Cable Street - Review

Southwark Playhouse, London

**

Music & lyrics by Tim Gilvin

Book by Alex Kanefsky

Directed by Adam Lenson

The cast of Cable Street

Not so much a Cable Street as a road to hell that’s paved with good intentions. Tim Gilvin and Alex Kanefsky’s musical is framed around a massive story, that of the Battle of Cable Street that saw thousands of Londoners join forces to halt Mosley’s British Union of Fascists’ march through the heart of London’s Jewish East End.

An ambitious conceit, but the show’s narrative however fails to capture the enormity of the Battle’s achievement, focussing instead on micro-vignettes that seek to wrap up most of the East End’s minority communities. The linking threads of an unconvincing romance and a contrived vengeful finale just don’t move one’s soul in a way that such a remarkable episode of history should command.

An ensemble cast play a multitude of roles and there are moments of excellence from most of the performers. Standout numbers in particular across the two acts come from Sophie Ragavelas, Sha Dessi, Joshua Ginsberg and Jez Unwin.

Gilvin’s rap numbers are frequently garbled and his lyrics too simplistic - that being said, his melodies for What Next, Let Me In and Only Words are charming.

Adam Lenson directs a piece that ultimately fails to reflect the immense humanity of its underlying historical grounding. The production also makes an offensive casting choice by placing an actor of colour in a fascist’s uniform.

Sold out for the entire run but check with the box office for returns.

Runs until 16th March

Photo credit: Jane Hobson

Wasted - Review

Southwark Playhouse, London


****


Music by Christopher Ash
Book & lyrics by Carl Miller
Directed by Adam Lenson

Natasha Barnes

Any musical can only be as good as its underlying book and Wasted, based upon the lives of the four Brontë siblings (3 girls and a boy) is written around a very strong core. Bursting into the Southwark Playhouse this is a brave show that celebrates the famed achievements of Charlotte, Emily and Anne and, in a marked contrast to a number of the capital's recent openings, audaciously dares to presume that its audience has a basic knowledge of classical English Literature. Wasted is a defiant and intelligent display of strong womanhood, set in era of rampant chauvinism. Not only that, but its score comes close to matching Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton with its diverse range of incorporated musical styles and sources. 

The show’s title stems from the Brontës never having lived to know the the impact that their writings were to have upon the English canon and that their lives had been little more than wasted. Carl Miller’s book sets out a clear historical arc that tracks the family’s lives in and around Haworth and their occasional ventures beyond the village. Whilst their curate father provided for the children’s every intellectual desire, remote Yorkshire left them emotionally impoverished with Anne’s heartfelt lament, No-One To Marry For Miles, defining the isolation. By way of marked contrast, when they make a first visit to the coast at Bridlington, Charlotte’s number Infinite Eternity soars with the passion of her discovering the beauty of the sea. Christopher Ash’s compositions are, for the most part, ingenious and time spanning. Tiny Magazines, sung by the Brontës when young, is a delicious a capella 4-part harmony. Elsewhere there is blues, electro and even some moments of beat-boxing, interspersed with beautiful balladry and some sometimes-wonderful rock. 

The show’s women are knockout, with Natasha Barnes storming it as Charlotte. Barnes bears an electrifying power that can conquer the biggest songs and with both (Extra)Ordinary Woman and the show’s closing title number, she takes Southwark's roof off.  Siobhan Athwal (and the show’s construct) offers an intriguing glimpse into Emily Brontë, a desperately private woman, clinging to the fringes of sanity. Yet underneath the mania we also glimpse the wild genius that created Wuthering Heights and Heathcliff. Molly Lynch is, as ever, vocally enchanting as Anne Brontë. The lesser known of the three sisters, every song Lynch delivers is a gem as she imparts a youthful wisdom to the complex role.

Molly Lynch, Siobhan Athwal, Matthew Jacobs Morgan, Natasha Barnes

Making up the quartet is Matthew Jacobs Morgan’s Branwell Brontë. While Morgan's work is flawless, the show in its current iteration is too long and were Branwell's character to be cut from a future revision, the whole piece could well become tighter.

