Dinosaur World Live - Review

Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, London

***

Written and co-directed by Derek Bond

Co-directed by Laura Cubitt

London has always been a paradise for little dinosaur lovers, its museums filled with exciting skeletal exhibits of these mysterious, extinct beasts. The 50-minute-long, award-winning Dinosaur World Live, currently running at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre offers a more immersive and exciting experience, as giant and highly realistic dinosaur puppets thump onto the stage. The gasps of pure excitement from the youngest members of the crowd were unmistakable.

On stage, we first meet Miranda (Lizzie Burder), a goofy and adorable explorer whose parents discovered a dinosaur island near Argentina. While the plot is rather simple, and perhaps could have been written in a more rounded and memorable way, it also allows the main focus to remain on the beautiful, fully puppeteer-operated dinosaurs, including a Triceratops, Giraffatitan, Microraptor, Segnosaurus and even a giant flesh-eating Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The exceptional puppets are the creation of Max Humphries. His detailed designs — including less commonly depicted dinosaurs with bushy feathers — along with some of Miranda’s science-based insights, gently enrich children’s knowledge about these prehistoric creatures without turning the experience into a dry museum lecture.

As the show is recommended for children aged three and above (and probably won’t be as interesting to those already entering their teenage years), directors Derek Bond and Laura Cubitt introduce the dinosaurs on a gradual and thoughtful scare scale. So by the time the full-sized, terrifying T-Rex siezes the stage, empowered by intense lighting, the children feel brave enough to enjoy the adrenaline rush as they shoo the beast away.

The show is highly interactive, with Miranda inviting little helpers from the audience to assist her with fun tasks involving various dinosaurs. My four-year-old, like many other children, perhaps felt a little disappointed at not being chosen and not getting to see the dinosaurs up close, but the production tries to make up for this with a brief — perhaps too brief — meet-and-greet session at the end of the show, when row after row is invited close to the stage to see a baby T-Rex named Tamora, who mainly ‘sniffs’ around the stage.

After the show, those who have paid for the VIP package can meet Miranda and the cutest dinosaur in the production, the baby Triceratops Beatrice, operated by a puppeteer. This includes a longer, more direct interaction with Miranda, during which children can pet baby Beatrice and take photos with her — an experience my little one thoroughly enjoyed. However, as the show is relatively short and supposedly interactive, it seems that at least the somewhat underwhelming meet-and-greet session could be longer, more accessible and more interactive, away from an “extra” VIP package.

That being said, my 4-year old had a fun time! 

Runs until 6 September, then on tour

Reviewed by Florit Shoihet

Photo credit: Piers Allardyce

Songs of Survival and Hope - Review

 Kibbutz Nir Oz, Israel

*****

(This review was first published in Times of Israel)

 

 

Sagui Dekel-Chen

                                          

On a warm August night before an audience of thousands at Kibbutz Nir Oz, a place that sits almost adjacent to Israel’s border with Gaza, Sagui Dekel-Chen hosted Songs of Survival and Hope. A concert that once seemed barely imaginable created an evening that saw the Negev dance.

Born and raised on Nir Oz, Sagui was 35 when he was kidnapped into Gaza on October 7th 2023. Taken amidst scenes of murderous carnage, that saw nearly all of his fellow members of the kibbutz’s defence team killed by Hamas terrorists and which left him with bullet wounds in his shoulder and leg, Sagui was to spend 498 days in captivity before his release on February 12th last year.

It was while he was held hostage that Sagui began to compose songs. These were to help him hold onto his mind while locked away in Gaza’s terror tunnels, and it was amidst the beautiful bright lights of this concert, that Sagui both told his story, and paid tribute to his most dearly loved ones.

The concert comprised some nine songs composed by Sagui, together with guest appearances from some of Israel’s leading music performers. Throughout, Sagui made it clear that his songs had not been written as words of “goodbye”, but rather as words written by a man who always knew and believed that he would one day be going home.

Simply dressed in black t-shirt and jeans Sagui opened the gig apologising for the fact that he was not a singer. He did himself a disservice. The evening was the definition of hallmarked excellence, for not only was Sagui’s singing a delight, but throughout the affair, from the staging, to the light show, to the drones and cameramen and not least the 11-piece band, the whole concert dripped with professionalism and talent. Sagui may not have been a singer when he emerged from the tunnels – but boy does he have a gorgeous voice now!

Understandably, the evening’s melodies danced with all of our emotions. My Corner had been written by Sagui in the dark depths of his captivity and spoke of how he had occasionally, and very rarely, caught sight of himself in a mirror during those months. Skeletal, broken, unkempt and unshaved the song painfully described his torment. It is worth noting that the Sagui that appeared on stage at Nir Oz is truly, physically at least, a man who has undergone remarkable healing and who looked fabulous!

