Shucked - Review

Open Air Theatre, London

****

Music and lyrics by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally

Book by Robert Horn

Directed by Jack O'Brien

The cast of Shucked

Deliberately corny and for all the right reasons, Shucked arrives in London bringing this gag-fest of a show to the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park.

The plot may be wafer-thin, but this is a show that doesn’t set out to be anything other than a homage to Broadway wrapped up in an old-fashioned sugary love story.

The delight in this show is not just its rapidfire gags and puns, but rather the outstanding cast and fabulous direction that Jack O’Brien can bring to a simple narrative, O’Brien being a proven master in distilling and extracting the entertainment from the everyday. He is helped by a gifted company that includes the vocal skills of Steven Webb, Monique Ashe-Palmer, Georgina Onuorah, Matthew Seadon-Young, Sophie McShera and Ben Joyce together with the comic talent of Keith Ramsay. Add in the cast's exquisite harmonies and Sarah O’Gleby’s immaculately delivered choreography and it all makes for a technically fabulous evening of new musical theatre.

The narrative sags a touch in the second half. Perhaps there's only so far that such a corny plotline can reach? Equally Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally's musical numbers rely too much on corn rather than Country, leaving them proving sometimes unsatisfying.

But bravo to the producers of Shucked for having the cojones to bring this show over from across the pond. It deserves a longer London run.

Runs until 14th June

Photo credit: Pamela Raith

Here You Come Again - Review

Riverside Studios, London

****

By Bruce Vilanch, Gabriel Barre and Tricia Paoluccio

Additional material by Jonathan Harvey

Directed by Gabriel Barre

Steven Webb and Tricia Paoluccio

Hitting the sweetest of sweet spots, Here You Come Again is a juke-box musical that does for Dolly Parton what Mamma Mia did for ABBA. Oozing with sincerity as much as it defies credibility, the show is built around the importance of recognising one’s self-worth, while staying heart-warmingly true to Parton’s glowing public persona.

Set during 2020’s lockdown, Steven Webb plays 40-yo gay Kevin, freshly dumped by his boyfriend and now returned to his parent’s home where for the purposes of social distancing they have isolated him in the attic den that was his bedroom as a teenager. Festooned in Dolly Parton merchandise, the attic is a tribute to the star that Kevin has never stopped adoring for decades.

In the depths of Kevin’s despair and with more than a hint of Mary Poppins, Dolly Parton herself bursts through a poster on his wall singing the title number and lifting the packed Riverside Studios onto a fluffy pink cloud of joy and exhilaration. The show's writing is clever throughout, but with the shrewd addition of Jonathan Harvey to the creative team, dramatic heft is added to the narrative.

Tricia Paoluccio (a co-creator of the show) plays Parton to a tee. Her personification of the queen of country music is nigh-on flawless with a voice that captures Parton’s unique timbre and a tone and cadence that is so spot-on that if you shut your eyes and listen it might just as well be Dolly herself here in Hammersmith.

Parton’s biggest hits (try saying that after a few drinks) are in the show. A wondrously corny storyline introduces Jolene (with superb red-haired accompaniment from Webb), while the interval is sandwiched between Love Is Like A Butterfly and 9 To 5. Islands In The Stream (with the audience all waving the torches on their phones) and I Will Always Love You are two of the second act’s highlights, as a handful of Dolly’s lesser known delights add to the evening’s songlist.

The story line is simple and neat and if the ending may be a tad twee (no spoilers here) at least it ensures the audience leave with the broadest of grins and the warmest of hearts. The finale of a singalong Dolly megamix (currently followed by a Christmas megamix too) is as cheering as a glass of brandy-laden mulled wine.

Above all, this show stands on the strengths of its two leads. Webb has the challenge of convincing us of the sentimentality and integrity of Kevin, which he does magnificently. Paoluccio of course has to become Dolly Parton and both of them produce a top-notch chemistry that is touching and believable. On press night Aidan Cutler and Charlotte Elisabeth Yorke stepped up to deliver a range of minor supporting roles, while the music was perfectly directed by Jordan Li-Smith’s four-piece band who were both on and off stage as the numbers demanded. Paul Wills' set design is simply effective and his glitzy costumes, magnificent. Lizzi Gee's choreography sees the actors perfectly drilled in some outstanding routines.

Here You Come Again will wrap your heart round its little finger. On tour after its month-long Riverside residency, this evening of pure entertainment deserves to end-up in the West End.

Runs until 18th January 2025, then tours

Muted

Ashleigh Gray

Muted, being staged in a concert performance in early February, looks like an interesting and exciting venture, with the gig being timed to mark its album’s launch.  