While director Adam Lenson draws strong work from his foursome, his direction at times becomes as tangled as the mic cables that clutter the stage posing both a distraction to the audience as well as a health & safety risk to the actors. The mics are merited given the quasi-rock staging of the piece, but wireless will work better. Likewise, the overall balance of the Southwark sound mix needs a lot more work,

On a virtually bare stage. Matt Daw and Sam Waddington’s clever lighting adds both location and nuance to the show, as Joe Bunker’s band (that includes some lovely country melodies from Isabel Torres on ukulele) puts in a fine shift throughout.

Wasted doesn’t pretend to be an easy show to watch – but within it there is excellence. It is one of the finest and most carefully crafted pieces of new musical theatre writing to hit London this year.

Runs until 6th October

Photo credit: Helen Maybanks

The Rink - Review

Southwark Playhouse, London

*****

Music by John Kander

Lyrics by Fred Ebb

Book by Terrence McNally

Directed by Adam Lenson

Gemma Sutton and Caroline O'Connor

To read my fascinating interview with Caroline O'Connor, in which she talks about leaving Broadway to return to The Rink after 30 years, click here

The Rink, now on at the Southwark Playhouse for a month, is one of those shows that defines the beautiful potential of London’s off-West End theatre scene. A little known musical from giants Kander and Ebb, its first outing in the capital some thirty years ago was to be sadly short-lived. Here however, amidst Southwark’s humble thrust and away from the multi-million pound expectations of the mainstream commercial sector, there is an opportunity for this glitter-ball of a show to spin and sparkle.

With faint echoes of Sondheim’s Follies and just a hint of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel too, the action plays out in a dilapidated roller coaster rink somewhere on America’s eastern seaboard. Anna Antonelli is selling the place that has been a family heirloom for generations and as the removals team arrive to clear away the decades of detritus amassed over the years, so too does daughter Angel, estranged from her mother for the past 7 years. Kander and Ebb are masters of applying perceptive wit to life’s humdrum highs and lows that define the human condition, and over the course of just one day The Rink’s narrative explores, through a series of flashbacked vignettes, these two women’s stories.

Skating across the decades, Caroline O’Connor and Gemma Sutton are mother and daughter respectively. Both performers at the top of their game, the pair bring vocal magnificence combined with an acting ability in both word and song, that can convey the subtlest of messages, with the finely nuanced denouement of the final act proving a masterclass from both. O’Connor’s casting adds a further sparkle to the show. Thirty years ago she was one of London’s earliest Angels and this return across the Atlantic, from Broadway’s Anastasia to the modesty of London’s fringe, is an artistic commitment not often seen in today’s hardened money-driven world. O’Connor has a personal heritage that draws on Ireland, England and Australia - but witness her Anna Antonelli and one could swear she’s got Italian DNA too, such is her mastery of the passion and quick one-liners that define her character’s robust resilience.

Six men make up a supporting ensemble - dipping in and out of roles as needed. They are all magnificent and convincing. Stewart Clarke shines as Anna’s long lost husband Dino and there are equally gorgeous turns from a patriarchal Ross Dawes and Ben Redfern as Lenny, a kindly nebbish who’s held a candle for Anna since they were both kids.

Producers Jack Maple and Brian Zeilinger have imbued the highest standards in The Rink. Adam Lenson’s direction is carefully observed, in what is unquestionably his finest work to date while the choreography from Fabian Aloise is breathtakingly audacious. What Aloise achieves in a tiny space, with six guys on skates has to be seen to believed, with the audience’s grins dissolving into whoops of delight. Likewise Bec Chippendale’s set design - complete with panelled floor is another marvel. Rarely is decrepitude so perfectly portrayed with Matt Daw’s ingenious lighting, Tardis-like, transporting this boardwalk fun palace back and forth through the years.