Sagui Dekel-Chen and his wife Mili

More than just a beloved son of the kibbutz, Sagui is a husband to Mili and the father of three young girls, Bari, Gali and the youngest Sachar Mazal with whom Mili was pregnant when Sagui was captured. As the evening unfolded, we were offered a glimpse of the pain that Sagui suffered when, having seen so much slaughter on October 7th, he had resigned himself to his supposed tragic inevitable reality that Mili and the girls were dead.

When news eventually reached him that his release was imminent, Sagui told of how he started to prepare himself for attending their funerals – and when he heard at that time, over a terrorist’s radio, a snatch of Fields Of Gold by Sting, he resolved that that would be the music to be played at the funerals. As that song was played during the concert it was hard to stop the tears, recognising the sheer immensity of the physical and emotional trauma that Sagui had endured.

Miraculously, Mili and the girls all survived the horrors of October 7th, and that all five were re-united shortly after Sagui’s release, was another of the evening’s powerfully poignant themes. The evening’s painful ironies were spotlighted again when Sagui asked everyone in the audience who had held Sachar Mazal, before he had been able to, to raise their hands. Sagui had composed individual songs for each of his family, that spoke of speaking of their strengths and their sweetness. In listening to both himself and Mili speak of their daughters, the love that clearly exists within the Dekel-Chen family is beautiful and tangible.

The line-up of supporting artists was impressive with performers including Idan Raichel and Hatikva 6 joining Sagui on stage. Perhaps the most uplifting guest performance came from Marina Maximilian Blumin’s (almost) closing number, Back Again, a song that defined the spirit of Sagui, his family and the whole of Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Two weeks ago in London and in the face of a tsunami of hate, Boy George defiantly sung that We Will Dance Again. This week, at Kibbutz Nir Oz and inspired by Sagui Dekel-Chen, we danced!

Sagui Dekel-Chen and Marina Maximilian Blumin

Sagui's album can be downloaded here 

Credit for all images: Orit Pnini

CATS - Review

Open Air Theatre, London

*****

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber 

Based on 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats' by T. S. Eliot

Directed and choreographed by Drew McOnie

Gary Wilmot

A star was born at CATS this week. With the show’s leading lady unable to perform, understudy Taziva-Faye Katsande faced the assembled press for the show’s opening night. Katsande didn’t put a foot (paw?) wrong from the getgo, with her Grizabella proving to be nothing short of sensational. As her voice rose to belt the immortal "Touch me!" from Memory, the audience broke into spontaneous applause before the song had even finished, then rising as one to give a spectacularly deserved show-stopping standing ovation at the song’s conclusion.

CATS has always been a beautiful show - but played under the moonlight of the Open Air Theatre allowed Sami Fendall’s simple set design to take on an ethereal beauty. Where John Napier once designed an impressive garbage dump for his cats to play on, Fendall offers us a more astral vision,  lunar-themed with incomplete circles and rocks, around which the felines gather and dance. Drew McOnie’s reimagined choreography proves not only respectful to Gillian Lynne’s brilliant original, but importantly allows the magic of Eliot’s verse and Lloyd Webber’s music to be shared through the medium of his company's exquisite dancework.

A show that hailed from an era of brave and innovative writing - who today would have the cojones or the talent to set a book of vintage poems to music? - this production has been (mostly) immaculately cast. 

Charlotte Riby kicks off the featured roles with an enchanting Gumbie Cat before Jaydon Vijn oozes testosterone as a gloriously provocative Rum Tum Tugger. There is a hint of déjà vu from producers Lloyd Webber Harrison, with the gender swapping of Old Deuteronomy who’s now played by Melanie La Barrie. A similar switch was made in LWH's recent Starlight Express, where Jade Marvin was cast to play Momma, replacing the originally created Poppa. To be clear, La Barrie is great but she lacks gravitas. The role did not need tinkering with.

The show’s first act may well be gorgeous but after the interval McOnie elevates the whole production to a Heaviside Layer of sheer genius. Gary Wilmot makes his entrance as Gus the theatre cat (and of course as Growltiger) bringing a carefully crafted fusion of frailty, pathos and swashbuckling humour to the role. Wilmot is a rare talent and an inspired casting choice. Skimbleshanks the railway cat is kept immaculately on track by Matthew Caputo, while Macavity, the mystery cat, is impressively performed (accompanied by some stunning pyro effects) by Diante Lodge. Jet Yau takes Mr. Mistoffelees to the next level with a jaw-dropping breakdance routine, and a mention too to Elliot Broadfoot whose Bustopher Jones kicks off the evening’s comic moments. In an understated role that denies him a song of his own, Jack Wilcox’s Munkustrap was key to the show’s fluidity, deftly supporting a number of key routines.

Alex Parker wielded the baton over his lavishly furnished 12-piece band, making fine work of Lord Lloyd Webbers synth-heavy score. This show’s choreography may well be strikingly for the moment, but CATS’s score truly is now and forever ! 

