Willemijn Verkaik In Concert - Review

****

The Dutch singing sensation Willemijn Verkaik In Concert at The Ambassadors Theatre was always going to be highly anticipated. Having sung the role of Wicked’s Elphaba in three different languages (an un-precedented feat) and recorded the voice of Elsa in Disney's Frozen in Dutch and German, a one off London concert to let the audience know a bit more about the lady behind the voice was long overdue. 

Joined on stage by musical director and pianist Tom Deering as part of a quartet of musicians, before the show started it did seem questionable if a theatre venue rather than a more intimate concert one would have been more appropriate. This doubt was quashed by the presence of Verkaik entering the stage and beginning her programme with A Piece of Sky from Yentl and something was quite evident, this is a lady that loves to sing. Not just that, but Verkaik offers no pretentiousness. Just the opposite. An endearing humility that is a pleasure to witness – an honesty very evident during her story of auditioning for the role of Aida in her early career and the layers of make-up and tissue paper she put down her bra to look fuller figured, witty and relatable to all the female performers in the audience!

The first act in particular contained some real crowd pleasers in terms of song choices that displayed Verkaik’s higher register impeccably such as You’ll Be In My Heart from Tarzan (in which she currently stars in Stuttgart) and Frozen’s Let It Go which she sang bilingually. Revelatory were middle voice songs that had more contrast in terms of vocal colour such as Adele’s Turning Tables and The Winner Takes it all, the later sung to acoustic guitar so tenderly.

The guest performers of Victoria Hamilton Barritt and James Fox gave strong vocals, in particular during the trio of Aida’s A Step Too Far. 

With a vocal stamina arguably unrivalled in musical theatre, Willemijn Verkaik In Concert cemented this status. Her delight in both singing and in she has achieved, is certainly refreshing. Perhaps a musical programme with more comedic interaction with her guest performers could have just been the icing on this very classy cake, but overall the night was certainly a triumph for Willemijn Verkaik.

Guest reviewer: Francesca Mepham

Cynthia Erivo - Hear My Soul - Review

Kings Place, London

****

There are few Leading Ladies that have accomplished so much, so young, as Cynthia Erivo. Having starred in a sell out run of The Color Purple and provided the vocal excellence to the most inappropriately named show of 2014, I Can't Sing! (she really Can Sing!) and led a recent national tour of Sister Act, it was only going to be a matter of time before she headlined her own gig. The lofty yet surprisingly intimate Kings Place, tucked behind the back of Kings Cross was packed to hear this most youthful of divas perform Hear My Soul, a collection of songs that she had either written or been inspired by.

There was an attention to detail surrounding the concert that is the hallmark of Erivo's approach to her craft, from her carefully worded programme notes, to the five piece band she'd assembled under Tom Deering's skilled direction. Apart from her encore (of which, more later) Erivo avoided the songs from her big career shows to date, opening the show with Signal, one of several of her own compositions that were to feature amongst her set list. Smoothly segueing into a charming cover of All of Me, the honey-voiced chanteuse sang the John Legend hit with her boyfriend Dean John Wilson in a duet that was as touchingly delivered as it was perfectly pitched.

Labrinth's Jealous saw Erivo purr like the engine of a Rolls. Her rarely heard (and incredible) lower range giving the song the velvety texture it deserved. Another self-written number, Fly Before You Fall which also serves as the title track to the movie Beyond The Lights, proved to be the most beautifully crafted of her compositions and gave the most poignant depth to the evening’s first half, though the highspot of the pre-interval set was unquestionably the spine tingling fidelity that Erivo beautifully laid upon Dreamgirls' One Night Only.

Having opened the evening in a gorgeously tailored trouser outfit, Erivo returned for act two in a subtle yet sensationally fitted red gown. Commencing the second with Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance With Somebody gave the evening's only blip, with Erivo surprisingly rooted to her microphone stand, as her line-up briefly resembled a wedding-reception covers band. The song demands movement (the secret's in the title) and a big Whitney dance number needed big dance and Erivo needed (and to be fair deserved) some better direction from her producer.