Jason Winter, Michael Lin & Ross Dawes

Sat hidden above the action, Joe Bunker’s band make fine work of this all too rarely heard score. Indeed, from this critic’s personal perspective, it has been a long, long while since seeing a show for the very first time has led to its tunes still being compulsively hummed the next morning!

Yet again, Southwark Playhouse are delivering an outstanding musical for a fraction of the price of a West End ticket. If you love the genre, it's unmissable.

Runs until 23rd June 2018

Photo credit: Darren Bell

To read my fascinating interview with Caroline O'Connor, in which she talks about leaving Broadway to return to The Rink after 30 years, click here

Caroline O'Connor talks about returning to The Rink after 30 years

Gemma Sutton and Caroline O'Connor in rehearsal for The Rink

Commencing performances this week at the Southwark Playhouse, The Rink is a musical set in an American boardwalk-located roller skating rink that has long since seen better days. The show examines the relationship between the rink’s owner, Anna and her daughter Angel, two women who have grown apart over the years and written by Kander and Ebb, from Terrence McNally’s book, it is the rich complexity of human relationships that drives the narrative.

What makes this particular musical on London's fringe quite so mouthwatering however is its casting of Caroline O'Connor to play Anna. Thirty years ago, when the show first played in the West End, at London’s Cambridge Theatre,  a young O'Connor appeared as Angel.

O'Connor is making an incredibly bold and confident move in stepping back from an acclaimed Broadway run of Anastasia and heading instead to the humble surrounds of the Elephant and Castle. Over a beautifully sunny weekend during the show’s rehearsals, I caught up with O'Connor to talk not only about the show, but also her remarkable career.

JB:    Lets start with The Rink first time around. Tell me all about it....

Caroline:    Well, it was an amazing opportunity really. I'd been in the Me and My Girl original company and then Cabaret with the Gillian Lynne production and also A Chorus Line on national tour, playing Cassie, when the chance came along to cover Angel in the West End. Additionally, with a lot of leading ladies liking to take a show off of their schedule, (I was understudying Diane Langton) I was guaranteed one performance a week which seemed like a pretty good deal in those days.

Fred Ebb came over. John Kander was there so I had the two writers sitting in the auditorium on the day I did my first understudy call on stage, which was quite terrifying! But of course it was also thrilling for me, as a girl who grew up in Australia and just having arrived in England for a few years, to have the actual composers there in the room, along with Terrence McNally too.

Sadly the production did not last for very long and you could feel a great sense of loss amongst the theatre community. But now I feel like it's full circle. Perhaps, I was meant to come back and revisit this beautiful show and get to play the role of Anna. I'm the biggest fan in the world of Chita Rivera (who created the role of Anna on Broadway), she's such an inspiration to me. This show is huge.

JB:    Explain more, please, about the story and the themes of The Rink.

Caroline:    Well, it's a mother/daughter relationship. Angel is a young spirit, and she's gone away, like young people did at that period in the Woodstock kind of finding themselves and having more freedom. Anna however is this poor woman who’s  been left with this business to run, this rink, and her daughter's gone and she's kind of kept this thing going.

The rink belonged to her husband's family, for many years. And, suddenly, she's thinking, "You know what? I think I need some time for myself." And, as soon as she makes that decision, in walks the daughter again. And so kicks off an amazing story of: Will they connect or will they always have this fractious relationship?

It's not just us of course. There are six other men in the show who are brilliantly versatile and extremely talented. They play the show’s other roles, the wreckers, but they also play very important characters in the story, like husband, grandfather, love interest. Just terrific, beautiful voices, great talent.

Adam Lenson our director is rejigging it a little here and there and we have a brilliant choreographer too, Fabian Aloise, who did Working recently. I did West Side Story with him years ago, so we have a connection already. There is a young team around me, which is kind of exciting because of this energy that they bring, and they're all so excited and keen, and it's a lovely feeling in the room.