CATS at the Open Air Theatre is a personal best for McOnie. This show ranks alongside Trevor Nunn and John Caird's Les Miserables from 1985 and Richard Eyre's Guys And Dolls from some three years ealier for sheer groundbreaking originality. Setting his sights high, McOnie smashes his target, in a production that drips with carefully rehearsed and immaculately drilled vision.

Drew McOnie has taken CATS, one of modern musical theatre’s finest gems and re-worked it into a completely new piece of exceptional theatre. Touring from the autumn, don’t miss it!

Runs until 19th September, then on tour

Photo credit: Mark Senior

I'm Every Woman The Chaka Kahn Musical - Review

Troubadour Theatre, London

**

Written by Nia T. Hill

Directed by Racky Plews

Alexandra Burke

Chaka Kahn (and a number of her contemporaries) amassed a remarkable body of hits in their careers. Beautiful songs with strong messages and in I’m Every Woman at Wembley’s Troubadour Theatre, Alexandra Burke as Kahn smashes a fair few of them out of the park.

But 30 banging songs do not a musical make, and in between Burke’s sensational singing (and equally Sophie Earl’s fabulously fleeting stint as Joni Mitchell) the narrative that links the numbers is brief, shallow and clichéd.

Sandwiched between two glib family therapy sessions, the show delivers a whirl of brief vignettes, poorly linked, outlining Kahn’s career achievements that were peppered by battles with addiction and domestic violence. If only these darknesses had been treated with more artistic sobriety, the messages may have carried more credible impact. Notwithstanding Chaka Kahn’s real-life endorsement of the show, it all just seems at times too crass.

Give Alexandra Burke an unadulterated setlist of Chaka Kahn’s greatest hits supported by Aron Sood's excellent band from Wembley and it could well make for an evening of musical brilliance. As it is, I’m Every Woman needs an awful lot of work.

Runs until 27th September

Photo credit: Danny Kaan

Fame The Musical - Review

Theatre Royal, Plymouth

****

Music by Steve Margoshes

Lyrics by Jacques Levy

Book by Jose Fernandez

Title song 'Fame' written by Dean Pitchford & Michael Gore

Shoko Ito

Some 30 years after its European premiere in Plymouth, Fame The Musical returns to the Theatre Royal, giving “P.A.”, The New York Academy For The Performing Arts a 21st century interpretation, this time helmed and choreographed by Tom Jackson-Greaves.

Soutra Gilmour designs an ingenious set that perches on Plymouth’s revolve, taking us in and out of the dilapidated arts school located in midtown Manhattan, a blend of decades-old pipework, graffiti and suspended lightbulbs that all create an ingeniously effective, grimy backdrop to the narrative.

Jackson-Greaves’s roots hail from an impressive dance history and his take on Fame’s big numbers is impressive. Opening with Pray and then Hard Work, the staging and structure of the routines is breathtaking, with close harmony work that is gorgeous. Shanay Holmes leads the teaching staff as the highly-principled Miss Sherman. Well cast, Holmes is beautifully restrained throughout, not least in act two’s These Are My Children. It’s a neat touch that sees her given the opportunity to lead a belting singalong reprise of the title song as the cast take their bows.

There are standout gems amongst the cast, not least Megan Ellis as Serena who is exquisite in her singing as Let’s Play A Love Scene and Talia Palamathanan as the tragic Carmen Diaz who has to explore the full range of emotions across both acts, ranging from an outstanding Fame in the first half, to the bleakness of In L.A. after the interval. Harrison Wilde’s comic highlight of Can’t Keep It Down is another of the show’s treats. As Iris Kelly, Shoko Ito's dance moves are phenomenal.

Inspired by Alan Parker’s 1980 movie, Fame is a gritty tale of hope and endeavour, spiked by moments of tragedy. It is a tough script that requires a broad depth of performance from its cast, particularly in the dialogue scenes. Away from the moments of song and dance, the show’s pace drops and one feels that Jackson-Greaves lacks that director’s killer instinct, needed to extract the show’s full dramatic potential from his company. 

But it’s the songs that power this show, not least the final full company numbers of an exhilarating I Sing The Body Electric leading into the bittersweet anthem of Bring On Tomorrow, both songs delivering powerful punches with the latter proving gorgeously poignant.

Only on for a short run, Fame The Musical has the potential to travel far beyond Plymouth. Bring on tomorrow for this beautiful show.

Runs until 15th August

Photo credit: Johan Persson

The Car Man - Review

Sadler's Wells, London

*****

Music by Terry Davies and Rodion Shchedrin's Carmen Suite (after Bizet's Carmen)

Directed and choregraphed by Matthew Bourne

The company of The Car Man

Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man is more than just a ballet. This modern classic that was first performed some 20 years ago is a homage to both cinema and opera delivered through the sublime fusion of dance.