Penned by the double-hyphened partnership of Tim Prottey-Jones and Tori Allen-Martin from Sarah Henley’s book, Muted re-works the original musical After The Turn, a 2012 production that itself received much acclaim with Mark Shenton dubbing it “the British Rent”. 

Ashleigh Gray and Steven Webb will head the cast for the gig on 4th February and whilst the concert will be directed by up and coming Jamie Jackson, there is an eager anticipation for a fully staged production that is likely to include the creative input of Gary Lloyd. 

The pedigree of both cast and creatives is impressive. Lloyd is the vision behind the 5* transatlantic success Thriller Live, the Michael Jackson tribute show, whilst Gray is an established Elphaba in Wicked and Prottey-Jones was a finalist in ITV’s Superstar and is currently appearing in Kinky Boots. 

There is a Kickstarter appeal in place to help the project along – Head along to the Actors Church in Bedford Street, Thursday Feb 4th,  to hear how Muted has evolved.

Kickstarter details here

As Is - Review

Trafalgar Studios, London

****

Written by William M. Hoffman
Directed by Andrew Keates

David Poynor and Steven Webb

As one sits in the Trafalgar Studios waiting for Andrew Keates’ production of As Is to begin, there is an awareness of a gentle backdrop of conversation that eventually distils into individuals speaking of when they learned of their AIDS diagnosis. Gradually it builds, with statistics about the numbers of people dying or infected beginning to get louder. Perhaps the most uncomfortable soundbites are the (1981) news stories declaiming in loud American voices the menace of the Gay Plague along with vox pop interviews of members of the public saying how “they only have themselves to blame”.

It is two years since Keates brought William M Hoffman’s play to London’s Finborough Theatre and it has grown in impact. The set of the play is sparse but effective as a hospital space / New York loft complete with prerequisite red drainage pipes suspended from the ceiling. Strange multi-coloured light boxes hang on the walls. But perhaps most interesting is the use of the blackboard paint on the three other walls with names written in chalk. The audience is invited to write the names of AIDS victims known to them with the chalk provided.

Essentially As Is is a love story. Rich and Saul are a couple. They have lived and loved together for a long time. Saul is deeply happy and contented. He sees the relationship as having structure and stability. He describes it as being “Something to fall back on when life throws you a curved ball”. But Rich is stagnating. A writer “who can’t”, but who finds a muse in Chet (Giles Cooper) who is all muscle and California Dreaming. Rich (played excellently by Steven Webb) is leaving Saul to live with Chet. The only item from their life together he wants is the Barcelona chair. Then Rich discovers he has AIDS.

Suddenly the whole cast are on stage declaiming how Rich’s diagnosis has affected them. His caterer mother’s company loses contracts, his sister’s new hotshot boyfriend won’t meet the family for fear and embarrassment, whilst his brother has a wife who forbids him to have any contact with Rich for fear of the health of their children. All around is ignorance, panic and a crescendo of voices to deliver the line “What are my chances?”.

Rich is taken back by Saul (David Poynor) whose tenderness and real love of Rich is incredibly moving. Saul is prepared to stand by his man even though he may be gambling his own life. Rich gradually comes to realise the power of true love.

The issue of sex crops up now and then as you would expect. Some of the content is quite explicit but not gratuitous, with both Bevan Celestine and Russell Morton simmering with sexuality in leather and a hilarious scene where Rich and Saul discuss sex and how much they miss it.

Part public health information and part entertainment, As Is never preaches, rather it delivers. This is a laugh-out-loud and cry-out-loud production which explores what it is like to be outside of society, not only as an HIV+ individual, but also as a human being facing his or her own mortality. Amidst hilarious one-liners, we are reminded that none of us know what lies ahead of us. We must not just enjoy life, we must also protect ourselves and our health.

In publicly declaring his own HIV+ diagnosis Keates has made a personal stand that it as inspirational today as Hoffman’s prose was decades ago. The emotional and physical importance of As Is demands that it be seen.

Runs until 1st August 2015
Guest reviewer: Lucy Middleton

Quasimodo

King's Head Theatre, London

****

Based on Victor Hugo's Notre Dame de Paris

Music and words by Lionel Bart

Additional book material by Chris Bond and Robert Chevara

Directed by Robert Chevara

Steven Webb

Written in 1968 and incredibly never before performed, Lionel Bart's Quasimodo scales the epic grandeur of this classic tale, taming it into a show some two hours long that packs in 24 numbers. The story is well known, numerous film versions exist and even Disney released their own much nominated musical animation, with songs by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. What makes Bart's show all the more astonishing is that it was penned some 30 years prior to the Disney movie and whilst some, (not many) of the Englishman's lyrics lack sophistication, his ability to pinpoint those pivotal moments of humanity: hope, despair, jealousy but above all, compassion and love, provides a framework around which this fabulous, even if somewhat rudimentary, show has been constructed.