And Gemma Sutton who plays Angel in the show is just so very talented. I mean, from the moment we met, we just clicked and that's always a blessing when you're doing something where you have to work so closely. And, especially a relationship where it's not exactly a love fest!

JB:    The last time that I heard you sing in London was at The Kings Of Broadway concert at the Palace Theatre. You sang Time Heals Everything from Mack and Mabel that was just gorgeous. You of course played (an Olivier nominated) Mabel when the show opened in the West End in 1995.

Caroline:    Thank you. The most wonderful time I've probably ever had was doing that show. Of course I have loved pretty much everything I've ever done, but I loved Mack and Mabel because although it's a difficult show #I never found it as difficult as a lot of people who would always say, "Oh, the book's not that good."

I never found that a problem, because I felt like we told the truth about Mabel Normand’s life, and I thought she was worth celebrating. She was such an incredible person, not only as an actress, but she was the first female director, and there were so many elements and she just wore here heart on her sleeve.

I had a lot of help too. I met Mabel’s great- nephew and we discussed a lot about her, I saw photos, and he actually gave me a couple of gifts, of items that had belonged to her. So, I felt very fortunate that I had that real insight into her through that contact.

JB:    Tell me a little about your work in Kander & Ebb's Chicago – a show that you’ve played around the world: on Broadway and in Australia, as well as over here. 

Caroline:    I played Velma in Australia and on Broadway, I played Roxie at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre as well as in Lebanon. I've done the show quite a few times and actually I did Chicago twice in Australia, 11 years apart, would you believe! You have to get yourself incredibly fit for Velma, which I quite enjoy too when it's necessary. I was torn the last time, because I was very tempted to do Roxie again, but I’m lucky that I've been able to get to play both those roles. And, now, here with The Rink, this is kind of weird, because now I'm playing both of those roles too.

JB:    And what about your own story?

My parents were Irish so I got sent to Irish dancing classes. The school I went to taught ballet so I auditioned and got into the Royal Ballet School when I was 17. That brought me to London, so that's when I fell in love with London. When I went back to Australia at 19, I was like, "Do I keep going with the ballet or not?" I wasn't like, "Oh, I want to be a big star." That wasn't my mentality. It was always that I wanted to work in theatre. I wanted to learn and to work with great directors and choreographers and people. So, I'm glad that it happened that way, and I'm glad that my success came even if it was a little later, because I had such great training up until then. 

JB:    So, where is home for you now? 

Caroline:    I have homes in Surrey and Sydney and I am lucky enough to have worked all over the world and create a pretty amazing lifestyle and also a pretty amazing, understanding husband too. 

I met him when I was doing Cabaret here in London so, we've been together for 32 years and not everybody in the industry has that kind of support system. You know those sad, tragic stories you hear about people who're in theatre and they have a great career but they have nobody at home, or they have a bit of sadness, I feel really blessed that I've had this amazing, constant love and support in my life. Without sounding too corny, it's true. And, he also just loves what we do. He loves that we travel and that we're both very passionate about music and about theatre.

JB:    You walked away from Anastasia on Broadway to do The Rink. What lay behind that decision? 

Caroline:    People say to me, "why did you come back from New York to do a show at the Southwark Playhouse?” and my reply is because this is what I do. This is my work." I'm still in a black box. I'm still in a theatre. I'm still doing what I love to do, and I would've kicked myself if I hadn't done this. As hard as it is, I really would have kicked myself.

I could have stayed in Anastasia. I was invited to stay on in the show, and I was like, "No, I think I have to do this. I just feel in my heart I have to do it." And, now, some days I'm like, "oh, my God. This is huge. This is a huge" ... When I was playing Angel, I suppose I didn't appreciate how much Josephine Blake (London's original Anna) was doing in the role, and now I look at this mammoth script and mammoth emotional journey and the vocal demands of it. And, there's dancing, and there's a little skating, in brackets. A little. So, yeah, I just think, "Wow! But, my favourite thing is a challenge."