Inspired by Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen, Bourne translates the tale of simmering lust, jealousy, revenge and murder from 19th century Spain to America’s 1950s Midwest and the small town of Harmony. Where Bizet’s opera was set in and around a tobacco factory in Seville, Bourne’s action focusses on Dino’s car repair shop and diner that sits at the heart of the town’s Hispanic community. Lana is Dino’s smoulderingly beautiful and profoundly frustrated wife, and when  handsome drifter Luca arrives in town looking for work, Lana finds him irresistible. Throw in the subplot of a romance between locals Angelo and Rita and with Bourne adding a strand of bisexuality to the plot, the components are all in place for a story that proves as tragic as it is grippingly exciting throughout.

Bourne’s New Adventures company alternate the principal roles throughout the run and on the evening of this review, the characters were danced thus:

LUCA - Will Bozier

LANA - Ashley Shaw

ANGELO - Harry Ondrak-Wright

RITA – Anna-Maria De Freitas

DINO - Danny Reubens

The evening’s music is drawn from the Carmen Suite, Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin's Bolshoi Ballet version of Bizet's original, with additional music by composer Terry Davies and of course, the melodies work beautifully. For opera buffs, the score respects Bizet’s brilliant original, while for those in the audience whose knowledge may be more confined to Now That’s What I Call Opera highlights, all the classic tunes are there. The Habanera plays as a recurring motif throughout the evening, while to have the car mechanics taking a steamy shower after a hard day’s labour, to the Prelude from Carmen, is a moment of rare, comically choreographed genius. 

As is to be expected, the acting and dance are beyond flawless. Rage, passion and desire are all palpably conveyed through the dancers’ faces and bodies, with the story's twists and turns all proving incredibly easy to follow.

Lez Brotherston (who else?) has designed the set with a staging that incorporates nods to film as well as Americana, with the town’s jailhouse and nightclub, as well as the workshop (complete with the arcing flickers of welders’ torches) all woven seamlessly into the tale.  

That Bourne’s choreography includes a car race between two rival gangs of young men (think of Grease and you’re getting close) only emphasises the creative mastery of this, our finest choreographer.

At Sadler’s Wells for the rest of August and then on tour. UNMISSABLE!

Runs until 29th August, then on tour.

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Now You See Me Live - Review

London Coliseum, London

****

Creative Director - Ash Jacks McCready

Illusion Director - Enzo Weyne

Enzo Weyne

Inspired by the Lionsgate blockbuster franchise and mounted by the producers of The Illusionists, the London premiere of Now You See Me Live trades in some of the smaller scale intimate style magic for high-tech illusion, solo stunts and set pieces built for altitude. The films rested on a beguiling premise: that the finest deception is performed at scale, in plain sight, daring you to catch it. Onstage there is no cutaway and nowhere to hide — and the show takes that dare gladly. It arrives having already conquered the Sydney Opera House, with Las Vegas waiting its turn in October.

The foursome united as The Horseman go by Enzo Weyne, Andrew Basso, Gabriella Lester and Matthew Pomeroy, with guest turns from Eden Choi, Fraser Penman and recent BGT finalist Rafferty Coope  — a billing that reaches across the generations. Basso has toured escapology for twenty years and Weyne has built over a thousand shows in 40 countries, while Lester, at 22, already headlines the Magic Castle. Rafferty Coope, a Golden Buzzer and a fifth place on Britain’s Got Talent behind him, is barely out of his teens.  Yet nobody here is a filler: the stage is set, and while at times the pace can falter, the bar is high and met without exception. Audience involvement is peppered throughout.

With an emphatic opening from Rafferty, the youngest of the company, to daring escapology from Lester and Basso and some of the most quick, detailed and breath taking close up magic and manipulation from Eden Choi the show has something for everyone.

From explosives, to teleporting and creepy crawlies in the most unexpected of moments this is a show that sets out to entertain the masses of all ages. Here for five weeks before it travels to Las Vegas, Now You See Me Live is a theatrical special that will entertain the whole family.

Runs until 6th September

Phot credit: Johan Persson

Cleansed - Review

Almeida Theatre, London

****

Written by Sarah Kane

Directed by Rebecca Frecknall

Pearl Chanda

Sarah Kane’s Cleansed is a bleak tale. A 100 minutes straight through detailing man’s inhumanity to man and woman, and how power can be so easily abused. Not for the faint hearted, Kane’s narrative is graphic and under the gifted helming of Rebecca Frecknall, the stagecraft on display at the Almeida is as brilliant as Kane’s writing is horrific.

Set in and around some dystopian institution, Leo Bill is Tinker, the play's authority figure and the rotten apple at the core of the evening’s malevolence. Sexually inadequate, his misogyny and sadism knows no limits as he wreaks unspeakable forms of torture upon the institution’s inmates.

 

All of Kane’s characters are deeply damaged, desperately needing care but at Tinker’s hands all they receive is cruelty, meted out in gruesome manifestations of rape, sodomy and violence that descend into inevitable nadirs of murder and suicide.

Alongside Bill, Frecknall’s cast are all magnificent. Pearl Chanda, Luke Cinque-White, Lizzy Connolly, Jack Riddiford, Parth Thakerar and Stuart Thompson capturing their respective characters' emotional pain and despair and, when required, brilliantly depicting the physical pain of the inhumane atrocities that are forced upon them.

