I Say Yeh Yeh - CD review

****

Like a fine cognac, Frances Ruffelle's most recent album deliciously distils her passion for France. Remembering that it was Ruffelle who created the role of Eponine in Les Miserables, a show that was to evolve into one of musical theatre's few truly global sensations, that she is in love with all things French is hardly a surprise.

I Say Yeh Yeh is a pot-pourri of songs special to Ruffelle for a variety of reasons. Les Mis is there, obviously, as are a handful Piaf numbers - but it is in discovering the unexpected amongst the tracks that the album takes on an eclectic charm.

Bookending the collection is Les Miserables and the album opens with L'un Vers L'autre, a Boublil and Schoenberg composition that never made the English show's final cut. The song offers a tiny glimpse into the genesis of a show, with echoes of recognisable motifs occasionally breaking cover. One is left, pondering smilingly, how different the show might have been had L'un Vers L'autre been included.

Eponine's big solo, On My Own closes the album, in an intriguing re-work. Ruffelle's timbre is timeless, but when this most famous of show-tunes is sung here by a woman rather than a girl, Herbert Kretzmer's lyrics are imbued with a worldly-wise insouciance that replaces the number’s hallmark youthful aspiration and gives the song an intriguing evolution.

Ruffelle admits that after having searched for a perfectly resonant male voice to record the enigmatically romantic Paris Summer, it was only her chance suggestion to local hairdresser Rowan John that led to him covering the track - in a vocal revelation as charming as the song's lyrics.

It has famously been recounted by Ruffelle that it was her take on Edith Piaf's Hymn To Love at a Les Mis audition that landed her both the role and later, John Caird the show's co-director as her husband. Traditionally anthem-esque, though recorded on here with a soft accordion accompaniment, Hymne À L'amour is included along with a handful of other Piaf gems. The song, perhaps more than any other and even though performed in English, defines Ruffelle's exquisite understanding of Piaf's magic. (Her take on the French singer in Paul Kerryson's production of Pam Gem's Piaf, staged at Leicester's Curve some 3 years ago, reviewed here, was arguably definitive and this album offers a neat reminder of Ruffelle's excellent interpretation.)

Produced by Gwyneth Herbert - who accompanies Ruffelle on a cover of Georgie Fame's eponymous title track - the CD offers a most delicate of musical mille feuilles, a finely crafted foray Français. Ruffelle adds that she recorded I Say Yeh-Yeh for love, rather than the pressure of any commercial or contractual requirement and it shows. A must-have for her fans and Francophiles alike!

Available for download from iTunes

Paul Kerryson razzle dazzles in Leicester

The women of Paul Kerryson's Cook County Jail, Chicago

As the latest prodcution of Kander and Ebb's Chicago previews in Leicester, I caught up with Paul Kerryson, Artistic Director of the city's Curve Theatre to learn more about what he has planned for this festive offering and to talk about some of the theatre's recent successes that he has helmed.

JB: Are you Leicester born and bred and how long has your association been with Curve? 

PK: Originally from Southern Ireland, I’ve lived in Leicester for nigh on 23 years and have been intimately involved with the birth and growth of Curve. For the eight years prior to its opening I worked closely on its development and have been Artistic Director since it's opening five years ago.

JB: Touching on historical productions, tell me about Harvey Weinstein selecting Curve to trial his musical, Finding Neverland.

PK: I was tremendously proud that we were chosen to be the UK testing ground for the show. Not only did it demonstrate that we could host a modern large show that was technically demanding and state of the art, Finding Neverland established Curve even more firmly upon the country's theatrical map. Whilst the show remains very much a work in progress, it gave us a wonderfully high profile, a star studded cast and many of the industry's leading producers and creatives visiting us, many for the first time. And of course it earned us a fabulous amount of much needed revenue too!

JB:  In the recent UK Theatre Awards, of the three nominees from across the regions for “Best Performance In A Musical”,  two were leading ladies from Curve productions that you had directed: Janie Dee for Hello Dolly, who went on to win the award and Frances Ruffelle for Piaf.  Tell me a little about those shows.

PK: I'd worked with Janie before, when she had played the lead in The King And I, so I knew just what I was getting. She was a wonderfully astute Dolly Levi and the part came to her at just the right time too as it had only been in the week before we first discussed it, that her dad had told her how much he'd love to see her play Dolly.

Janie Dee as Dolly Levi

Piaf provided a wonderfully challenging show. I'd worked with the late Pam Gems personally too and not many people know that she had actually written three versions of the play. For my production, I went through all three selecting the texts from each that I thought best to use.

The critical part of presenting Piaf is to select the songs that you think will work with the show and then of course, to get them in the right order that will best fit the production. We ran the show in the Curve's more intimate Studio venue and when that sold out, we hastily arranged a one week reprise in the main house, where we solely used the forestage in a bid to retain the intimacy. Frances Ruffelle emphatically made the role her own and if we can find a backer, the show may yet have a life on tour. Other theatres are interested in it for sure.

Frances Ruffelle's Edith Piaf

JB: And so to Chicago. Why that show and why now?

PK: Sometimes you just have to grab a show when it comes around, it's that simple. For years the rights were not available and the UK tour only finished about a year ago so I guess I called them at the right time. 

It's a glorious piece of writing. Starting off as a Broadway concert piece, for years it was viewed as a poor relation to Cabaret. But the prism through which Kander and Ebb view life deserves a distinctive treatment and I am looking forward to giving my interpretation to the work. I want to avoid the minimalist style  of recent productions, bringing back more scene changes and a larger-scale feel to the show, whilst still keeping it sleek, sexy and funny.

And of course I have Drew McOnie as my choreographer. He is one of the most innovative dance professionals in musical theatre today, a protege of Matthew Bourne, whose work is thrilling to see. Where David Needham brought a beautifully traditional interpretation to Hello Dolly’s dance and movement (JB : Agreed. The Waiter's Gallop was breathtaking) Drew brings an altogether modern vibrancy. I went to see his West Side Story this summer, staged in a Manchester warehouse,and even though he was only working with a youth company, his interpretation was astonishing.

JB: Ben Atkinson will be musically directing for you and he has now become quite a fixture at Curve. Tell me more about him.

PK: Ben is simply a very talented young man. I first really noticed him when as the Assistant MD, he occasionally took the baton during The King And I, faultlessly. He has a confident connection between the stage and the orchestra and really understands a show's arrangements. In their recent London cabaret sets, both Janie and Frances have used him as their MD.

Paul Kerryson during rehearsals

JB: And then to Hairspray followed by the Water Babies premiere. 2014 is full of promise...

PK: Yes, 2014 is looking very exciting indeed with the established fun of Shaiman and Wittman's Hairspray followed by the thrill of unveiling Water Babies. I am very proud of the excellence, especially in musical theatre, that Curve is becoming famous for.

Chicago plays at Curve Theatre, Leicester until 18th January 2014
To book tickets, click here

Piaf

Curve Theatre, Leicester

*****

Written by Pam Gems

Directed by Paul Kerryson


STOP PRESS!

PIAF RUN EXTENDED IN THE MAIN THEATRE AT THE CURVE 3 - 6 APRIL 2013

SEE THE TRAILER FOR THE SHOW HERE

Frances Ruffelle

Leicester Curve’s Piaf, Pam Gems' distinctive play about the beautiful but self-destructive arc of Edith Piaf, has new life breathed into the title role by Frances Ruffelle whose immersive performance as the celebrated French chanteuse is quite simply breathtaking.

Gems pulls no punches with her writing and this play with songs is not for fans of the singer looking for a sentimental juke-box musical. Her Piaf is at times a tragic junkie, an alcoholic and a foul mouthed whore in a production that is so much more than simply a collection of some of “The Little Sparrow’s” songs.  Ruffelle’s portrayal of this brightly burning star that crashed to her death at the age of 47 is as harrowing as it is stunning.

The play moves at a pace from Piaf’s troubled early years. The supporting cast context the passage of time skilfully, as key people in the singer’s life are introduced. Whilst many of the cast play several roles, Laura Pitt-Pulford plays Toine, Piaf’s best friend and fellow prostitute from the early years, throughout. Pitt-Pulford has a track record that defines a commitment to excellence and this performance is no exception as she portrays the hard-edged cynicism of a street girl through the years.  Tiffany Graves’ Marlene sings Falling in Love Again with a deliciously authentic sound.

The six men in the company cover a multitude of parts. The versatile Russell Morton, as her young Greek husband she married shortly before her death, beautifully duets with Ruffelle. Oliver Boot delivers an emphatic masculinity throughout, from hard edged cop to the champion boxer who wins Piaf’s love before being tragically killed in a plane crash and Dale Rapley shifts through several key characters in Piaf’s life effortlessly most notably as the gay promoter who chances upon her street singing and transforms her to professional performer.

But it is Ruffelle who defines this show. Shifting from gamine minx, to a morphine abusing broken-bodied frailty, injured from car crashes and addiction, her performance is almost Hamlet-like such is the totality of effort that is demanded from her. Crippled and dying, she switches from shooting–up to commanding the spotlight in the fantasy recalls of Piaf’s numbers, with ease. When she sings in French her voice is a sublime tribute to Piaf, whilst when she sings in English the distinctive timbre and twang that defined her creation of Eponine some 27 years ago, is still there. Ruffelles’s acting is first class throughout with Andrew Whiteoak’s effective wigs provide the finishing touches to her embodiment of the French legend. 

The staging is simple, with effective use of brickwork, cobbles (a nice Parisian touch from designer Simon Scullion ) and excellent lighting from Arnim Friess. Musically, the three piece band are a delight. Piaf demands an authentic French sound and Zivorad Nikolic’s accordion playing, under the talented Ben Atkinson’s direction and orchestration, creates a Parisian atmosphere that only needs for a whiff of Gauloise to be complete.

Paul Kerryson has delivered another well-crafted piece of theatre to this remarkable regional powerhouse. Hopefully the production will tour and maybe arrive in London too. Yet again, the people of Leicester are spoilt with such a gem on their doorstep.

Runs to 16th March