The Rink runs until 23rd June at the Southwark Playhouse

Photo credit: Darren Bell 

Lock and Key - Review

The Vaults, London


**


Music and orchestrations by Bella Barlow
Book and lyrics by A.C. Smith
Directed by Adam Lenson

Evelyn Hoskins and Tiffany Graves

Lock and Key is a new musical horror story playing at the Vaults Festival, against the ominous rumbling of trains of Waterloo overhead. 

In a tale that attempts to be a modern day nightmare, Jess is ambitious junior working out her probationary period at a publishing company and keen to get on in a media career. She’s hardworking but also bullied and exploited, with the show’s action playing out as she’s working late, at 10pm, on her birthday. Her boss Samantha is a monstrous employer with no care whatsoever for Jess. There’s an office filing cabinet with a dark and grisly secret that Jess is expressly forbidden from opening. Oh, and there’s a talking  teddy bear too.

If that all sounds rather corny that’s because it is. Barlow and Smith have created cardboard clichéd characters, in a musical that’s quite possibly turned out to be more horrific than its creative team might ever have intended. Horror is a tricky genre which this blog has been keen to support over the years. Handled well, it can make us laugh, scream and be moved. Done badly, and it appears as little more than kids playing around with the dressing-up box, or to put it more succintly, like the disgusting brown substance (draw your own conclusions) that Jess discovers in the filing cabinet drawer.  

That being said Tiffany Graves as Samantha (Tiffany is also the bear’s puppeteer ) together with Evelyn Hoskins’ Jess both deliver their usual level of excellence, with performances that are far finer than the script deserves. Likewise, Tamara Saringer puts in a strong shift, ably directing her four piece band through a collection of forgettable melodies.

If a successful future is to be unlocked for Lock and Key then much work is needed on its book. The show is crying out for credible characters who engage in plausible human interaction, and horror that truly suspends our disbelief. And as for the final scene – it’s sensational, implausible and gratuitously violent. Like the contents of that mysterious filing cabinet, Lock and Key is a bloody mess.

Runs until 18th March

Photo credit: Nick Brittain Photography

The Goodbye Girl - Review

Gatehouse Theatre, London

**

Book by Neil Simon
Music by Marvin Hamlisch
Lyrics by David Zippel
Directed by Adam Lenson

The Goodbye Girl is a 1993 musical with a story written by Neil Simon based on his award winning 1977 movie. It is a fanciful rom-com telling of the blossoming love between Paula a newly-dumped New York single mum and her lodger/landlord Elliott, a neurotic actor from Chicago who moves into her apartment. This production marks the show’s first London revival for 18 years.

There is a long established principle in musical theatre, that when tackling a show written around a mediocre book, one should display a commitment to outstanding production values (which doesn’t necessarily equate to a huge budget). There is then a chance that one might, just might end up with a hit. Adam Lenson’s programme notes say that The Goodbye Girl has struggled to “find its feet in large scale productions”. Based on this offering, it is still looking for them.

Rebecca Bainbridge and Paul Keating play the star-crossed pair and whilst both actors are competent professionals, neither convinces as the angst-ridden American that each represents. Their singing is passable (though far too often is shamefully inaudible even with mics) and their accents seem cod-USA rather than the passionately brash NY/Chicago tone that their characters demand and which is such a key element to the backdrop of the show’s chemistry.

Claira Vaughan’s choreography offers some interesting ideas for the Gatehouse’s compact space, but her company are woefully under-drilled. The venue has only recently displayed excellence in dance with Singing In The Rain. It's a shame that those standards have not been maintained and the lighting plots are clumsy too. Whilst Hamlisch’s music isn’t easy for sure, MD Richard Bates could do with taking his 5 piece band up a gear or two. There are moments of dischord that need atttention. 

None of the above criticisms are beyond repair and can and should be addressed and to be fair, it’s not all bad. There are some points of classy entertainment on offer with Denise Pitter’s landlady proving a delight, whilst the ensemble’s routine in Too Good To Be Bad is a laugh-out loud treat.