Ingeniously, Frecknall leaves little to our imagination - and it is a credit to the show’s intimacy director (Ingrid Mackinnon), illusionist (Chris Fisher) and special make-up designer (Susanna Peretz) that, together with the cast’s sublime acting skills, this nightmare is played out with such conviction.

Harrowing drama, stunningly performed.

Runs until 29th August

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

Trainspotting The Musical - Review

Theatre Royal Haymarket, London

****

Music & lyrics by Stephen McGuiness & Irvine Welsh

Directed and developed by Caroline Jay Ranger

The cast of Trainspotting The Musical

Mainlining straight back to the 90s, Trainspotting The Musical achieves that elusive high of transforming abject human misery into an evening of sharply crafted entertainment. Irvine Welsh whose 1993 book inspired the story’s iconic film, has penned the show and together with Stephen McGuinness has written a dozen or so new songs that fabulously fit this modern fable.

Focussing on the lives of five young men from Edinburgh, Welsh’s tale, much of it drawn from and inspired by his own experiences of 18 months as a heroin addict, delivers an evening of devastation as we witness the drug ripping through their lives.

Lewis Kidd plays the focal, narrative, Renton who tells of his world, his family and his friends. Onstage for almost the entire show, Kidd’s Renton breaks our hearts as he navigates the depths of his addiction. 

Alongside Kidd, Sheridan Townsley is the damaged Sick Boy and Kieran Andrew is Spud. Finlay Paul plays Tommy whose own decline leads to perhaps the show’s most harrowing moments. Completing this leading quintet is the brilliant Frankie O’Connor as the psychopathically menacing Begbie, vividly vicious yet also capable of moments of surprising compassion.

In support, Rebecca McKinnis and Gordon Cooper as Renton’s parents Cathy and Davie make fine work of their modest roles, their anguished pain witnessing their son slide into the opioid’s grip proving almost unbearable to watch.

Rosie Dignan’s Alison together with Ashley J. Russell’s Colleen deliver equally strong grief and anxiety-fuelled performances. 

Death’s tentacles sprawl through the evening and it is a remarkable credit to both the cast and the creatives that a story of such physical and emotional horror can at times prove to be as witty as it is tragic.

The music lifts the show - the classic songs from the movie’s soundtrack are retained with Lou Reed’s Perfect Day closing both halves. As the first act finishes on a moment of unbearable pain, the irony of the full company powerfully delivering Reed's classic makes for a bittersweet symphony of feelings.

The show’s original compositions are as brilliantly written as Welsh's original novel, highlights including the sardonically Country-themed The Eckies And The Brown and One Skin Too Few, both of which are deservedly reprised.

Caroline Jay Ranger has directed and developed the show, helming a production that is as much a poignant social commentary, as it is a historical take on how grim life can be for those who are either denied opportunity or who lack the ability and vision to strive for it. Ranger’s work is neatly  nuanced, complemented by Colin Richmond’s simply effective sets and Douglas O’Connell’s video projections, transforming the visuals from a row of impoverished city tenements through to the sensations of heroin coursing through Renton’s veins – with some impressive underwater photography that cleverly suggests the character’s escape into the Siren-like embrace of the narcotics. Stuart Morley's band are a blast throughout.

The staging is authentically Scots, with dialects to match and for all that the Scottish brogue is convincingly delivered, there will be moments for many unsophisticated southern ears that may prove unintelligible.

Make no mistake, this is brave and bold new writing. Brilliantly bleak.

Runs until 5th September, then on tour

Photo credit: Matt Crockett

The Smile Of Her - Review

Marylebone Theatre, London

****

Written by Christine Lahti

Directed by Mêlisa Annis

Christine Lahti

Watching the effortless, magnetic solo performance of Christine Lahti — a Golden Globe-winning actor and an Academy Award-winning director — one cannot help but feel privileged. Yet knowing that this is Lahti’s autobiographical play, that invites the audience into the most intimate corners of her life, transforms that feeling into something deeper: a sense of gratitude at having been entrusted with her story.

The play The Smile of Her, which is based on Lahti’s 2018 book of autobiographical essays True Stories from an Unreliable Eyewitness, begins in her childhood home in 1950s Michigan. In the immaculate white living room, represented by a white sofa covered in plastic at the centre of the stage, Lahti remarks with a bitter laugh that her family did everything there but ‘living’. Every Christmas, her parents and their six children posed there for a professional family portrait. Yet behind the smiles of the picture-perfect family captured in those photographs lay dark secrets, pain and frustration, which Lahti confronts with sincerity and humour.

As a young girl, Lahti first noticed the cracks in her mother’s famous, almost unfading smile. Through them, she begins to uncover disturbing truths about misogyny and patriarchy, forcing her to find her own way in a world not yet ready to recognise her as equal or worthy, let alone accommodate her ambitions to become an actress. 

