To Kill A Mockingbird - Review

Wyndham's Theatre, London

****

Written by Aaron Sorkin

From the novel by Harper Lee

Directed by Bartlett Sher

Richard Coyle

Bartlett Sher’s stunning revival of Harper Lee’s classic fable returns to the West End for a 12-week residency at the Wyndham’s.

Set in Alabama in the 1930s, in America’s segregated and highly prejudiced Deep South, Lee’s tale is one of oppression, racism and resentment, contrasted with a heroic stance on enlightened and principled legal thinking fused with compassion and the finest family values.

This site rarely seeks to draw comparisons but Richard Coyle’s performance as Atticus Finch demands one. Gregory Peck’s Oscar-winning take on the role (in Robert Mulligan’s 1952 movie) has been defined as one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema. In a performance of breathtaking resonance and character, Richard Coyle redefines Finch, more than matching Peck’s genius. Returning to the role that he created in the production’s original London iteration, Coyle captures Finch’s complex morality and kindness in a performance that is perfectly weighted and nuanced, delivering arguably the greatest transition of an iconic character from screen to stage. For Coyle’s performance alone, one should buy a ticket. 

Sher's work on a London stage has never been so assured or perfectly pitched, where he has assembled a formidably flawless company. As the narrator / Greek chorus of the piece, Anna Munden is Finch’s adolescent daughter Scout. Together with her brother Jim (Gabriel Scott) and their friend Dill  (Dylan Malyn in an extraordinarily brilliant stage debut), the three teenagers serve to advance the evening's litany of cruel injustices, be they social as well as racial.

The cast boasts other supporting gems. Aaron Shosanya is magnificent as Tom Robinson, a black cotton-worker falsely accused of raping the white Mayella Ewell (Evie Hargeaves). Hargreaves similarly masters her challenging role, capturing the impact of the abuse and neglect that she has been subject to by her father Bob (Oscar Pearce playing a despicably ignorant redneck, in a performance that is as brilliant as his character is evil). Richard Dempsey is terrific as prosecuting counsel Horace Gilmer, while Stephen Boxer’s Judge Taylor is another modest role, perfectly performed. Andrea Davy is terrific as Calpurnia, Finch's black housekeeper who frequently holds up a mirror to his frailties.

Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation is masterfully penned – but is too long, especially in the first act. Where the visual impact of a movie scene can describe a story’s canvas in a second, dramatic narrative is a more laboured process. Lee’s original is a rich narrative, the details of which are not easily condensed into the confines of a theatre and there are moments when the story’s otherwise beautiful momentum, flags. At just over three hours, the play is a long-haul. Kander & Ebb’s The Scottsboro Boys, a musical also centred on racial injustice in the 1930s American South together with the flawed legal systems of the time, made its point as powerfully in just 90 minutes

Long maybe, but this is powerful theatre and a display of the finest acting in town.

Runs until 12th September

Photo credit: Johan Persson

My Fair Lady - Review

Wales Millenium Centre, Cardiff

*****

Music by Frederick Loewe

Lyrics and book by Alan Jay Lerner

Directed by Bartlett Sher

Charlotte Kennedy and company

It is rare that a West End production improves on the road, but so it is with Bartlett Sher’s My Fair Lady, touring the UK and Ireland after a short summer residency at London’s Coliseum.

The show, now with Michael Xavier and Charlotte Kennedy playing Professor Higgins and Eliza Doolittle, is a sensational take on the Broadway classic. The two leads fizz with a chemistry that fills the Millenium Centre, their complicated relationship evolving before our eyes. Michael Xavier is one of the country’s finest leading men of his generation and, aside from his top-notch vocal delivery he cracks the complex emotional dysfunctionality of Lerner and Loewe’s Professor.

Kennedy’s Eliza however is the show’s revelation. Not just in her stunning vocal presence, but in how she inhabits every song. Her transformation from cockney Covent Garden flower-girl to powerfully spoken young woman is mesmerising.  Wouldn’t It Be Loverly and I Could Have Danced All Night are long recognised as Eliza’s highlights – here however, not just smashing those all time favourites out of the park, Kennedy grasps the second act cracker of Show Me, transforming it into a fusion of rage, frustration and passion rarely seen on stage. Kennedy’s elegance and presence is equally astonishing, with her entrance just before the interval bejewelled and ballgowned (take a bow costume designer Catherine Zuber) ready for the Embassy Ball, proving literally breathtaking. There is more than a hint of Audrey Hepburn to this Eliza.