No matter, for next up and staying with Whitney's family, was a sensational take on Aretha Franklin's Ain't No Way. The crowd went wild for the diminutive songstress and as Erivo moved up through the gears, her home straight was a succession of classic songs smashed right out of the park. Arlen and Harburg's Over The Rainbow, a song that can easily be mauled in clumsy hands, was given the most perfectly fragile confection of excellence, whilst Somewhere from West Side Story offered Erivo a rare moment of self-indulgence, telling her audience that this was to be the first time she had ever sung the song live and then, only because she loved it and would quite possibly never be cast to perform it.

Somewhere was, of course, flawless before Erivo returned to Dreamgirls for a knockout And I Am Telling You. Overcome by the power of the song and the audience reaction that she was inspiring, the singer had to pause before delivering the song's monumental final bars. Erivo suggests the power and majesty of a youthful Diana Ross. It really is quite simple - Dreamgirls has to come to the West End and when it does, Cynthia Erivo's Effie needs to top the bill.

The cheering, standing ovation led into an encore that could only have been a sensational delivery of I'm Here from The Color Purple, a show that barely two years ago had imprinted Erivo's name onto the capital's theatre-going psyche (and if there was any justice, so should have deserved its own cast recording too!)

As she re-lived that most passionate and beautiful of songs, spines tingled again. Igniting musical theatre Cynthia Erivo is one of her generation's greats and truly is the brightest of rising stars.

You can see Cynthia Erivo performing, live with Scott Alan, at London's St James Studio from 4th - 6th May 2015

The Color Purple

Menier Chocolate Factory, London

*****

Book by Marsha Norman

Music & lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray

Directed by John Doyle

Cynthia Erivo

Catching up with this show just before its run ends is to witness musical theatre at its very best. A cast of 17 with a bare stage, some chairs and the simplest of costumed props, depict America's Deep South and occasionally Africa in the early twentieth century. The tale is of the grim life of Celie, whose illegitimate children are taken from her in her youth, who is then "married" to the most brutal of men, yet who goes on to find the most unlikely of redeemers in a scarlet woman who has few morals but a heart of gold. The story tracks Celie's difficult life yet ends with hope and inspiration. 

John Doyle has cleverly envisioned the work. Slavery is long abolished, but civil rights remain a dream. When Celie reveals that her father was lynched, the disclosure is so casual as to underline the ingrained racism of the South. With an entirely black cast, the story tells of the cruelty and contempt that lived within the African-American community, itself born out of a culture of contempt and slavery. Yet it is the humour and compassion that shines out from within these people that makes the show sparkle. Rarely has the term "bittersweet" been so apt.

Cynthia Erivo is the diminutive Celie. Her character grows throughout, from an abused pregnant child in the opening scene, to a wise and elderly mother by the end. Erivo's look is plain and hers is to play the cruelly labelled uglier of two sisters. Yet whilst her abusive husband Mister, a first class performance of bullying calculated menace, yet also vulnerability, from Christopher Colquhoun condemns her for her ugliness and servility, Erivo shines throughout with a vocal and physical beauty that is rare to witness. Her solo I'm Here saw the audience rise as one to salute her midway through the second act. Whilst the production's success is of course due to the company as a whole, Erivo has proved to be its dazzling star. Nearly 30 years ago Steven Spielberg's Color Purple movie blasted Whoopi Goldberg's career from modest actress to global celebrity. In a more modest manner, so is history repeating itself. Whilst Erivo was little known outside of the profession before The Color Purple, it has recently been announced that she is to take a leading role at London’s Palladium Theatre next year.