The child version of Lahti is played by the talented Isabella Ford. In her stage debut, Ford masters the role, first as Lahti’s adorable younger self and later as her inner child (this role is also played by Jesamine-Bleu Gibbs). The interaction between Lahti and Ford is harmonious and well supported by the staging. 

In this London revival of the play, director Mêlisa Annis and designer Sarah Beaton create a minimalist yet effective stage setting, managing to maintain an intimacy with the audience while uplifting the story in its epic moments.

The evening is a rollercoaster of emotions and revelations, Lahti’s play more than anything proving to be a love letter to her mother — and to all the other women who fought, each in her own way, on the same battlefield. 

As much as she presents her compelling life story, Lahti also strikes us with a disturbing and uncomfortable truth: women’s liberties are fragile, recent, and remain far from perfect or secure. Only one generation separates Lahti from her mother, but their experiences as women were at once profoundly different and shockingly similar. Lahti’s message is clear: feminism remains not only relevant, but necessary.

Reviewed by Florit Shoihet

Runs until 29 August

Photo credit: Mark Senior

Here Comes J. Edgar - Review

King's Head, London

*****

Music by Peter Matz

Lyrics & book by Harry Shearer and Tom Leopold

Directed by Josh Seymour

Marc Elliott and Bryan Batt

Here Comes J. Edgar makes its world premiere at London’s King’s Head Theatre this week, some 30 years after it was written. This sparkling satire has a remarkable pedigree with book and lyrics penned by LA’s masters of comedy Harry Shearer and Tom Leopold and a stunning score composed by the equally gifted Peter Matz who was to tragically pass away in 2002.

The titular J. Edgar is of course the USA’s J. Edgar Hoover who served as the director of that nation’s Bureau of Investigation for 11 years from 1924, before changing its name to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (the FBI) and remaining in post for a remarkable 37 further years. It has been recognised that the vast amount of surveillance information that Hoover had amassed over the years, including compromising information on all of the Presidents that he served under, went a long way to assist him in corruptly keeping his job for such an inordinately long period of time.

Hoover’s alleged corruption went much further than just holding onto his job for 48 years. The vast extent of the secrets held in his files enabled him to abuse his powers, largely at whim, enabling him to persecute and manipulate politicians, celebrities, activists and ordinary citizens. Tasked with tackling the spread of communism, his association with Senator Joe McCarthy was frightening.

It was however in his approach to matters sexual that Hoover’s hypocrisy was most apparent and Shearer, Leopold and Matz mercilessly mine this rich seam of his life to deliver the sharpest historical satire around.

Hoover never married and was widely believed to be gay – developing over the years a very close association with his assistant Clyde Tolson.  The show opens (and closes) with the dying Hoover on his hospital bed, before delivering a whistle-stop tour through Hoover’s life touching upon a handful of the eight presidents that he was to serve under, from Coolidge through to Nixon.

Mad Men’s Bryan Batt makes a terrific London stage debut in the title role. Capturing the vain, egomaniacal Hoover, Batt’s presence is convincing – and boy can he hold a note too. Wickedly exploring his character’s sexual proclivities, including an inspired dalliance with transvestism, Batt’s performance cuts through the evening like a hoover at a glitter convention.

The King’s Head maybe one of the capital’s fringe venues, but the production values that underscore this show are breathtaking. Alongside Batt, the key principal players include Hugo Bolton as Tolson and Marc Elliott as Walter Winchell, a fading Entertainments Journalist who forges a symbiotic relationship with Hoover, both feeding each other the titbits of scandal they need to survive.

Laura Medforth plays Helen, Hoover’s devoted secretary at the Bureau, while Lucy O’Byrne plays the ghost of Hoover’s long departed mother. Medforth’s and O’Byrne’s vocal work is simply sensational. Equally sharp, albeit in a very brief cameo, is Judith Owen as the Madam of a brothel, tasked with the entrapment of Public Enemy Number One, gangster John Dillinger.

Josh Seymour directs his glorious company at a pace while leading choreographer Bill Deamer, a man more accustomed to the West End’s more glamorous stages, arranges routines that are stunningly executed within the venue’s compact space. And in the show’s closing act, the routine that has a quartet of Presidents ( chronologically FDR, Ike, JFK and LBJ) regretting that they had never acted more decisively to remove Hoover from his post is theatrical magic. 

The genius underlying the construction of this show is breathtaking. Matz’s music deliberately pastiches some Broadway greats – listen out for the nods to Guys & Dolls and West Side Story – with his tunes, often in musical snatches lasting barely a few seconds, covering a wide spectrum of genres. Perched high above the stage, Luke Holman deftly directs the show's small band. 

This is musical theatre at its best. Sharply, hilariously written and faultlessly performed. For those not easily offended, it’s unmissable.

