Musicals Shared With Friends - Review

Union Theatre, London


****

For the past decade, writer and lyricist Robert Gould has been slowly fashioning a body of musical theatre compositions, seeking to introduce more varied and original writing into the industry and collaborating with a number of talented composers - Christopher J Orton, Alex James Ellison and Rob Eyles to name a few.

Following the release of his 2014 album Words Shared With Friends his reputation has grown, and a Sunday night at the Union Theatre saw a 16 strong cast showcase a range of Gould’s work from across the years. 

Highlights from the evening were excerpts from The Wonderful Musician, two specific numbers from Gould’s most recent project performed by Hywel Dowsell and new graduate Danny Michaels. The pair sang Music Turns Me On  and  As Long As I Have Music respectively, giving very different performances and taking the audience from hysterical laughter to silence and awe. 

Unsurprisingly, the two shows in which Gould had collaborated with composer, Christopher J Orton were to prove the evening's favourites. Giving excerpts from Elephant Juice, Orton and Gould’s musical that tells of 6 characters who incidentally all confess their love to the wrong person or at the wrong time, Shaun McCourt and Brendan Matthew gave an effortlessly breath-taking duet in Perfect Stranger, alongside Lets Just Stay Friends which was given an  emotional rendition by Aled Powys Williams.

Following its successful, sell out run at Ye Olde Rose and Crown Theatre earlier this year, songs from Orton and Gould’s My Land’s Shore that told the tragedy of the Merthyr uprising, were to offer some sensational moments performed by the original London cast.

Michael Rees stunned the audience to silence with a flawless rendition of A Lonely Voice, Rebecca Gilliland gave an emotional and magnificent performance of The Way Things are and Still Even Now. A particularly strong performance was that of the all-female trio comprising Gilliland, Emma Hickey and Kira Morsley singing I know I Love Him. Together with McCourt performing the title song from My Land’s Shore, the extract showed a stunning example of some of the duo’s finest creations. 

Concerts like these should be given their dues for they enable the “musical theatre world” to find new bearings and discover exciting new writing.

Praise to Gould, his collaborators and the stunning performers he trusts with his work.

Reviewed by Charlotte Darcy and Ben Stephens

My Land's Shore - Review

Ye Olde Rose And Crown Theatre, London


****


Music and lyrics by Christopher J Orton
Book and lyrics by Robert Gould
Directed by Brendan Matthew

The company

Whisky aficionados will know the name Penderyn as that of a distinguished single malt distilled in south Wales. But in My Lands Shore, Christopher Orton and Robert Gould’s new musical, one learns so much more about the history surrounding Dic Penderyn (aka Richard Lewis), a martyr to the cause of Welsh worker's rights and suffrage.

The time and place is Merthyr Tydfil in the early 19th century, when Welshmen mined the coal and smelted the iron that built Queen Victoria's Industrial Revolution. Trade unions were as nascent as employers were ruthlessly exploitative. Branded as the show's world premiere, its development has in fact seen Orton and Gould themselves labour through workshops and concert presentations for 15+ years to reach this first fully staged production.

And much like a fine whisky can offer nosings of different scents and influences, so too are there echoes here, not unsurprisingly, of Les Miserables and also The Hired Man, although where those two shows spanned nations and decades My Land's Shore, keeps its focus tighter. While Penderyn’s story is ripe for a musical theatre treatment, there are times when Orton and Gould's writing fails to reach emotional depth. The death of a child for example should make an audience weep - here however the writers kill a kiddie so early in the first half that unlike the cared for tragedy of Gavroche's death in Les Mis, we've barely had a chance to get to know this youngster, let alone grieve their untimely passing.

Where My Land's Shore soars however is in its stirring ensemble numbers and an unwavering excellence throughout its company. Aidan Banyard leads convincingly as Richard Lewis, the supremely principled miner. Enjoying an unconventional romance and marriage with Rebecca Gilliland's Angharad, the pair solo impressively. Gilliland defining a magnificent opening with The Way Things Are as Banyard offers a powerful take on the title song. Their duet, Love On The Edge Of Our Tears is likewise, poignantly played.

There's as impressive supporting work from Michael Rees as Lewis' brother (actually named Lewis Lewis) and from Kira Morsley as Rebecca his wife, both beautifully and majestically voiced. Likewise Taite-Elliot Drew as the bad-guy Jenkins makes an impressive career debut, even if, as his character faces an anguished guilt late in the show, it is again hard for the audience to care too much about him.

There are nuggets of Celtic gold to be mined from the show’s ensemble. Hywell Dowsell as the blustering bastard industrialist Josiah Guest is a neatly fleshed out cameo and there is a moment of exquisite vocal magic as Raymond Walsh's Sean, his beautiful Irish voice backed up by Ashley Blasse's guitar work, breaks hearts with Air For A Wise Celtic Fool.

Brendan Matthew uses the compact space well with an excellent creative team. Aaron Clingham's musical direction brings out the lush charms of Orton's melodies, Joanna Dias multi-layered set is an imaginative use of wood that so easily suggests location, be it miners' cottages, chapel, or a riotous town square and there's fine choreography from Charlotte Tooth, especially amidst the raucous routine of Isn't It A Sin.

Unquestionably a flawed masterpiece, My Land’s Shore represents the stunning potential that exists in new British musical theatre writing. Matthew and Clingham have served the text well, delivering a fascinating narrative and stirring songs in an inspirational production that’s deservedly playing to packed Walthamstow houses. There’s still work to be done, but this show deserves to go on to greater things.

Runs until 26th February

Photo credit: David Ovenden