Adam Woodyatt makes the delightful transition from Albert Square to Lisson Grove as he takes on the role of Alfred P. Doolittle. Albeit a supporting role, Eliza’s father is a larger than life caricature of London’s working class and it takes a performer of massive character to play the role to its full, with Woodyatt a delight in both voice and persona. John Middleton’s Colonel Pickering makes for a faultless foil to Higgins, while Annie Wensak, stepping up to cover the part of Mrs Pearce on the night of this review is another treat. Tom Liggins as Freddie Eynsford-Hill gives an excellent performance of On The Street Where You Live that only adds to the evening’s delights.

The set design is ingenious, with Michael Yeargan’s scenery working well for a touring production. Londoners – who are often spoilt for cultural choice – have missed out on a local chance to catch this cast. Now touring the regions until April next year, Bartlett Sher’s My Fair Lady is, at last, unmissable musical theatre.

Runs until 26th November and then on tour

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

My Fair Lady - Review

Coliseum, London

***

Music by Frederick Loewe

Lyrics and book by Alan Jay Lerner

Directed by Bartlett Sher

Harry Hadden-Paton, Amara Okereke and Malcolm Sinclair

The plot of My Fair Lady sees Professor Henry Higgins set himself the challenge of transforming a poor Covent Garden flower girl into a passable member of England’s aristocracy. So it is with director Bartlett Sher, who defines his own challenge by having staged this famously satirical take on Edwardian England in his 2018 Broadway revival and then 4 years later transplanting that production into London’s Coliseum. It was in Guys and Dolls that Nathan Detroit sagely observed that “you cannot interpolate Chicago dice in a New York crap game”. The same is true of musical theatre, where Sher’s New Yorker’s take on this show fails to interpolate into a London venue. 

Harry Hadden-Paton’s Henry Higgins (for whom hurricanes hardly happen) and Amara Okereke as Eliza lead the cast and both are sublimely talented performers. But Hadden-Paton barely evolves from his Old Etonian caricature and Okereke, in the show’s opening scenes, fails to convince as an impoverished Cockney from Lisson Grove. From there on, the complex crucial chemistry between the pair is doomed. Only in her second act duet Show Me, with Sharif Afifi’s Freddy Eynsford-Hill, does Okereke - whose singing vocals are magnificent throughout - truly display Eliza’s passionate emotional potential.

The scenic design is curious - ranging from a meticulously created revolving interior of Higgins’ Wimpole Street home, through to economically designed exteriors that are dwarfed on the Coliseum’s cavernous stage. Sher appears to have set Get Me To The Church On Time in little more than a box-ticking version of Berlin’s Kit Kat Club and as for his enigmatic ending to the show, make of that what you will.

Malcolm Sinclair’s Colonel Pickering and Vanessa Redgrave as Mrs Higgins offer up delicious work in support and for those who have missed the magnificence of Loewe’s score, the ENO Orchestra give those wondrous melodies a sumptuous treatment.

Runs until 27th August

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

The King and I - Review

London Palladium, London



****


Music by Richard Rodgers
Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Directed by Bartlett Sher

Kelli O'Hara and Ken Watanabe

The latest revival of The King and I has a lot to live up to in this the musical’s third iteration to be staged at the London Palladium. Notwithstanding high expectations together with the show’s difficult issues that are made even more complex in a modern world of evolving values, this transfer of the 2015 Broadway revival does not disappoint.   

Staying mostly true to the 1956 Oscar-winning film that starred Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr, the story is of 1860s Siam (now Thailand), where English widow Anna Leonowens (Kelli O’Hara) has arrived in Bangkok with her son to serve as governess to the many children of the polygamous King (Ken Watanabe). Chauvinistic and stubborn, the King is prone to temper tantrums  when he doesn’t get his own way, while Anna is a respectful, warm but headstrong woman who isn’t afraid to speak her mind. While the two inevitably clash at first they soon reach an understanding, a friendship forms and an attraction develops. But The King and I is more than just a love story; it’s a tale of East meets West, of two cultures colliding as a woman who’s ahead of her time tries to educate a King who’s living in the past.

