Me, Tom Self & I - Review

Crazy Coqs, London

****

Me, Tom Self & I marked the cabaret debut of Tom Self, showcasing an evening of the man’s own writing. The gig was polished, witty and wonderfully performed with an ambience that suggested an accomplished cabaret artiste rather than debutant.

Hitherto a musical director, teacher, writer and actor-musician, Self has already notched up an impressive tally of 20 pantomimes that he has written for or musically arranged. Only in his early 30s he shows a keen eye for sharp lyrical connections and an impressive range of musical styles around which he has arranged his words. 

The one-act set lasted a crisp 75 minutes with Self’s autobiographical patter matching the wit of his songs. Looking out at a packed Crazy Coqs filled largely on this opening night with family and friends, Self remarked that it all was “a bit like being at my own wake!”. A clever and confident gag that set the tone for the evening.

Self played 10 of his own compositions on piano, ably accompanied by Elliot Mackenzie on bass and Luke Thornton on drums with Laura Sillet, Lewis Asquith and Alex Tomkins providing vocal support. Opening the show with the appropriately titled The Opening Song, Self displayed a clever understanding of melody, structure and humour in his writing. Cockney Knees Up followed, deploying a knowing use of Cockney rhyming slang.

Royal Dreams Come True from Self’s Sleeping Beauty pantomime score was a fun duet between the writer and Tomkins set to a bossa nova, while The Cinema Song (from the Brief Encounter stage show) brought an authentic 1930’s feel to its words and music.

The evening’s vocal highlight was Sillett’s take on Don’t Talk About Christmas, while Self’s Post Show Blues, written about the melancholy that can descend when a show’s run ends and the company break up, contained perhaps the evening’s killer lyric: “How quickly an overture becomes the final bow”. Powerful, perceptive writing.

Sasha, Nadia and Jasmine, a trio of students from Self’s alma mater Trinity Laban made fine work of another Sleeping Beauty number Fight For The One, before Self brought the proceedings to a close with a cover of the Victoria Wood Covid-inspired classic, Let’s Do It.

For a newcomer to the world of cabaret performance, Self’s confident charm and musical talent are an astonishing delight. This evening’s performance marks what must surely be the launch of yet another strand to his accomplished career to date.

If you missed tonight’s show don’t worry. Tom Self is back at the Crazy Coqs in two weeks time in what will most likely be another sell-out performance!

Me, Tom Self & I returns to the Crazy Coqs on 12th February

Soho Cinders - Review

Union Theatre, London

****

Music by George Stiles

Lyrics by Anthony Drewe

Book by Anthony Drewe and Elliot Davis

Directed by Will Keith

Shifting London's Old Compton Street south of the river, the run up to Xmas sees the Union present Stiles & Drewe's newish Soho Cinders, their Cinderella for the 21st Century, as a festive offering.

Elliot Davis co-writes the book with Drewe and together they offer a bold attempt at re-defining the classic fairy tale. Cinderella is now Robbie, a young gay boy who as the story unfolds, finds himself unwittingly caught in a Keith Vaz style sleazy maelstrom between James Prince (geddit?) the handsome London Mayoral candidate who loves him (and who Robbie loves in return) and Chris Coleman's dastardly Tory, Lord Bellingham. Matters are made worse by Prince also being engaged to Marilyn, his sweetheart from university days and if things weren't bad enough for the County Hall hopeful, his devious campaign manager William (great work from Samuel Haughton) is a bit of a bastard too.

Throw in Robbie's best friend Velcro, along with Clodagh and Dana, his gloriously horrible step-sisters and it all begins to get rather confusing. The Fix, which played recently at The Union, sent up the politics shtick far more convincingly. For all its noble intentions, this musical melee of modern day metro-sexuality is perhaps just a little too tangled

That being said.... the strengths of this production lie in the marvellous work that Will Keith has coaxed from his company. Lewis Asquith is every inch the confused and handsome Prince, torn between his emotional commitment to Lorri Walton's (beautifully voiced) Marilyn and his burning desire for Robbie. Asquith nails his character's moral turmoil, delivering a vocal presence that comfortably rises above Sarah Morrison's well balanced 3-piece band. While Prince’s character may have been originally written as a caricature, Asquith's perfectly weighted nuance imbues it with a carefully crafted complexity.

Joshua Lewindon captures Robbie's vulnerability, portraying a young man who's just on the right side of straying into a world of vice. Vocally however Lewindon needs to do more - he's great on the big numbers, but needs to sing the softer stuff stronger if it is to be fully appreciated above the music.

As Velcro, Emily Deamer sings powerfully, with Wishing For The Normal being one of Stiles & Drewe's more enchanting ballads of recent years. Deamer is the essence of feisty sensitivity and she tackles an unconventional character with a classy style.

Natalie Harman and Michaela Stern as Dana and Clodagh are without question the evening's guilty pleasure. Costumed in the cheapest leopard skin getups and with their commanding presence and immaculate comic timing, they are a contemporary definition of pantomime's ugly sisters. They're also given the evening's funniest numbers I'm So Over Men and Fifteen Minutes, with their magnificent soprano voices smashing both songs out of the park.

The Christmas cracker at the heart of this show however is Joanne McShane's stunning choreography. There is clearly a synergy between Keith and McShane for yet again in one of his shows she displays an inspired ingenuity in arranging stunning routines within the space available. Her ensemble work in particular proving evidence of well drilled, imaginative movement.

