Guys & Dolls - Review

Bridge Theatre, London

*****

Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser

Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows

Directed by Nicholas Hytner

Gina Beck and Michael Simkins

There can come a time in a show’s evolution when the chemistry of its casting leads to theatrical magic.

Chemistry? Yea, chemistry….

So it is with Nicholas Hytner’s Guys & Dolls that has been playing at the Bridge Theatre for the last 18 months but which now, with the latest luxurious additions to its company, sees this beautifully written show reach new heights of musical comedy alongside touchingly poignant humanity.

Playing Sarah Brown, Gina Beck is one of the new signings and she is simply sensational. Beck first displays her vocal magnificence in I’ll Know, a gorgeously crafted duet sung alongside George Ioannides’ Sky Masterson and a number that is rarely performed quite so powerfully. Beck goes on to hold that standard throughout the evening - even revealing a profound depth of tenderness in her connection with Arvide Abernathy (yet another recent star addition to the cast in the form of the always brilliant Michael Simkins) as he sings his worldly wisdom to her with More I Cannot Wish You. Ioannides is a masterful Masterson. Cooler than a Cuban Dulche De Leche it is clear to see why Sarah Brown falls for his charm – and his voice is a treat too. 

The show’s other two leads are Owain Arthur as Nathan Detroit, the hapless promoter of New York’s floating crap game and Timmika Ramsay as Miss Adelaide, his long-suffering fiancée. Arthur does a fine job, capturing Detroit’s wry and self-deprecating humour. Ramsay, with more mink than a mink and a bold, brazen, buxom sexuality to her performance is just terrific. Vocally outstanding, with a fine understanding of the frustrated complexities that make up her character, she’s a treat to watch – and in her duet with Sarah, Marry The Man Today, the essence of this show’s celebration of the frailties of the human character is delivered faultlessly by both women.

In short, this current iteration of the show’s four key roles, all replacements from the cast of 18 months ago, is quite possibly the best to have been performed in the UK this century.

Elsewhere Cameron Johnson has grown (if that was even possible) into the story’s lovable rogue Big Jule and if Jonathan Andrew Hume’s multiple encores for his Sit Down You’re Rocking The Boat may seem just a tad contrived, the infectious delight that Hume brings to the song is worth every repeated chorus.

Staged immersively, with platforms that rise and fall amidst the promenading audience, Bunny Christie’s design remains a sumptuous take on the Big Apple – while perched aloft, Tom Brady’s band is equally outstanding.

With the Bridge having announced that the show will close in early 2025, it is unlikely that a production of Guys & Dolls of this imaginative genius will grace a UK stage for some time. Until then, do not wait, until then, get along… 

If you’ve never seen the show before then Hytner’s production, graced by Arlene Phillips’ choreography is a must-see – and if you’ve already seen this South Bank spectacular, go again! 

Runs until 4th January 2025

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

People, Places & Things - Review

Trafalgar Theatre, London

*****

Written by Duncan Macmillan

Directed by Jeremy Herrin

Denise Gough

The titular people, places and things are those that a recovering addict should steer clear of on their post-rehab journey if they are to maximise their chances of avoiding relapse. Duncan Macmillan’s play for the most part explores the journey in rehab as Emma, an actress, played by Denise Gough first has to acknowledge her addiction to alcohol and substances, before undergoing the clinical process of breaking her addictions.

Gough’s performance is stellar, her 2016 Olivier Award clearly justified in a brilliant interpretation of agony and human dereliction. On stage throughout and aided by Bunny Christie’s ingenious set designs and a talented company we witness the hallucinogenic nightmares and pain of Emma’s addiction, before a nirvana-esque second act that sees her receptive to group therapy and her ultimate return to her parents’ home. 

The production is as uncomfortable to watch as it is brilliant. There is a macabre credibility to Jeremy Herrin’s direction of this revived production that chills in its depiction of Emma’s agonies during her therapy followed by a tragic endgame that explores the impact of her addiction on her parents, who with Emma grieve their son and her brother. This nutshell glimpse of the impact of bereavement and familial resentments is acutely perceptive, recognisable and heartbreaking.

Sinead Cusack offers a masterclass in supporting acting, delivering a memorable double-act over the course of the evening, firstly as the clinician/therapist leading Emma’s recovery and then later as her deeply damaged mother.

Gough has taken her Emma from the National Theatre, to the West End, to Broadway and now returned to London. She is magnificent - and for those that can handle her interpretation of human suffering, People, Places & Things is unmissable.

