Follies - Review

National Theatre, London



*****


Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Goldman
Directed by Dominic Cooke

Follies

Eighteen months on and with a couple of well placed casting changes Stephen Sondheim’s Follies returns to the National Theatre with the excellence of this devastating musical a breath of fresh air amidst a slew of disappointing recent openings in the capital. What sets Follies apart from so many other current shows is the meticulous detail that Sondheim weaves into his lyrics and melodies. There is an almost Shakespearean genius to the man, such is his ability to pare the essence of love, lovelessness and the human condition down to the barest, bleakest of bones.

Of Follies’ two leading ladies Janie Dee reprises Phyllis, as Joanna Riding takes over as Sally for this revival. Dee has had time to both sharpen Phyllis’ talons and harden her carapace, her every nuance carefully honed by Cooke’s perceptive direction. Dee’s delivery of Sondheim’s words wield a merciless scalpel into the failures of husband Ben. Phyllis’ big solo Could I Leave You? Proving almost bloody in its brutal dissection of her marriage. Dee savours the wit that Sondheim has bestowed upon her character. Acting through song does not get better than this.

Alexander Hanson, Janie Dee and Christine Tucker

Follies was already a five star show back in 2017. With Riding onboard however and with the elegant fragility that she brings to Sally, a level of credible characterisation that was missing on this production’s first outing, the whole piece is lifted to a higher plane. Sally is one of the toughest gigs in the canon, a faded beauty decayed into a desperate housewife, glamorously bewigged and yet ultimately a woman who on the inside, is crumbing as much as the derelict theatre around her. Serving up pathos without a hint of maudlin sentimentality Riding's heartbreaking rendition of In Buddy’s Eyes is a lament to a love that has long since dwindled - while the mental devastation of Losing My Mind scorches in its revelation of her pain. And as she rips the wig from her head during that song’s closing bars, we gasp at the brute ugliness of her depression.

Ian McIntosh, Joanna Riding and Gemma Sutton

Peter Forbes’ Buddy Plummer has grown too. There is a sleazy mania to his performance that is as abhorrent as it is compelling, especially in his Willy Loman-esque take on The Right Girl.  Alexander Hanson’s Ben offers up a brief glance into the rise and, more pronouncedly, the fall of an oleaginous statesman. Hanson performs well, but there is a tad more bedding into the role that is needed to fully convince.

The show’s supporting roles are all individual treats. Tracie Bennett, ‘still here’ from 2017 as Carlotta, remains perhaps the most diminutive of powerhouse voices to be found in the West End. Oozing classy, sassy cynicism Bennett comes close to stopping the show. She is matched though by her colleagues. Claire Moore is every inch, the most believable Broadway Baby; Felicity Lott and Alison Langer enchant with One More Kiss; Dawn Hope leads the most phenomenal tap line (and credit here to Bill Deamer’s immaculately conceived and drilled choreography throughout) in Who’s That Woman - and a further nod to Bennett who, in a display of sheer bloody stamina segues seamlessly from that number into the demands of I’m Still Here. 

Dawn Hope leads the line

The ghost quartet of the leading roles are marvellous with the ever-excellent Gemma Sutton, together with Christine Tucker, Ian McIntosh and Harry Hepple all offering the necessary passion, scorn and incredulity to make their ghost roles take flight.

It is not just Follies’ writing, but also the National’s lavish production values that define this show as a gem. Vicki Mortimer’s designs deftly blend the decay of the Weismann Theatre into the glamour of the ghosted numbers, with the subtle magnificence of the Olivier’s drum revolve taking the show through both the battered Broadway building as well as the decades, almost imperceptibly. Nigel Lilley's 20-piece orchestra is a soaring delight throughout.

A musical can be judged on narrative, music, song and dance, with Follies scoring top marks across the board. This revival offers an unmissable glimpse into the heaven and hell of humanity.

