The Last Ship - Review

Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool


****


Music and lyrics by Sting
Original book by John Logan and Brian Yorkey
Direction and book by Lorne Campbell

Joe McGann and Charlie Hardwick

For the most part, Sting’s The Last Ship is a thing of beauty. The Geordie songwriter / pop megastar has penned a well-crafted salute to the shipbuilders of his native Newcastle Upon Tyne and their industry that has long vanished.

Sting’s roots shine proudly throughout the show. The language is frequently and gloriously in the north eastern vernacular while the melodies, be they balladry or the more rousing ensemble numbers,  are anchored firmly in English folk heritage. Think of The Hired Man, fused with Blood Brothers alongside a hint of Auf Weidersehn Pet and you start to get close to the show’s heartbeat. 

It’s hard (nigh, impossible) to write of the plot and remain spoiler-free. Suffice to say, not only is there a solid industrial foundation to the narrative, there is also a cleverly crafted human interest too. Themes of love, ambition along with both a respect for and a challenge to the importance of family and tradition, are well woven into the narrative.

Joe McGann and Charlie Hardwick lead the cast as Jackie and Peggy White, shipyard foreman and nurse respectively and both could not be more perfectly cast. Their singing voices may not be the finest, but McGann has a beautifully powerful presence that’s hewn from riveted granite. As he leads his workers in act one’s stirring Shipyard number, there is a believable wryness to his delivery that defines him, not only as a leader of men, but also as a shipbuilder with a deeply held a pride in his craft. Peggy is made of the same steel as her husband, but with the additional thread of a perceptively drawn woman’s compassion. We see her not only leading, but caring too. 

The story’s romantic theme derives from the school-love that blossomed between Gideon Fletcher and Med Dawson (Richard Fleeshman and Frances McNamee) and who we meet some 17 years later. Both actors are gifted with some of the show’s more heart-rending numbers, though McNamee leads the women in a gloriously tango-infused routine If You Ever See Me Talking To A Sailor.

The portrayal of the industry’s decline is as heartbreaking as it is recognisable. This review was written as the touring production played in Liverpool and there was a resonance to its message that was almost tangible sitting amongst the packed matinee audience in the Playhouse Theatre. Merseyside too has seen its docks and shipyards decimated.

But Sting and Lorne Campbell have pulled their punches with the villain of this piece. Mr Newlands (played by Sean Kearns) is the shipyard owner who, as his business crumbles, resorts to having to call in the police to clear the picketing workers, defiantly attempting to hold on to their livelihoods. He’s clearly the bad guy here, but the real "bad guy" was a far more complex machine of global and local politics and policies that crushed the shipyards along with many other of Britain’s heavy industries. Similarly, in a litany of current “issues” recited before the final bow, its hard to reconcile a reference to gun control in the USA, however fashionable that debate may currently be, with Newcastle shipbuilders stripped of their industrial pride and dignity. 

Creatively, the show is cutting-edge in its conception. 59 Productions’ set design makes for an ingenious use of simple girders and clever projections to create illusions that switch seamlessly from present day to backdrop to spiritualised suggestiveness. Lucy Hind has crafted clever and authentic dance work, while in the pit Richard John’s six-piece band makes Sting’s songs soar.

Whether the show will carry its charm into the metropolitan bubble of the M25 is hard to discern, with today's bloated Londoners being a world away from the harsh industrial axe that fell upon the North. Until then, the tour plays until July and it is well worth catching. 

The show tours until 7th July. Venues and dates can be found here.

A Damsel In Distress - Review

Festival Theatre, Chichester

****

Music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin

Book by Jeremy Sams and Robert Hudson

Based on the novel by P.G.Wodehouse

and the play by P.G. Wodehouse and Ian Hay

Directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford

Nicholas Farrell and Sally Ann Triplett

A Damsel In Distress is a new(ish) musical confection that feels like it's been around for years. Based on the P.G.Wodehouse story and drawing upon the Gershwin brothers' songs that were composed for the similarly inspired 1937 movie, Jeremy Sams and Robert Hudson breathe life into a collection of classic concepts.

In all honesty, the fable’s ridiculous plot defies both and credibility and description. George Bevan, a gifted American musical theatre composer falls for Maud Marshmoreton, a titled young Englishwoman, who is herself the ward of the fearsomely dragon-esque Lady Caroline. Maud's father Lord Marshmoreton is an elderly landed gent with a keen eye for both horticulture and women and who in turn is smitten by Billie Dore an American actress in Bevan’s most recent show. (Keep up!) Besides these paramours, there are yet more romantic shenanigans and all set in a tale that hops between London's Savoy Theatre and the crumbling Gloucestershire stately pile of Totleigh Towers, as the cultural differences that straddle the Atlantic are affectionately mocked throughout.

Making his Chichester debut, Rob Ashford directs and choreographs with his trademark vivacity and visual flair. In this show the tap doesn’t drip, it gushes. Ashford has ripped out the Overture, (evidently a late change as it’s listed in the programme) so Things Are Looking Up opens the show, setting the tone with a full ensemble tap routine. Other dance highlights include the French Pastry Walk – the first time that most people will have seen a cakewalk performed with real cakes. Fidgety Feet proves another absolute joy to watch whilst Stiff Upper Lip gloriously defines the very British attitude of sang-froid through it's polar opposite: the tap dance! Marvellous stuff.

Whilst the story maybe 100% saccharine, the songs are diamonds and the cast is platinum. Summer Strallen and Richard Fleeshman are Maud and Bevan. Nobody does young romantic better than these two and amidst Totleigh Towers’ faux Middle Ages splendour, the challenge that the upstart American offers to Maud’s rigid adherence to the social mores is perfectly matched.

Nicholas Farrell’s dotty Lord is a decrepit foil to Sally Ann Triplett’s feisty Dore, with Isla Blair’s matronly curmudgeon, Lady Caroline being another perfectly executed gem. (Though writers note – if shows continue to promote the trope of old men as priapically comic Lotharios whilst their female contemporaries are portrayed as harridan old maids, then what hope for sexual and age-friendly diversity? Such stereotypes need to become outmoded.)

Other delights include Melle Stewart’s housemaid Alice, finding her true love “above stairs”, Chloe Hart and David Robert’s hilarious kitchen-based duet and Desmond Barrit’s wonderfully withering Keggs, the Butler.

The show makes for a whirl through the songbook – the star numbers being A Foggy Day (Fleeshman, divine) and Nice Work If You Can Get It (Stewart and Strallen, likewise) whilst Farrell’s Mine, sung to his roses, is comedy gold.

Christopher Oram’s sumptuous set is a mille-feuille of crennelation, whilst from a lofty perch Alan William’s band makes fine work of the Gershwin classics.

Ideally suited to Chichester’s charms, A Damsel In Distress makes for a delightful night in the theatre.

Runs until 27th June 2015

Urinetown

St James Theatre, London

****

Music & lyrics by Mark Hollmann

Book & lyrics by Greg Kotis

Directed by Jamie Lloyd

Richard Fleeshman confronts Jenna Russell

More than a decade after it's acclaimed Broadway debut, Urinetown splashes down on this side of the Atlantic, premiering at London's bijou St James Theatre. Brash and brassy, the show is set in an America of the future. Water is scarce, sewerage is rationed and evil big business controls the municipal toilets, where "spending a penny" costs just that and sometimes considerably more. Packing a seriously portentous message (wise minds have long suggested that future wars will be fought over water rather than oil), the show is a satirical meta-musical, that not only takes the piss out of peeing, but also out of its own genre too.

The style throughout is of a 1960’s graphic novel. The bad guys are really bad, the cops are in the pay of the suits and the poor are down-trodden. The violence is beautifully choreographed and when the (copious) stage-blood flows it is often as a thick black goo as well as the classic scarlet, mimicking the comic-books' monochrome. Thomas Malthus is the other literary reference that streams through the show. Jonathan Slinger (who only recently was the RSC’s Hamlet at Stratford) opens proceedings as sardonic cop Officer Lockstock, sat on stage in a mise en scene, quietly reading from the 18th century philosopher as the audience take their seats. Malthus’ apocalyptic predictions drive the tale, prophesying that ultimately the world’s resources will not be able to sustain its geometrically expanding human population. 

Jamie Lloyd again lays down his marker as a creator of visionary theatre. Working with a first class company his caricatured characters are as hilarious as they are disturbing. Musical theatre's grand dame in waiting, Jenna Russell, is Penelope Pennywise the grotesquely rubber-aproned supervisor of Public Amenity 9. Her role down amongst the city's low lifes is to guard the facility, ensuring that only those who pay, can pee. With her ghostly, ghastly, white-slapped face Russell is sublime and her big number, It’s A Privilege To Pee, is a masterclass in performance.

Also starring is Richard Fleeshman as Bobby Strong, the hero who dares to challenge the system. Fleeshman does not disappoint and if his big number Look At The Sky is a touch too heavy on the ironic melodrama, he more than makes up for it in delivery. As corporate baddie, Caldwell B. Cladwell, Simon Paisley Day is everything a villain should be. With a moustache inspired by Moriarty and the sharpest satirical dialog, Day relishes the role and is a joy to watch throughout. At times the show’s structure creaks more than it leaks. Lockstock's role is also that of occasional narrator, a mechanism that too often seems to be an easy way out for the writers, checking up that the audience “geddit” just in case the show has nauseated rather than amused.

The strengths of this production however lie within the carefully crafted values that producer Julian Stoneman has evidently insisted (and spent a fortune) upon. The acting company is top drawer throughout with even supporting roles being outstanding. Karis Jack’s Little Sally is a cracker and Adam Pearce’s thuggishly rotund Officer Barrel (Lockstock’s sidekick) is another modest glimpse of excellence. After the interval the glorious ensemble number Run, Freedom, Run displays every sign of evolving into the show-stopper that the cast clearly hope it to be. Soutra Gilmour's ingeniously grim designs of sewer and slum with multi-level multiple revolves suit the steeply raked theatre perfectly, alongside Ann Yee’s choreography and Kate Water’s multiple fight designs that are delivered with pinpoint drill and perfectly timed conviction.

Urinetown is musical theatre of the highest standard. Clearly staged with a deserved transfer in mind it is the work of a cast and creative team at the top of their game and demands to be seen. You're in for a treat!

Runs until 3rd May 2014

Scott Alan - A profile of a talented guy

Scott Alan at the piano

When Scott Alan flew over a few weeks ago to host his O2 gig, I was lucky enough to grab an hour of the man’s time later that week at the bar of London’s Hippodrome. It’s a measure of his recognition and acclaim that our conversation was frequently interrupted by fans keen to grab a photo or an autograph. A charmingly polite celebrity, Alan obliged all requests and yet the conversation between us flowed effortlessly around these moments, as we talked about his life, his forthcoming musical Home and his love for London.

I had previously encountered Alan’s work performed in various cabaret routines and was aware of his talent, but the O2 evening had been my first occasion of getting a broader understanding of his writing. My understanding of his broader catalogue could not have been more informative. I was sat next to his mother Marcia, just flown in from New York and who as a typical Jewish mother could not have been bursting with more pride at her son’s work commanding such a prestigious London venue. In the absence of a printed programme for the night, it was my delight and privilege to explain to her who was who amongst a cast that included the likes of Cynthia Erivo, Nathan James and even John Owen-Jones. Marcia in return shared some of her recollections of the (very) young Scott. Apparently his musical inclinations were manifest even in the toddler years wheeling a melodious Fisher-Price pushalong from the age of 2, whilst various elementary-school teachers were to confidently predict a career on stage.

In between a delightful infancy and a successful adulthood, Alan is on record as having deeply suffered during his childhood and adolescence, trying to cope with a world that would not accept his sexuality and the sense of profound loneliness that engendered. As a gay teenager, he tells of having found high school hellish, feeling isolated and suicidal. Outside of school and aware that his sexuality was unconventional and as a consequence, knowing from a very early age that he would not be fulfilling the “traditional Jewish” routine of career, marriage and kids, he found the expectations of his family in those years almost unbearable, making his inner torment even harder to endure.

Alan (2nd r) with some of the performers at the O2

Those difficult times are now, most emphatically, consigned to history. It is clear that Alan and his family have all worked hard to forge fresh and powerful ties of warmth and his relationship with his mother and sister is evidently loving. Indeed at the gig, the bond that stretched from the composer on stage to his mom and sis in the stalls, was almost palpable. Alan is nothing if not open about his journey and acknowledges that the challenge to keep on top of depression can be ongoing. But the gloriously rude strength of his mental health is actually to be celebrated. He exemplifies a human victory over depression that is inspirational and in a world of transient and often flawed celebrities who battle and sometimes fall victim to, their demons, there can be few finer role models that evidence, so wholesomely, that depression can be controlled and mastered.

Alan talks of having written a lot about loneliness and in some depth refers to his favourite composition, Anything Worth Holding Onto, a song that speaks from the depths of depression. On the night at the O2, singer Cynthia Erivo gave herself, her soul and her tears totally to the number, yet whilst rehearsing, Erivo complained that she “just wasn’t getting it”, that there was an absence of connection with the lyrics and that she was struggling to perform the number. It is a credit to both writer and singer that Alan patiently worked with her to guide her towards the evening’s performance where, that even though all rehearsals of the song had proved a challenge, on the night itself and sat like a vulnerable teenager on the edge of the Indigo’s dwarfing stage, Erivo found it within her to bring words, music and above all her sublime interpretation, into an alignment of almost planetary perfection. The ovation that the song received was proof enough.

Cynthia Erivo in rehearsal for the O2 concert

Erivo was to sing again for Alan later that night, in a number that could not have been further removed from depression, as she portrayed a gloriously rebellious and cooky teenager, stoned out of her brains on dope. The song was from Home, a musical for four women, that Alan has been writing words and music for over the best part of 13 years with Christy Hall writing the show’s book. Home explores the relationship between a mother and her daughter Katherine, with three of the cast required to play Katherine from teenager through to mature adult, in a tale that will inspire and amuse its audience, as well as take them on an emotional rollercoaster.

Whilst some of Home’s songs have been released and performed (only recently, I was stunned by Kerry Ellis’ performance of Never Neverland at her Pheasantry concert), the O2 gig was the first occasion that the entire collection of songs had been recited in their entirety. With some of Broadway’s and the West End’s finest women on stage for the performance, Alan was understandably overwhelmed at both the outstanding performance values that all the artistes had put into his songs, as well as the reception the collection received. He says that whilst Home had enjoyed readings in the States, he had never seen a crowd respond to the material so perfectly, getting every joke and responding to each song’s emotional punch. Alan is at pains to emphasise that this had just been a sing through of songs, with none of the show’s dialogue included at all. Modestly and charmingly he rates Hall’s book even higher than his compositions, adding that his heart is in the show and that pending its premiere, he is simply not fulfilled.

Home is clearly a project that he and Hall have immersed themselves in. Before I met with Alan, I had spoken with his talented and perceptive bookwriter, where she described the show as “not only the kind of story people need to hear, but also a story that Scott and I were clearly meant to tell.” Alan resoundingly echoes her words and Hall’s description of their writing process is grinningly endorsed by the composer. I share with Alan the observation that Hall made, that when “we get in our work mode, neither of us sleep. We will quite literally give until we drop. It is just the stuff we are made of” and all he can do is nod in agreement. Hall had been delightfully free and candid in how she describes the writing process. “It's not all work and no play. Scott and I can be very silly and playful together… we always hit a wall when working and that usually leads to us sharing a bottle of wine and making fun of ourselves or talking to his sweet dog, Billy, in ridiculous voices... He's just a big dork when it really comes right down to it and to be honest? I adore him for it.”

The writing of a musical is, to those of us mere mortals looking in, a sorcerer’s combination of talent, wit and wisdom. The extent to which Hall so openly describes that creative and profoundly private professional intimacy, with words that Alan wholeheartedly agrees with, is a rare glimpse into the magicians’ workshop that they have built. Theirs is clearly a blessed creative collaboration and one can only hope that their professional union continues to yield future fruit.

Notwithstanding the Manhattan base of Hall and Alan, it seems likely that London may prove the launch pad for Home’s fully fledged emergence. Aside from the warmth of the reception to the songs at the O2, Alan is struck by the unpretentious nature of some of the UK’s leading musical theatre performers who have expressed their desire to work with him. Born and bred in New York, he describes it as a relative rarity for an established Broadway performer to reach out to a composer and say “ I want to work with you”, but in London he feels such pretensions are almost non-existent and he speaks of being bowled over by the requests he has received from leading West End names to perform his material.

It is of course also quite possible that one of the reasons Alan was so exhausted late that evening at the Hippodrome, was that he had just Eurostar’d to Paris and back with Eponine’s creator and latter day Edith Piaf, Frances Ruffelle (there had been much Parisian banter tweeted by Alan, suggesting that he planned to get Ruffelle to sing On My Own, on a rainy street corner in the city…) That Alan’s list of O2 performers went on to include Willemijn Verkaik, Richard Fleeshman, Siobhan Dillon and Julie Atherton speaks volumes for the immensity of respect that he has earned over here and when we met he had in fact spent a long session, post-Paris, in meetings discussing Home’s possible London launch. He was of course appropriately professionally coy revealing no details at all of the talks, but his excitement at the possibility of a London premiere is a delight to see as he repeatedly comments how much he looks on London as a second home.

The reason for our meeting at the Hippodrome was that Shoshana Bean (accompanied by many of Alan’s singers from the O2 guesting) was performing there in a hastily arranged event thrown together in the flurry of excitement that the Alan gig had generated. Bean’s act was shortly to commence and with all appropriate courtesies, Alan headed off through the crowds to hear his friend perform. As he walked off, pausing to sign autographs on request, he struck me as a perfect combination of charm, modesty and great talent. To quote John Dempsey’s lyric from The Witches of Eastwick he truly is “all manner of man in one man”. Whilst New York is unquestionably his home, I suspect that London will be enjoying the privilege of offering this man the Home he truly longs to see.

Pictures by Darren Bell