Sophia Nomvete is a delightful Sofia. Feisty funny and furious early on, she breaks our hearts as the victim of a savage racist beating and as Nettie, Celie's sister whose being wrenched apart from her sibling causes such anguish, Abiona Omonua gives a performance of carefully crafted fragile hope. It is left to Nicola Hughes’ Shug Avery, Mister's mistress, who on visiting Celie's miserable home, reaches out to free her from her husband's abuse and set her on an inspirational path to liberty. Hughes' stage pedigree is impeccable and whilst Celie is the show's leading character, her interaction with Avery is an astonishing double act. Their duet What About Love? is as perfect a harmony as is to be found.

Tom Deering's musical direction alongside Catherine Jayes' supervision provides a soulful Southern sound, peppered with the Blues and with an intoxicating African interlude, all rhythm and drums for good measure. Matthew Wright's costume work sets scenes perfectly whilst Linda McKnight's wig design adds a slick authenticity to the actresses.

No need to recommend, it's sold out. But this work demands more. If the gods of the theatre can grant this show a West End transfer, it would be no less than what both London and this glorious production deserve. 

Runs to 14th September

West Side Story

Victoria Warehouse, Manchester

*****

Book: Arthur Laurents

Music: Leonard Bernstein

Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim

Director: Nikolai Foster

Amara Okereke and Jon Tarcy meet in the Dance At The Gym

Shows don’t come much bigger than West Side Story's translation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet into the streets and alleys of New York. With a stunning interpretation, the National Youth Music Theatre’s (NYMT) stage the show in Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse, itself a glorious reclamation of what was only recently, urban deprivation and where once stood thriving docks. Takis' set design, all steel container units evokes the poverty of the story's rival street gangs, whilst the containers’ stacking amidst iron staircases and ladders suggest the staircases that cling to tenement buildings and so define Manhattan.

Nikolai Foster, Drew McOnie and Tom Deering are an established triumvirate of excellence as director, choreographer and musical director respectively. These men combined are greater than the sum of their parts and the magic that they have worked with NYMT’s young company is at times jaw-dropping and frequently spine tingling. Deering (taking time out from MD’ing The Colour Purple) has coaxed the most exquisite sound from his 30 strong youth orchestra. The sound bounces off the steelwork in a way that must have Bernstein smiling approvingly from above and whilst all the musicians are first-rate, the brass section is a special delight whilst Deering’s percussionists make the second act’s Cool, sizzle!

The show’s Prologue which sees the stage filled with balletic thugs whose street fight is a vision of grace and technical brilliance is swiftly followed by the Dance At The Gym, one of musical theatres most celebrated dance scenes. McOnie does not disappoint and with cleverly choreographed routines and clever use of colour, the tension of the dance, the rivalry of the gangs and the spark of love between Tony and Maria is cleverly captured. These two numbers set a standard of dance that is sustained throughout.

Sienna Kelly (3rd l) leads the Sharks Girls

Foster is famed for an ability to focus on depth and nuance. He is helped in that the perfectly voiced Amara Okereke’s Maria is a remarkable turn from an actress who is just 16, whilst Jon Tarcy’s Tony grows into a performance of depth and sensitivity. Sienna Kelly’s Anita is a definitive performance of that hot blooded Latina, whilst Rebecca Ridout’s solo performance of Somewhere brings a rarely heard anthem-like beauty to this classic number.

The show has always offered some sharp moments of comedy. Gee, Officer Krupke in particular is a song that provides a welcome chuckle amidst the show’s slowly rising body count. In a recent tweet, Foster himself observed that the song must rank amongst the greatest in the canon, being so subversive, political and sardonic. A young Sondheim set himself a tough bar with this song’s lyrics and the troupe of NYMT young men who sing it in Manchester come as near as damn it to having an encore demanded of them, such is the excellence of their merciless caricatures.

Ben Cracknell's use of smoke and countless clever spotlight plots gives a lighting texture to the performance space that at all times enhances the action. Credit too to the sound team who do a fine job, ensuring that voices are heard over a huge and challenging orchestral sound.