O’Hara is the flawless gem of this production. The angelic-voiced soprano exudes warmth and grace and shines throughout – her performance of Hello Young Lovers in particular is simply mesmerising.  Her chemistry with Watanabe comes into play more in the second act, notably during the musical’s highlight, Shall We Dance? which proves a joy to watch. At times Watanabe struggles with his enunciation, particularly during his performance of A Puzzlement, however he puts in a commanding performance as the King. His monarch is charismatic and playful (particularly during the scene where he dictates a letter to President Lincoln), yet fearsome when angry.

At times the musical is not an easy watch, notably with the implication that ‘West is best’ but also with the King's old-fashioned views of women and later, when he discovers the betrayal of clandestine lovers Tuptim (Na-Young Jeon) and Lun Tha (Dean John-Wilson). But while there may be troubling issues, moments of humour are dotted throughout. The children’s parade, as the King’s adorable offspring are introduced to their new teacher, is a delight. The ensemble are a classy bunch too with Naoko Mori wonderfully cast as Lady Thiang. Mori's take on Something Wonderful is one of the evening’s highlights. 

If there is a lull at all, it is during the ballet of The Small House of Uncle Thomas which drags, however it is a routine essential to the plot, giving concubine Tuptim the courage she needs to speak out. It also allows the audience to admire Catherine Zuber’s colourful costumes and the dazzling choreography from Christopher Gattelli.

Directed by Bartlett Sher, the evening makes for fine theatre, brought to life by orchestrations from Robert Russell Bennett, music direction by Stephen Ridley with impressive set designs from Michael Yeargan. With infectious songs, stunning performances and splendid costumes, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, The King and I is something wonderful indeed.

Booking until September 29th

Reviewed by Kirsty Herrington

Photo credit: Matthew Murphy

Oslo - Review

National Theatre, London


***



Written by J.T. Rogers
Directed by Bartlett Sher

The company of Oslo

Oslo, a new play from J.T. Rogers is evidently meticulously researched. It tells the story of the channel of communication brokered by Norwegians, that culminated in the 1993 handshake and peace accord between Yasser Arafat, chairman  of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister of Israel. It is a tale of diplomacy and negotiation and as a history lesson it offers moments that are fascinating.

It is also, for the most part, very well acted. Toby Stephens is Terje Rød-Larsen, a Norwegian whose time spent in Gaza suggested to him that there could well be a path to peace to be explored. Rød-Larsen opens the narrative and as the evening unfolds, holds the process together as tempers fray, although there's more than a hint of a Scandinavian Hugh Grant in Stephens’ work, which detracts from his overall impact. Other neat turns in the production come from Peter Polycarpou’s Palestinian Ahmed Qurie, Philip Arditti as an Israeli Foreign Ministry official and Paul Herzberg who who delivers a cracking take on Shimon Peres.

But research and acting do not a great play make - and quite how Oslo scooped its Tony is hard to fathom. At three hours, the play could easily lose 45 minutes – it lacks the wit to justify such a long haul, with Rogers resorting far too often to the cop-out of having his characters just shout at each other. Ultimately Oslo is a stitched together series of "behind the scenes" anecdotes with little dramatic analysis and a heavy sprinkling of bias.

There is also an underlying sadness to the whole piece - there may well have been that momentous handshake in the Rose Garden (24 years ago today), but so what? Fast forward to 2017 and it appears that little has changed . 

Runs until 23rd September

Then at the Harold Pinter Theatre from 2nd October to 30th December

Photo credit: Brinkhoff/Mögenburg

After Anatevka - Review

****

Written by Alexandra Silber

Alexandra Silber’s first novel After Anatevka is a carefully crafted study into love and life in Russia in the early twentieth century. Much like Marc Chagall was to paint enchanted images of that era, so too do Silber's words offer a painstaking picture of a world long since disappeared. 