Runs until 16th August

Photo credit: Mark Douet

My Fair Lady - Review

Festival Theatre, Chichester

****

Music by Frederick Loewe

Lyrics and book by Alan Jay Lerner

Directed by Rachel Kavanaugh

Tony Jayawardena, Kezia Ibe and Hadley Fraser

Rachel Kavanaugh’s take on My Fair Lady is a musical treat. This fiendishly complicated tale of love conquering the shocking prejudices of both sexism and class, although set around the turn of the 20th century remains strikingly relevant today, Kavanaugh showing us the timelessness of those bigotries first outlined in George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion.

Of course it is the combined gifts of Alan Jay Lerner’s lyrics and Frederick Loewe’s enchanting melodies that translate this cautionary parable into a fairytale of song and as performed by this Chichester company, every number is exquisite.

In a brave casting choice, debutante Kezia Ibe is cast as Eliza Doolittle, the flower-girl from Lisson Grove who is lifted up to refined eloquence by Hadley Fraser’s Henry Higgins. Ibe is handed the lion’s share of the numbers and if her confidence takes a little while to steady, by the time she delivers I Could Have Danced All Night, the exquisite sweetness of her soprano voice is spine-tingling in its beauty. 

Fraser’s Higgins is flawless in his take on the blinkered, sexist academic whose vulnerabilities slowly emerge through the evening The age difference between Fraser and Ibe is perfect, with Fraser giving us a cleverly crafted insight into the Professor. This, when complemented by his acting through song that manages to find every hint of cynicism and humour (as well as Higgins's appalling chauvinism) is a masterclass in musical theatre performance.

Tony Jayawardena puts in a solid Colonel Pickering, while Finty Williams offers up hints of her gifted mother in possibly the finest Mrs Pearce (Higgins’s housekeeper) to have been seen in quite a while.

Gary Milner masters the show’s comic responsibilities as Alfred P. Doolittle – his Get Me To The Church On Time is a delight that feels like it could go on forever and in the story’s curious and unresolved love triangle, Ben Culleton is a charmingly voiced Freddy Eynsford-Hill who makes glorious work of On The Street Where You Live.

Kavanaugh is supported by creative genius. Stephen Mear’s choreography is spectacular and, as always, conceived and drilled to perfection – highlights being the refined elegance of the Embassy Ball along with the equally ballsy cockney swagger of Get Me To The Church On Time. The other creative ace in the pack is Howard Harrison’s stunning lighting. With so much of the action playing out late at night and into dawn, Harrison has arranged opposite banks of spotlights to suggest the whiteness of moonlight and the golden hues of the sun. It makes for a classy visual touch. Perched atop the stage, Cat Beveridge's 14-piece orchestra are terrific.

Yet again, Chichester have created a summer hit. This magical cast could have danced all night.

Runs until 5th September

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Springwood - Review

Hampstead Theatre, London

***

Written and directed by Richard Nelson

Andrew Havill and Robert Lindsay

There’s a great premise underlying Richard Nelson’s Springwood. The title comes from the country estate in upstate New York that President Franklin D. Roosevelt would retire to when he wanted to escape Washington DC, with the play’s fictionalised action revolving around the actual visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to the estate during the summer of 1939.

As war in Europe looms, Nelson picks out the birth of the Special Relationship between the USA and the UK in some delightfully nuanced conversations between FDR and Bertie (the King) as well as some deft interchanges between the two men’s wives.

The first half plods, weighed down with caricature and clumsily crafted exposition. The second act however sees the drama come alive from the perspectives of not only international statesmanship, but also the unconventionalities of the Roosevelt’s living arrangements

The overarching strengths of the evening lie in a handful of the performances on stage. Robert Lindsay as the polio-stricken President captures not only FDR’s sardonic strengths, but also his vulnerabilities too. As the two heads of state compare their respective afflictions (the King suffered from a distinct stammer)  the evening hits a rare note of profound pathos. There is equally fine work from Rebecca Night as Queen Elizabeth. 

Andrew Havill plays the King in a role that, albeit carefully crafted and faultlessly performed, has been epically mis-cast. The King was 44 in 1939, Havill is in his sixties and looks it. The effect on seeing him therefore is to associate him with more of a grey-haired elderly man (think perhaps of King Charles III) rather than the more youthful monarch that he was (for visual comparison, reference today’s Prince of Wales, also aged 44). Jemma Redgrave’s Eleanor Roosevelt is an incredibly complex woman given the strains and falsehoods of her marriage, and Redgrave does not dig deep enough to address her character’s emotional challenges.

Springwood is unquestionably entertaining theatre. But a play about the Special Relationship demands a special company. This isn’t it.

Runs until 25th July

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Suzie Kennedy - Review

Crazy Coqs, London

*****

Suzie Kennedy

So much more than just a tribute act, Suzie Kennedy, when she assumes the persona of Marilyn Monroe, breathes a brilliantly vivacious life into one of the 20th century’s most inconic and enigmatic women. And in this year that marks the centenary of Monroe’s birth, Kennedy’s act takes on even greater significance.

From the moment she stepped into the spotlight in London’s intimate Crazy Coqs venue, Kennedy not only sang those numbers most associated with Monroe, she inhabited the star’s style – her script and audience interactions never letting the character drop, not for one second.

Kennedy’s hour-long setlist was a celebration of songs that defined not just Marilyn’s life but possibly and even more importantly, the impact that she made not only in her short lifetime but in the decades since then. Of course the classics were there and as Kennedy wrapped her mellifluous vocals around I Wanna Be Loved By You, My Heart Belongs to Daddy and (later in the act) Happy Birthday, she became that immortalised Hollywood idol.

I Was Born This Way (in a neat touch, duetted with Lady GaGa tribute artiste, the excellent Lallie Burns) along with a soulful solo (by Kennedy) of I Am What I Am defined the day’s Pride credentials, as Kennedy spoke (as Marilyn) sincerely and above all knowledgably, about Monroe’s troubled life.

Kennedy brings a sincerity to her act that transcends her sublime performance skills, showing a profound respect to Monroe that only imbues her otherwise stellar performance. An eclectic choice of songs supports this deep understanding. The Leslie Gore classic You Don’t Own Me (delivered complete with its sublime key change) brings a charged profundity to the evening, while Charlene’s I’ve Never Been To Me comes across as though it could almost have been inspired by Marilyn Monroe. 

In 1962 and aged just 36, Marilyn Monroe’s life was tragically cut short. The tragedy of her death is  reflected in Kennedy's final act, where following Over The Rainbow a song steeped in heartbreak for so many reasons, she silently slipped away from the stage. Paul Rahme her talented musical director then took over the mic with a powerfully poignant delivery of Elton John’s song from 53(!) years ago, Goodbye Norma Jean.

Notwithstanding the sadness, Kennedy makes sure the show ends with a bang, returning from the wings, costumed-changed and shimmering in sparkles to deliver another of Monroe’s signature tunes, from the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend.

Sparkling entertainment – Suzie Kennedy defines the legacy of Marilyn Monroe.

Arcadia - Review

Duke of York's Theatre, London

*****

Written by Tom Stoppard

Directed by Carrie Cracknell

Isis Hainsworth

Arguably the zenith of Tom Stoppard’s all encompassing genius, Arcadia is a play that bends time to explore the intriguing complexities of maths, physics and art.

We meet the Coverly family on their country estate, firstly in the 19th century and latterly, some generations later, in the present day. Thomasina Cloverly is from the 1800s a gifted thinker who Stoppard aligns with the mathematical geniuses of her time. Aged just 16, her character is combination of precocious intellect fused with sexual curiosity. Played by Isis Hainsworth, hers is a masterful performance. Also striking from that era is Seamus Dillane’s take on Septimus Hodge, tutor to Thomasina. As the unseen Lord Byron drifts in and out of the narrative, Stoppard crafts a richly woven tapestry.

Fast forwarding to the modern era where the latter-day Coverlys are visited at their still-standing country pile by warring academics Bernard Nightingale (Oliver Chris) and Hannah Jarvis (Nikki Amuka-Bird). As the pair clash over the finer points of Lord Byron’s life and romances, Nightingale is ultimately and deliciously exposed as a pompously self-opinionated arse, all making for great theatre and as the 21st century family, aided by computer, uncover the genius of Thomasina’s mathematical theorems, the drama becomes electrifying. A further mark of Stoppard’s craft is that throughout both the story and the centuries that it spans, there is a beautifully penned undercurrent of lustful desires, both consummated and frustrated.

Carrie Cracknell has helmed her production that hails from the Old Vic magnificently. Stoppard created the piece to let the historical timelines segue seamlessly and Cracknell directs her cast with a perfectly placed accuracy. Alex Eales's set design of concentric revolves beneath suspended spheres emphasises the metaphysicality of Stoppard’s creation.

Three hours (including interval) makes for a long haul, but it’s worth it. Rarely is such brilliant writing so beautifully performed.

Runs until 12th September

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

The Ladyboys of Bangkok - Review

 The Sabai Pavilion, London

**

Beneath a pink, pulsating, (and when the bass is turned up, throbbing) big top erected on Shepherds Bush Green, The Ladyboys of Bangkok are strutting their stuff nightly during the show's London residency. 

In an evening that always promised more than was to meet the eye, perhaps if the tent had even been half-full (it was at far, far less than 25% capacity on the night of this review) then maybe all those mimed disco classics, pyro effects and laser beams that sliced through the haze might have complemented a party vibe. As it turned out, the evening felt more like an end-of-the-pier show on a rainy bank-holiday afternoon, rather than the tittilatingThai-themed treat of a cabaret and floor show that the marketing material had suggested.

The cast were troupers - playing to a virtually empty marquee while sporting immaculate make up and (occasionally) sparkling costumes they kept their smiles throughout. It was only a wonder that Queen’s Show Must Go On was not included in their pre-recorded backing set.

The two stars are for the Ladyboys’ sheer bravado and balls.

Runs until 12th July - then on tour and in Edinburgh