Isaac Gryn (Jet, Baby John) is attacked by the Sharks 

West Side Story is further proof of how the NYMT, under Jeremy Walker’s leadership and vision, maintains its reputation for excellence. The company’s tackling of major and innovative works of musical theatre under the creative supervision of some of the industry’s leading practitioners, is nothing short of inspirational for those young people fortunate enough to be its members and continues to lay down a sound foundation for this country’s musical theatre future.

Runs until August 24th

Kiss Of The Spider Woman

Arts Educational School, London

*****

Book by Terrence McNally, based on the novel of the same name by Manuel Puig

Music by John Kander

Lyrics by Fred Ebb

Genesis Lynae and company members

Kander and Ebb’s Kiss Of The Spider Woman is a show rarely seen in London. A troubling piece, exploring life within a repressive prison environment of a nondescript South American country and focussing upon the two inmates of one cell. Molina, a homosexual, is imprisoned on a trumped up charge of a sexual offence, whilst Valentin, a committed Marxist, is incarcerated and tortured for his beliefs. The show’s action is set almost entirely in the confines of the prison and in the vividly imagined fantasies of movie-obsessed Molina’s mind and from there stems the power of Puig’s novel, cleverly captured in Terrence McNally’s book.

The  Arts Educational School BA Musical Theatre 3rd Year students are a talented troupe and one could have been forgiven for mistaking this company for professionally experienced alumni rather than undergraduates, such was the talent on display. This review, perhaps invidiously, will comment on but a handful of characters. However, whilst these players may have had key roles, the overall performance of the entire company was astounding. There was not a weak link amongst them and all the actors must shoulder equally the praise that this production has garnered.

The intriguingly named Genesis Lynea headed the cast,  both as Aurora, a film starlet type character of Molina’s fantasies and also as the Spider Woman. Veiled and impeccably made up with jet black lipstick and implausibly long eyelashes Lynea bore a stage presence rarely if at all seen in one so early on in their career. The actress’ poise, presence, movement and above all, her voice was astounding. Shaven headed, costumed throughout in splendid gowns that at times could plunge to display her provocative decolletage, a suggestion of the siren-like fatality of her kiss, Lynea is without question an actress to look out for.

Greg Miller Burns as Molina displayed a combination of strength and fragility. Two of his solo numbers in particular She’s A Woman and Mama, It’s Me showed vocal precision that matched his movement whilst his acting skill gave a credible portrayal of his growing love for his cellmate. Valentin realised by Danny-Boy Hatchard was another display of gritty acting, convincingly evoking a  man at times starved, at times beaten and ultimately in love. Vocally, Hatchard has perhaps a little more to offer than was heard in this show, however his leading of the ensemble in The Day After That was a powerful and moving anthem. Olive Robinson and Shane McDaid were effective supporting players, as Molina’s Mother and Prison Warder respectively, providing sufficient depth in each of their portrayals to add colour to a very starkly portrayed world.

Nikolai Foster’s direction and interpretation of the show has been a blessing to these fortunate students. With minimal props and no scenery save for minimal use of projection and a combination of smoke and well plotted lighting, the power of this production came solely from human endeavour and excellence. The fantasy scenes, in which a dozen actors could, from nowhere, gallop through the shared cell were inspired creations whilst the oft repeated refrain of the prisoners, Over The Wall, was in each of its four reprises, menacingly played out.

Kander’s music is of course denuded without choreography and Drew McOnie’s vision that drew upon the tango amongst other Latin styles, together with some nods in the direction of Bob Fosse, was nothing if not provocative. The big numbers of the Morphine Tango, Let’s Make Love and Only In The Movies, exploited both the talent and the size of the cast and were as drilled and rehearsed as they were imaginative whilst Tom Deering’s musical direction produced a large and compelling South American sound from a band of barely three. The creative trinity of Foster, McOnie and Deering is a symbiotic powerhouse that clearly generates outstanding musical theatre.

This production deserves more than its brief academic-length run of ten days. If the gods of theatre can bestow this show for a month or so, at somewhere like the Riverside perhaps, London will be the richer for it.