Runs until 10th August

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

Company - Review

Gielgud Theatre, London



****


Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by George Furth
Directed by Marianne Elliott

Patti Lupone

Written by a New Yorker about fellow New Yorkers, Stephen Sondheim's Company is arguably best played to New Yorkers too. The songs are legendary, but amidst Marianne Elliott’s company’s well-rehearsed accents (Patti Lupone excluded, she oozes Americana) there’s something missing from this slice of Big Apple life. Perfectly polished for sure, but it’s a tough gig to convincingly recreate Manhattan’s milieu on Shaftesbury Avenue.

In a much heralded gender swap this revival sees Rosalie Craig plays the angst-fuelled Bobbie, celebrating her 35th birthday amidst the alarm of her coterie of married buddies that she is still unmarried. Sondheim’s song cycle of a show charts her odyssey through a cityscape of dating and domestic dysfunctionality - and if the writer’s barbed observations on life veer from the cliched to the piercingly perceptive, this production delivers his songs and score magnificently.

Elliott stages the piece well as Bobbie flits from couple to couple through Bunny Christie’s ingenious set tableaux that glide across the stage, capturing the monolithic greyness of the city’s apartment blocks perfectly. Above the stage, Joel Fram's orchestra are sublime.

WIth a cast drawn mostly from the British industry's finest, the show is lavishly staged with high production values. A male trio sings and dances divinely through You Could Drive A Person Crazy, evidencing Liam Steel’s classy choreography that is magnificent again in the second half opener of Side By Side By SIde.

The red-maned Craig is gifted the lion’s share of the songs and as her Bobbie lurches through a nightmare of neuroses, Craig’s take on Sondheim’s classics is flawless. Indeed,  when sung by a woman both Marry Me A Little and Being Alive are gifted an intriguingly fresh nuance.

But for all the re-casted and re-scripted ingenuity on display, it is down to Broadway legend Patti Lupone's Joanne to deliver the evening’s unmissable moment. There’s probably no finer solo to be found in the West End than Lupone drawling and drinking her way through the tour de force that is The Ladies Who Lunch, her devastating delivery making the most caustic of cocktails. Rarely is a role so immaculately tailored to the performer.

An evening at Company is unquestionably fine theatre. Everybody rise.

Booking until 30th March 2019

Photo credit: Brinkhoff/Mögenburg

Julius Caesar - Review

Bridge Theatre, London


*****


Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Nicholas Hytner

David Calder

An immersive and ever roaming production of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar should pique the interest of any Shakespeare sort-of-fan, but throw in a killer cast of some of TV’s most talented stars showing just why they’re reaching such successes and a stunning venue to boot and it becomes unmissable.

Nicholas Hytner’s production has an almost politically apocalyptic setting with its nods to the controversial leaders of today, complete with excessive red flags, branded red baseball caps and mist growing steadily as we stumble with the characters into chaos. This setting is completed by the standing audience staring up at the moving stages, bustled about by urgent stage managers and roaring insults, chants and CAESAR! with the cast members. 

The powerhouse cast includes Ben Whishaw as a complex and sometimes overwrought Brutus who is glorious to see so up close with his twitches and frowns as he contemplates the options and reads his Stalin biographies. Michelle Fairley is Cassius, Brutus’ cunning co-leader of the coup, subtly hysterical in her bid to execute the terrible deed. Fairley has an incredible presence, perfectly encapsulating both the seedy manipulator and the faithful friend, for so often can people be both.

Adjoa Andoh’s bad-ass of a Casca is as quick to wit as to draw a weapon. David Morrissey is Mark Anthony, here portrayed as a rebel rouser, joining the street band who open the play and encouraging the rise of Octavius at its end. Octavius was a pleasure to watch as Kit Young took the role after the majority of the play in the ensemble. He really comes into his own as this cocky nephew of Caesar, primed with balloons aplenty, as the metaphorical curtain falls, to become a similarly lauded leader (because it ended so well for his uncle).

Caesar himself is a perfect casting with David Calder encompassing a man who could be deemed both a strong, brave leader or an arrogant tyrant, depending on whose asides one is more inclined to listen to.

Hytner directs with as much blockbuster flair as he can muster from his incredible cast, as do the stage managers who direct the plebeian audience in the pit. Surrounded by those with seated tickets and lorded over by scene after scene of masterclasses in the craft, the cheap seats are without doubt the best, even if you’re very aware of your knees at the two hour finish.

Bunny Christie - known for her work on The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time with Finn Ross - uses the moving block set up of the gorgeous Bridge Theatre to take us from fancy pants villa to a bright and bustling Colosseum utilising the beauty of a big black box to somehow surpass the ornate West End proscenium theatres just up the river.

This epic show is worth every foot shuffle and slightly bad back, even if only to applaud the absolutely knackered stage managers who downplay their delight at the applause from these acting giants. And with day tickets available, the play is accessible to all. It’s just cool, man.

Reviewed by Heather Deacon

Runs until 15th April

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan