so long since Atherton played Emily Tallentire in Leicester Curve's The Hired Man - she evidently plays the cheating wife well. In the final act, her contribution to the duet If I Had Known are spine tingling.

Some of the songs are inspirational. Thursday Night, sung by the company as they enjoy the weekly game of dominoes that old Mme Raquin hosts, suggested just a twinkle of Guys and Dolls' The Oldest Established, whilst Sweet Perfume Of Violets is possibly one of the most beautifully horrific songs in the canon, with Adams penning a truly haunting melody.

One criticism: Sat stage right of the Park's shallow thrust one can miss occasional visual moments. The Park is a very different space to the Finborough and it's not too late for Shepphard to tweak her blocking.

An imaginative use of a female trio as chorus adds to the harmonic delight of the production, whilst James Simpson directs a fine sound from the (mainly) string quintet. With Thérèse Raquin Shepphard and Adams have created invigorating and exciting new musical theatre. The show represents a cutting edge of the genre at its very best and brilliantly performed.

Runs until August 24th 2014

Curtains - Review

Landor Theatre, London

*****

Book: Rupert Holmes

Music: John Kander

Lyrics: Fred Ebb

Original book and concept: Peter Stone

Additional lyrics: John Kander and Rupert Holmes

Director: Robert McWhir

This review was first published on The Public Reviews
 

Curtains is a complex yet frivolous piece of musical theatre from Kander and Ebb. Having satirised Nazi Germany and the American penal and justice system with Cabaret and Chicago, this work, in its first professional UK production, sees the writers fix their satirical cannon on show-business itself.

The show opens with a theatrical troupe performing “Robbin Hood” in Boston, en route to a hopeful transfer to Broadway. When the leading lady is poisoned on stage, Lieutenant Cioffi arrives, forbidding the entire cast to leave the theatre until the crime is solved. What then follows is a whodunnit, and several more deaths, with each member of the company’s motives and alibis in turn challenged by Cioffi. Of course as the genre demands, each cast member appears to have a troublesome skeleton in their closet for the detective to eliminate.

Kander and Ebb’s wit shines through most of the show, with an early number that sets its sights on theatre critics, What Kind of Man ? ( ie would be a critic ) causing much mirth on press night.

Leading the cast is Jeremy Legat as Cioffi. Clearly the most stagey of cops, Cioffi has a love for musical theatre, and a hilarious knack for giving notes to the company as their rehearsals continue, that prove to be spot on in improving the show within a show. Legat’s youthful experience shows and he leads the production with assured professionalism that is neither arrogant nor scene-stealing. The one regret of the evening is that more solos are not afforded to his character. Legat’s voice in Coffee Shop Nights and A Tough Act To Follow is sublime. Buster Skeggs is a convincing Carmen Bernstein a co-producer of the show. Her role calls for overstated energy and drive, and she delivers a tough New York shtick that at times leaves her breathless.

One can easily forget that this show is being staged in ‘a room above a pub’. The production calls for adult actors that span a broad spectrum of ages and generations and Andrew Keates as casting director has assembled a stunning 20 strong troupe. Some, like Bryan Kennedy who’s camp director, Christopher Belling is a masterclass in controlled understatement, have years of talent under their belt. When reminded that he is a suspect in a murder enquiry, Kennedy’s foppish reply that “its an honour just to be nominated” is a moment of comic genius. Other performers like Stephanie Parker, murdered in the shows opening and then ensemble member, are recent drama school graduates. There is not a weak link amongst them.

McWhir has again helmed a production of magical potential in this South London venue. Under his direction, Martin Thomas has produced a set that is as detailed as it is imaginative, bringing countless fly ropes and even a proscenium arch into the modestly sized performance space, yet still allowing room for dance numbers of stunning vivacity and impact that are a credit to choreographer Robbie O’Reilly. Rachel Dingle’s costumes have been meticulously assembled and lend authenticity to both Robbin Hood, as well as the shows real-time context and Michael Webborn musical director, leads his 5 piece band perfectly. One criticism is that female company voice work is at times inaudible, but there is plenty of time to set that straight.

The show’s programme runs to an impressive 24 pages and its meticulous design hints at the tremendous commitment to excellence in production values that motivate both McWhir and Keates. London is famed for its theatre, both West End and off. In this Olympian summer, Curtains contributes to that outstanding reputation.

Runs until September 1st

Find me on Twitter: @jaybeegee63

 

Self Taught, Still Learning - Album Launch Review

****
This review was originally written for The Public Reviews

November 29 2011

On a chilly autumn morning, upstairs at Dress Circle in Covent Garden provided a warm venue to enjoy a selection of songs from “Self Taught, Still Learning”, the debut album from Chris Passey . In August 2011 this website conducted a ten minute interview with Chris whilst the album was in production, so it was a delight to enjoy the finished work performed live.

The performance started with Steven Webb singing “Room For Me”. It is a tribute to Passey that he has attracted the cream of young musical theatre talent to record his writing. Even though Webb did not feature on the album (where the song is performed by Richard Meek ) his performance was polished and beautifully rehearsed. The compact venue required no amplification so with simply Passey on keyboard and Jake Mason on cello, Webb took the arc of the song on a journey quite different from the recorded version. Where the recording has a choir providing an ethereal backing to the song, Webb was vocally on his own. His talent shone and he simply soared with a spine-tingling performance.

The album’s title derives from a line in the song “Three Tiny Words”, and with the versatile Tim Prottey-Jones on guitar, Allyson Ava Brown immersed herself in a delivery of that song that took its balladesque opening through to a middle-eight that had an almost rock-style exhilaration in her singing. Again, the unmiked intimacy of the performance gave her performance a real frisson.

Next up was Prottey-Jones singing the moving and tender tribute to a loved friend, now passed away, “If They Only Knew” ( recorded on the album by Kieran Brown ). Passey’s ability to describe passion, grief and longing in his writing, again brilliantly displayed in this number.

The fourth and final song of the morning was the upbeat 4-parter, “You Were Mine”, Passey singing with Zoe Rainey from the album, joined by Jeremy Legat and Amy Carroll.

Passey is donating all album profits to worthy causes. In a brief post-gig conversation, he described the most humbling and inspiring part of the album’s development being the generous donation of time and support from so many talented and accomplished performers – including Miranda Sings!

The album is a showcase of all that is good in today’s musical theatre – performance and writing. Buy it to support that talent – as well as the two worthy nominated charities.