Not just a writer, Silber is amongst the finest musical theatre performers of her generation and on both sides of the Atlantic too. The novel however marks her own remarkable and professional journey which in this instance, and unconventionally, has gone from “stage" to "page”. Read on... 

Every now and then an actress can come along who leaves an indelible impression upon a role. Think here perhaps of Imelda Staunton's Momma Rose or Glenn Close’s sensational take on Norma Desmond. Far more intriguing however, is when the role turns out to have left its own indelible handprint on the heart of its performer. 

So it was in 2006, when Lindsay Posner chose Silber to play Hodel in what was to be his acclaimed production of Fiddler On The Roof at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre. With Henry Goodman as Tevye the show was a sensation, becoming  swiftly earmarked for a West End transfer, playing at London’s Savoy for nearly two years.

Hodel of course is the second eldest of Tevye and Golde's daughters. When Perchik, the Jewish revolutionary firebrand blazes his way into the shtetl of Anatevka to steal her heart, what emerges is an onstage love story that is as sweet and inspirational as it is heartbreaking. It was 1894 when Sholom Aleichem breathed life into his fictional characters in his series of short shtetl-based yarns, collectively called Tevye The Dairyman. Some 70 years Joseph Stein was to draw on that creation in writing the book for Fiddler (a work that was only to be enhanced by Sheldon Harnick's Tony-winning lyrics). It has taken a further half-century for Silber to add a further thread into Aleichem, Stein and Harnick's golden literary tapestry.

One of the most poignant scenes in musical theatre's canon takes place on the platform of Anatevka's railway station. Some time earlier Perchik, branded as a political criminal by the tsarist regime, had been banished thousands of miles away to Siberia. His brief stay in the shtetl however had been long enough to win Hodel's committed and passionate love.  

Hodel realises that she must follow her heart to Siberia, and as the train approaches in the distance, she promises her father that she and Perchik will, one day, be married under a traditional Jewish canopy. Amidst the combined whirlwinds of political revolution, the impending destruction of Anatevka and the dispersal of its inhabitants across the globe, both father and daughter know that they are unlikely to meet again. When Hodel says to Tevye "God alone knows when we shall see each other again", the audience's hearts are broken. 

This scene is a manifestation of love at its most raw and pure. The exchange is carefully crafted prose which in the hands of skilled actors (and this scene has rarely come finer than with Silber and Goodman) can be a performance masterclass. Silber and Goodman did indeed break our hearts - but few (if any) in the audiences will have been aware of Silber's own tragedy that she brought to the role. Barely 23 years old at the time, she had borne the pain of losing her own and much loved father to cancer not long before taking on the role. The impassioned, blazing soul that fuelled Silber's performance was unforgettable.

And so, from the novel's background, to the tale of After Anatevka itself. It is a meticulously detailed story that paints a strangely recognisable picture of Russia’s imposing and corrupt hierarchy and the hardships wreaked upon those who offended the State. There are nosings of both Dostoevsky and Pasternak in Silber's work and she paints a picture of violence and violation as the backdrop to Hodel's remarkable quest to reach her betrothed and the life that they were to build amongst the salt mines of the East.

Silber's research has been thorough. Aside from studying archives of the vanished Jewish world of the Pale of Settlement she visited Siberia to understand for herself the detail and character of the region.

And yet, as well as the projecting the characters into their imagined futures, Silber also offers some charmingly imagined back-stories from the world of Anatevka that can only have come from a woman who has well and truly got under the skin of Tevye's daughters. For not only did Silber play Hodel in the UK, but two years ago in New York, when producers were searching for a Tzeitel for Bartlett Sher's (also acclaimed) revival of Fiddler, it was Sheldon Harnick himself who was to call Silber and ask her to re-visit his show, this time playing Tevye’s oldest daughter. Silber of course was again magnificent on stage and as an aside, the bond between Harnick and Silber is clear for the gifted lyricist has penned a sage and heartfelt foreword to the book.

Silber explores how the sisters grew up together. She offers Hodel's wistful perceptions on her older sister's strengths and capabilities, describing their shared childhood and how much their mother imbued in them the strengths and spiritual importance of 'tradition". The paragraphs in which Hodel recalls Golde instructing the girls in how to bake challah (the Jewish plaited loaf eaten on Sabbath) are but one example of the delightful detail with which Silber fleshes out her world.

There's also a fascinating back story to Perchik. Who would have guessed that this inspirationally handsome communist had started life as an accountant? Though while Perchik is surely no Leo Bloom, Silber breathes a fascinating life into his own troubled past  

After Anatevka is an impressive published debut. Alexandra Silber offers a profoundly perceptive yet quintessentially female take on a world in which tradition was both revered and challenged. Silber also gives us a stunning study into the power of love.

After Anatevka is published on 4th July 2017 and will be available from all good online book distributors

Fiddler on the Roof - Review

Broadway Theatre, New York

*****

Book by Joseph Stein

Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick

Music by Jerry Bock

Based on the Sholom Aleichem stories

Directed by Bartlett Sher

Alexandra Silber and Adam Kantor

Bartlett Sher’s interpretation of Fiddler on the Roof casts fresh eyes over one of the most beloved shows in the canon. Sheldon Harnick's lyrics remain as written, but much of the dance has been deliciously expanded, transforming a 20th century classic, about 19th century Russia, into a 21st century masterpiece.

Memorable Fiddlers have always been about the Tevye - and on this review visit, the much lauded Danny Burstein was replaced by understudy Adam Grupper. To be fair, as the evening played out, Grupper grew wonderfully into the role with the classic narrative losing nothing through the re-shuffle, for in this Fiddler, above all, it is the sum of its parts that define its magnificence.

Jessica Hecht's Golde is as wise and all-knowing as Harnick and Stein intended. Torn between her maternal love for her kids and her spiritual commitment to her faith, the pain as these two worlds collide with daughter Chava's marriage to the gentile Fyedka, she breaks our hearts, struggling with her dilemma. Whilst Sholom Aleichem’s characters may all have been larger than life, Hecht keeps her Golde inspirationally grounded – and beautifully voiced!

Perhaps the most enchanting dynamic on stage is the love that blossoms between Alexandra Silber's Tzeitel (Tevye and Golde's eldest child) and Adam Kantor's Motel the tailor. Silber is no stranger to the show having been a delightful Hodel in London's West End 8 years ago. Here however, and in a role that convinces as a teenager, she brings a well-crafted interpretation to the complex nuances of the young woman she portrays. Her terror at the thought of marriage to the much older Lazar Wolf is palpable, whilst her love for Motel is as believable as is heartwarming. And, of course, Silber possess one of the finest musical theatre presences of her generation, bringing a piquancy to Matchmaker that explores new depths within the famed lyrics.

Likewise, Kantor's Motel is a delight. I last reviewed the actor in his recording of Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years and it is clear that he is as comfortable in portraying a young Jewish man's angst irrespective of the century his character is placed in. His take on Motel, the charming nebbish who grows a spine, makes us love and laugh with, the tailor – with his take on Miracle Of Miracles proving a delight.

To be fair, Samantha Massell's Hodel alongside Melanie Moore's Chava both offer an enchanting and revived look as the elder of Tzeitel's four siblings - and in a nod to another understudy, George Psomas' Perchik was a class act too. 

Bartlett Sher's direction is at once sensitive and inspirational. The opening scene sees "Tevye", anorak clad in the modern day, arriving at Anatevka station, guidebook in hand. As he reads his guidebook aloud, it is clear that this Fiddler is not just celebrating the Jews of Tsarist Russia, it is also memorialising the Jewish communities of Europe, so throughly eradicated by Hitler some 40 years later and with a gruesome efficiency that the Tsar could only have dreamed of. Sher's use of the Fiddler too - weaving throughout so much of the action only enhances the music's roots. The final expulsion from Anatevka - the characters silhouetted only in relief, is as tragic as it is brilliantly simple.

It's the little touches too - as the Jews of Anatevka are dispersed we see Lazar Wolf (in a wonderful turn from Adam Dannheisser), unnoticed and seeking no thanks, slip a wad of cash into the impoverished Tevye's luggage.