Across town, David Zippel’s far sharper City Of Angels closes this weekend, but a song title from that show could be well applied to The Gatehouse’s Goodbye Girl: It Needs Work.

Runs to 28th February 2015

West End Recast

Duke Of York's Theatre, London

*****
Directed by Adam Lenson

Every now and then the planets align and an occasion of breathtaking excellence is created. So it was at the Duke Of York’s Theatre, where Adam Lenson's revue West End Recast was staged for one night only. An ingenious conceit - invite the best of West End talent to sing numbers that for reasons of age, race, gender, physique, whatever, they would be unlikely to perform in a regular commercial casting. Though this review features only a few of the sixteen performers, without exception all were outstanding, with turns ranging from comic brilliance to spine tingling magnificence.

Emma Williams got proceedings underway as a Diana Ross inspired Billy Elliott singing Electricity and as she warmed the crowd up so followed the incredibly voiced Jon Robyns with I Cain't Say No from Oklahoma!. Robyn’s be-suited straight-faced take on Ado Annie was to prove the first pastiche highspot of the night. Other first half gems included Gareth Snook's sublime interpretation of Sally Bowles' Cabaret. Bowler hatted and with spread legs suggesting a nod to Fosse (notwithstanding a bulging crotch) his red-stockinged chanteuse was a blast. Martin Callaghan was listed to sing A Chorus Line's Dance Ten Looks Three, but actually opened his routine with I Hope I Get It from the same show, making a witty if ironic and poignant reference to his own need for a job in the light of Stephen Ward's untimely closure. Simon Bailey's rarely heard Make Them Hear You from Ragtime proved the most stirring moment of the half, as he powerfully brought home the message of the song's plea for liberty, given a distinct twist sung by a white man. Closing the act, Nick Holder sung Defying Gravity in an arrangement that was both soulful and outrageous. Written by Schwartz to be sung by an adolescent student girl, to hear the modern classic performed by a beautifully voiced but nonetheless portly and grey-haired man, summed up the quirky brilliance of the show.

Frances Ruffelle opened act two with Wilkommen from Cabaret as the show’s gartered, gamine, Emcee. Fresh from her Paris focussed cabaret set, Ruffelle's accent was perhaps a tad more French than German, however her neatly choreographed take on Two Ladies, accompanied by the gender-reversed Snook and Callaghan was a hoot. Laura Pitt-Pulford was then to give what must surely be the most re-imagined Tevye ever. Her take on If I Was A Rich Man displayed her beautiful voice having an almost klezmeresque authenticity whilst her performance suggested a Jewish Princess with movement that simply sizzled. Michael Matus defined the coruscating bitterness behind Joanne's The Ladies Who Lunch from Company in a performance that was powerful and at the same time wryly tragic.

Bailey returned as Disney's Ariel with a hilarious Part Of Your World, but it was with Tracie Bennett's Ol' Man River, a song claimed originally, classically and above all, appropriately by Paul Robeson, that for the first time amongst the audience, jaws dropped. Bennett's take on the Showboat classic was so moving and inspirational that it almost prompts a recasting of the show, with the diva playing Joe the muscle bound dock worker.

It was left to Cynthia Erivo to close the set and where Bennett had dropped jaws, Erivo nailed them to the floor. Taking two songs from Streisand's Funny Girl she opened with a masterfully understated People, before segueing seamlessly into Don't Rain On My Parade. No wonder Simon Cowell has cast this actress to lead his Palladium show - her X-Factor was off the scale as her petite frame produced a sound that filled the Duke Of York's with a performance of clarity, expression and sheer beautiful power.

An ensemble encore of When I Grow Up was a neat touch that sweetly rounded off the evening. With Daniel A. Weiss’ 5 piece band, Adam Lenson has created an event of magical potential. The show demands to be repeated, it is simply the very best of London's talent.