Steven Webb plays the hunchback. Avoiding corny prosthetics save for a gruesome gimlet contact lens, Webb projects the hideous deformity of the young man with a combination of makeup and craft. His movement is sublime (a nod there to Lee Proud's choreography), even if, occasionally his vocal representation of this deaf young man with learning difficulties is sometimes clichéd. As always Webb is a delight to both watch and listen to. He earns our sympathy and with two numbers in particular, If Only I Were Made of Stone (sung to the cathedral gargoyles, an address that Schwartz and Menken reversed with their shtick routine of A Guy Like You) and later with Introducing You, a song that reminds us of Bart's Consider Yourself from Oliver!, in which Quasimodo delightfully introduces the cathedral bells to Esmeralda, Webb’s energy shines out. Musical director Peter Mitchell makes effective use of keyboards to suggest the different bells, in a delightful moment of music provided a very strong suggestion of location.

It is barely a cigarette paper that separates the lead roles of Quasimodo and Esmeralda. Hugo’s novel was titled in French: Notre Dame de Paris and not as many believe, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Esmeralda (who was in fact Hugo’s main protagonist) and the love and passion that she arouses in what could be a potential ménage a cinq, provides the material for much of the show's story. Making her London debut, Zoe George is the fiery Gypsy girl who inspires the hero’s love, as well as the far more base lusts of Bishop Claude Frollo and Captain of the Guard Phoebus. George gives a passionate portrayal of the sparkling peasant girl, her flowing black hair, bare feet and simple white gypsy skirts completing the characterisation. Whilst her vocals could be perhaps a little more polished, her solitary number Live and Let Live, is a beautiful composition, movingly sung.

In Hugo’s Les Miserables, the bad-guy Thenardiers were comic villains. Here however the French author makes his villain far more dark. Claude Frollo, ostensibly a chaste priest, harbours wicked lustful intentions towards Esmeralda and James Wolstenholme’s performance of this critical supporting character is close to flawless. A casting fault of the producers however is that Wolstenholme is far too young for the role. Frollo needs to be old enough to be the equivalent of a father figure to Quasimodo and this age gap should further underline the repugnancy of his lust for the girl.

Christopher Hone’s set design makes imaginative use of ladders and platforms to suggest the cathedral rooftop whilst Robert Chevara directs his versatile cast of only 8 across numerous roles. The programme, in honest candour, describes the show as a diamond in the rough. Notwithstanding, Quasimodo has a pulse of fresh originality that can all too often be lacking in current musicals. Produced on a tiny budget and in a modest auditorium, this production emphasises the “Theatre” in Musical Theatre, providing a stirring tragic spectacle that should not be missed.

Runs to 13th April 2013

The Thing About Men - Review

Landor Theatre, London

****

June 9 2012

Book and Lyrics: Jo Dipietro

Music : Jimmy Roberts

Director : Andrew Keates 

As Andrew Keates writes in his programme notes, men are hopeless and imperfect. He is probably not wrong. Fortunately his production of The Thing About Men is the antithesis of hopelessness and imperfection. Luckily I caught the last night of the run.

The storyline of this musical confection is both slight, and at the same time intriguing. The wife of a cheating husband strikes up her own extra-marital affair, and the show then follows her husband as he realises the depth of his love for his wife, and the endeavours he makes to win her back. To say more would be to spoil, and whilst at some times the book stretches credibility, the strength of the shows musical numbers and performances make it a delight to watch.

Peter Gerald and Kate Graham play Tom and Lucy Ambrose , whose failing marriage provides the backdrop to the musical. Gerald is superb, portraying the greying advertising executive with perception. Onstage for most of the show, his is a most demanding role, including a gym workout session that is exhausting to watch, let alone perform! His vocal delivery has an authentic lilt of the eastern seaboard, and his singing is strong.  As Lucy, Graham has perhaps a more difficult task. In a show that is at times very funny, her character is played for comparatively few laughs, and amongst a stage of comedians, she sensitively evokes both her having been betrayed and her hesitance before yielding to the passionate desire she feels towards her lover, Sebastian.

As Sebastian, John Addison powerfully portrays an attractive man, who in athleticism and vigour, is everything Tom is not.   If I have one minor criticism of the production, it is that the story suggests that Sebastian is of a similar age to Tom , whereas Addison’s character is considerably younger than Gerald’s hapless cuckold.  Addison delivers energy to his numbers, and whilst his character is in many ways but a foil to Tom’s journey, he is nonetheless a joy to watch and to listen to.

The libretto demands two further cast members – Man and Woman – who between them play an incredible 26 roles.  Steven Webb and Lucyelle Cliffe, represent the best of young musical theatrical talent. Their characters frequently set the tone or background to a scene – far easier on this shows modest budget to arrange a costume change ( one of many, performed with eye-watering speed throughout ) rather than build a complex or laborious set – and their comic voicework combined with excellent singing, impeccable timing, grotesquely stereotyped characters, and physical agility is hilariously delivered. Steven Webb memorably contorts his body to suggest a waiter first descending then climbing, a set of stairs ( where the Landor’s floor remains flat and solid throughout )

And as is so often the way at this delightful little theatre, the production values that Keates espouses ring true throughout the performance.  The scenery is simply and cleverly evoked by Martin Thomas. Howard Hudson’s lighting similarly gives an added dimension to the simple confines of the venue. Joanna Cichonska cleverly directs the three piece band, to provide an accompaniment of perfect pitch . Even the programme makes for an excellent read!

To return to the programme notes, Keates suggests that The Thing About Men seeks to understand the way men work. In part he is not wrong. The show is a delightful study of one man's weaknesses, and how, amongst much hilarity, he actually finds a path to some ( OK , cheesy) redemption. Should this production return to Clapham or elsewhere, don’t miss it.

Twitter @jaybeegee63

A Spotlight on Stevie Webb - Review

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

January 26 2012

By popular demand Steven Webb, accompanied by some wonderfully talented friends, returned to the Landor Theatre to perform his “A Spotlight On..” evening , first aired ten days earlier. The intimate venue was packed with Webb’s friends and colleagues lending a genuinely relaxed air to an evening of songs that were as emotionally charged as they were beautifully performed.

Webb opened his set with “How Do You Know ‘Til You Try Me (Which You Haven’t and You Should)?” from Betwixt. Punchily delivered , and with able accompaniment from Steve Edis, it set the tone. Throughout the evening the singer possibly spent as much time re-telling anecdotes and stories as singing, but in the company of so many of Steven’s friends, the stories took on a mixture of warmth, tenderness, as well as at times outright blokey banter. At 28, the fact that he has already been performing professionally for 20 years is a remarkable achievement and Webb spoke appreciatively of the sacrifices his Wirral-based parents made to support him as a precocious 8 year old, making his West End debut as Oliver.

Steven selected not only songs from shows that he had performed in , but also songs that he enjoyed. With the talented Sarah Lark, he performed “Music of the Night” taking the familiar classic and re-working it to a beautifully harmonised duet. Later in the show, again with Miss Lark, with a nod to Betwixt he delivered a tribute to Ellen Greene with “Suddenly, Seymour” cheekily re-worded to “Suddenly Stevie”.

There is a symbiotic relationship between writers and singers at the moment ( was it ever thus?) with the young talent of the country writing and performing on each other’s albums with almost incestuous frequency. Nonetheless, it is a tribute to Webb that not only Chris Passey, Webb’s excellent MD, but also Dougal Irvine were there to perform at each of the Landor nights, with Irvine even joking of Webb’s apparent “residency” at the theatre. Both of these writers have included the singer in the launch events for their recent albums, and these performances were reprised. From Irvine’s album Acoustic Overtures, Webb sung the piercingly perceptive “Simple”, and from Passey’s Self Taught, Still Learning, he delivered the powerful number “Room for Me” . Both songs allowed Webb to immerse himself in their performance, giving each number a raw and human emotion. Irvine’s Departure Lounge had provided Webb with his return to musical theatre two years ago, and the close vocal harmony of the writer, also on guitar, dueting with Webb in “Do You Know What I Think Of You” was exquisite, Webb catching the bitter frustrations of a soured friendship with painful poignancy.

Elsewhere in the evening, Webb included a heartfelt tribute to Etta James, with “At Last”, and a song, written for him by Passey, and touchingly dedicated to his mother “From Your Loving Arms”
The show closed with an absolute treat. A song rarely if ever heard live, the bonus track from the Departure Lounge album “We Rule The World” , that had been dropped from the London production of the show. In a powerful and perfect 4 part harmony, Webb, Lark, Irvine and Passey united on stage to again move the audience with the perceptive intensity of a superbly crafted song, stunningly performed.

When Webb spoke of friendship, to an audience that included many of his friends, he spoke with honesty and openness – both of which virtues are manifest in all his performances, and evidence of why, at his young age, he is already such a gifted and accomplished performer. He remains a talent to follow and enjoy.

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.