Much work has gone into the production and it shows. Soho Cinders is a fun night at the theatre - go see it, you won’t be disappointed!

Runs until 22nd December

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat - Review

Churchill Theatre, Bromley

****

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Lyrics by Tim Rice

Directed by Bill Kenwright

The Company

A technicolour spectacle is promised by the cast and crew of Joseph and it is duly delivered – to rapturous applause. Telling the classic Old Testament story of the favourite of Jacob’s 12 sons cruelly cast out in a fraternal coup, at the heart of the dark tale is a celebration of hope and dreams.

The role of Joseph is brilliantly filled by Joe McElderry, the former X Factor winner seeming right at home on this stage and switching effortlessly between jovial and heartfelt in his performance. McElderry’s voice is magnificent, bringing the audience to its feet during act one’s Close Every Door and then again during the reprises. Bringing a youthful vibrancy to the stage, he is made for the part.

The maddeningly catchy songs from the well-known show have the audience singing along throughout. The children’s choir from Carmel Thomas Performing Arts never miss a beat and add a delightful tone to the musical. There are moments however when the orchestra overpowers the lead vocalists and the audience struggles to keep up with the story.

Bill Kenwright, the impresario himself, directs so the comedy is plentiful with both visual and verbal gags. When Joseph hops into a boat with his captors, the three actors move the boat along with synchronised footwork; as he deciphers Pharaoh’s dream, a thought bubble appears above his head and when Jacob and his sons sing about the devastation caused to them by the famine, the number is bizarrely set in Paris, complete with exaggerated French mannerisms and accents. Bonkers certainly, but it works with great comic effect.

Emilianos Stamatakis delivers a sterling performance as the Elvis-inspired Pharoah and a nod too to Lewis Asquith, who makes an excellent and highly engaging Butler. Asquith also pops up as one of the sons who, as an ensemble work brilliantly together, executing some great choreography (Henry Metcalfe). Nick Richings’ lighting also ties the show together well, adding a colourful dimension to the production that neatly offsets the story’s darkness.

There is more than a hint of pantomime in the production and the audience in Bromley on a Tuesday night was only too eager to get involved. An uplifting and joyous experience!

Runs until 5th March then tours

Reviewed by Bhakti Gajjar

Our House

Stratford Circus, London


****

Music & lyrics by Madness

Book by Tim Firth

Directed by Sarah Redmond

Our House, the juke box musical based upon the Madness catalogue is given a sparkling re-visit by the second year Musical Theatre students of Trinity Laban. Set in and around London's Camden Town, the story follows Joe Casey a likeable cheeky chancer of a lad, who is caught breaking into a house with his girlfriend. As the police arrive, Joe's character splits into two: spiv Joe who chances it and runs away, contrasted with honest Joe who is arrested, serves a stretch in a Young Offenders institution and who then battles against disapproval and stigma as he tries to do "the right things" in his lfe. It's a classic morality tale of wrong versus right set against a backdrop of strong north London family values, lifelong friendships and corrupt multi-million pound property deals.

Sion Warner effortlessly masters both the humble and the arrogant personae of Joe in a quality performance enhanced with split second costume changes that wow with technically timed perfection. Warner has a hint of Madness' lead singer Suggs in his portrayal and his singing of the two classics I Go Driving In My Car and It Must Be Love are neat tributes to both numbers.

Joe may be the lead character but it is the company around him that create his world and the lively London that Redmond sculpts from her cast is impressive. Lewis Asquith as the spirit of Joe's dead father, accompanying him on stage through much of the show, is a masterfully understated performance of a fallible but big hearted man who despite his blunders, always loved his family. Cathy Thomas who plays his widow is heartrendingly believable as she plays a 40-something mum twice the actress' age. As Sarah, Joe's love, Lucy Thomas is a perfectly voiced and well acted foil to both versions of our (anti) hero and Thomas rises well to the challenge of having to play Sarah from two different perspectives. The tightly observed comedy comes from a quartet of friends whose timing and delivery is a treat of wit and smutty innuendo. Nazerene Williams, who performs an eye-watering splits and Amy Depledge are the giggling girls, whilst Joe's half-brothers, played by Alex Gilchrist and David Grant are a cracking pair of comically awkward adolescents. The bad guys of the piece are smoothly crafted turns from Tom Self as Reecey, who grows up from school bully to hired thug (via a sharp cameo as a Las Vegas Elvis impersonator) and Mark Gollop as ruthless developer Pressman, a pantomime villain for our time.

The choreography is inspired work from Robert Foley. The ensemble numbers of Baggy Trousers, Embarrassment (with a brilliant boxing-ring interpretation from Redmond) and The Sun And The Rain are moving and exhilarating in their audacity, with credit too to Dance Captain Anna Britton and her lead of the troupe in executing Foley's visions. A nod also to the Finale, which is a feast of fancy footwork brilliantly executed by the entire company.

Chris Whitehead's band, drawn mainly from 1st and 2nd year music students provides an accomplished accompaniment. At its core, wind player Victoria Bell's saxophone work provides the most ballsy authentic Madness sound that truly takes an already wonderful show, one step beyond.

Sarah Redmond crafts a cracking musical. Her stage is bare, save for a handful of boxes and some bunting, with video projection setting scenic suggestions. Her mission is clear: this vision of London will be created entirely by performance and it's a mission that succeeds. The production reflects a very talented bunch of students that have been led by an inspirational creative team. This show deserves a wider audience and Trinity Laban's next production is eagerly awaited.


Runs from Jun 6 - 8