Michael Yeargan’s set design is ingenious, combining simplicity with world class stage technology. In a show that memorialises the destruction of European Jewry as much as telling the fabled tales from the shtetl, characters don’t just come on from the wings they emerge, walking up steps from an upstage pit, enhancing the setting's spirituality. Some of the scenery is wooden cottages that the characters inhabit, whilst other constructions are smaller homes that hover, ghost like, above the action, suggesting the style of the Marc Chagall pictures that so famously inspired Bock, Harnick and the show's original director Hal Prince, back when Fiddler was evolving in the 1960's.

Hofesh Shechter’s choreography is visionary. His routines respect Jerome Robbin's original themes, but with more music to play with, there is even more of Bock's fabulous fusion of klezmer and cantorial to set the movement to. The big numbers of Tradition and Tevye's Dream are re-imagined here in an explosion of dance that brings this forgotten world of orthodox Judaism bang up to date. And where The Wedding is usually remembered for its breathtaking bottle dancing, Schechter doesn't disappoint - but rather expands the celebration into a joyous explosion of dance that sees the gender barriers taken down with wit and subtlety. 

There is also something re-assuringly "authentic" in seeing the show in New York, and with a significantly Jewish cast. Whilst theatre does not need to be confined to racial or gender constraints, remember that this show was originally written by the descendants of European immigrants, for an American audience. Listen carefully to the self-deprecating Jewish humour that Harnick delicately sprinkles over his lyrics and there's echoes of Frank Loesser and Damon Runyon, along with an ironic seam that continues to this day in the work of Mel Brooks and others. 

Fiddler on the Roof works beautifully on Broadway. As its timeless message demands to be unforgettable, so is this show unmissable.

Booking until 31st December 

Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown - Review

Playhouse Theatre, London

***

Book by Jeffrey Lane

Music and lyrics by David Yazbeck

Directed by Bartlett Sher

Ricardo Afonso and Tamsin Greig

Pedro Almodovar's seminal film Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown famously captured the liberated spirit of post-Franco Madrid in a story that celebrated not just the women of the movie’s title but also the Spanish capital itself. The glory of Almodovar's vision however does not translate to the stage. Whilst some of the musical’s acting may be top-notch, its plot creaks and the mania of Madrid's scenic and atmospheric spice that so imbued the movie, is much missed on the Playhouse's cramped stage.

Billed on the posters as equals, Tamsin Greig and Haydn Gwynne are Pepa and Lucia, respectively the lover and long-estranged wife of Ivan and although both actresses are sensational, this is Greig's show. Mastering the comic subtlety of anger, in a potentially Olivier winning turn, Greig alone merits the (discounted) price of a ticket. Lucia meanwhile really has suffered a breakdown since Ivan abandoned her and Gwynne captures the desperate essence of this woman’s manic fragility. Lucia’s number Invisible, a sad self appraisal of the best years of life having passed her by, is exquisite in its heart rending poignancy.

Ricardo Afonso delights as a guitar strumming taxi driver. This coolest of cabbies, (and jonathanbaz.com has consistently raved about Afonso’s genius) commands our gaze and it’s only a shame that the show does not afford his character more airtime. Willemijn Verkaik, surely the eurostar of modern musical theatre, turns in a gamely supporting role as a lawyer with a surprise up her sleeve.

Aside from the ever talented Michael Matus’ many minor roles in the ensemble, that’s it for the excellence. Jerome Pradon fails to convince that his Ivan is the irresistible swordsman the writers intend, whilst Anna Skellern’s Candela struggles to be even a two-dimensional representation of a dumb, panic-stricken model. The desired level of farce does not come easily to this show and its ridiculous sub-plot about a terrorist at large, that would have been a lame thread even before last week’s tragedies in Paris, now just seems awkwardly embarrassing.

There are other pockets of talent to be found. Ellen Kane’s flamenco-flavoured dance work (enhanced by Holly James’ outstanding movement as the Matador) is always a treat to watch and much of Yazbek’s music (including a lovely motif that offers a nod to Carmen’s Habanera) is a delight. But much like Afonso’s taxi driving, the show's lyrics career and lurch alarmingly from wittily tight to utterly trite. Fans of the uber-talented Tamsin Greig and Haydn Gwynne won't be disappointed. Fans of the movie will be.

Now booking until 9th May 2015