Runs until 11th May

Photo credit: Johan Persson

The Girls - Review

Phoenix Theatre, London


****


Written by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth
Directed by Tim Firth

Claire Machin, Sophie-Louise Dann, Joanna Riding, Claire Moore, Debbie Chazen

Make of it what you will, but in less than as many years, the West End has showcased two new British musicals both of which have been inspired by the true stories of naked women being presented in provocative tableaux. While Mrs Henderson Presents may have been drawn from the Windmill Girls' wartime titillating tonic, Gary Barlow and Tim Firth’s The Girls is of a more classic vintage, savouring the sauce stirred up when the mostly mature membership of a northern branch of the WI (Women’s Institute) set out to raise funds for a local hospital by posing nude for a calendar.

The true story of the Rylstone & District WI is the stuff of modern-day legend, inspiring Firth to have previously scripted both its film and subsequent stage play treatment (each titled The Calendar Girls). But he and Barlow are two northern lads who’d grown up together and despite pursue differing career paths, had long harboured the dream of co-writing a show. It was to be Barlow’s mum who convinced them of The Calendar Girls' tuneful potential.

Musicals are nothing if they do not explore the human condition - and The Girls pulses with a humanity that touches almost everyone in the audience. That it is written to be performed by predominantly older women - a casting bracket so often woefully overlooked in today's industry – is a joy in itself. Even more impressively, in filling the show’s six featured roles, the producers have done well to assemble a troupe who represent the cream of their musical theatre generation.

Joanna Riding plays Annie whose husband John (James Gaddas) succumbs to cancer, sparking the fund-raising idea. Not just a remarkable, spine-tingling performance, Riding’s role, perhaps more than any other in the canon, is also that of playing everywoman on stage. Her song Kilimanjaro touching anyone who's been bereaved and it is with the most understated pathos that she portrays the grief that is both her devastation and motivation. Her early career saw Riding garner Olivier awards and nominations by the handful. This powerhouse turn will likely see her nominated again.

Alongside Riding is Claire Moore's Chris, the feisty local florist whose idea the calendar is. Moore is another timeless West End star of remarkable pedigree who commands the stage.

Firth and Barlow’s songs have a sweet simplicity with an occasional touch of genius in the lyrics, their opening number Yorkshire, being a stirring tribute to the county’s rugged charm. There may be occasional moments of trite silliness in the wit, but these are more than made up for by the company's sheer excellence. 

Sophie-Louise Dann, herself an accomplished diva, is sensational as Celia, a retired stewardess, whose number So I’ve Had A Little Work Done is a spot-on paean to plastic surgery. Michele Dotrice’s elderly Jessie is similarly outstanding with her feisty, poignant rebuke to the advance of years, What Age Expects. Likewise, Debbie Chazen and Claire Machin bring their own characters’ anxieties to hilarious, even if at times painfully well-observed relief.

The supporting cast fill modest roles with an unassuming charm, Gaddas bringing a caring, nuanced stoicism to his decline that’s never mawkish. Likewise Josh Benson and Chloe May Jackson are a comic delight as teenage schoolkids, simultaneously discovering love and thwarting their mothers’ high-flying expectations.

Richard Beadle’s band infuses the hummable score with verve, while Robert Jones’ design, an ingenious confection of drawers and doors, outlines both the glorious majesty of the Yorkshire Dales with a cosy and well-worn intimacy of the local village hall.

Above all, the strength of this musical lies in how it is played by this wonderful cast. Against the darkest of backdrops, The Girls not only touches our hearts with its tragedy, it celebrates a self-deprecating yet very British resilience that squares up to adversity. 

In what is a story for us all, The Girls makes for a magical night of musical theatre, performed to perfection.

Away from showbiz, the Rylstone women, who set out only to generate a very modest hospital donation, have gone on to raise nearly £5 million to date. A proportion of the show's receipts are being donated to the charity Bloodwise.

Now booking until 15th July

Photo credit: Matt Crockett, Dewynters

Feature: Andrew Keates and Robert McWhir

Encore: Andrew Keates and Robert McWhir, The Landor Theatre

Those familiar with The Phantom of the Opera will know that Paris’ fictional Opera Populaire in which the show is set, is run by two charming if somewhat pompous gentlemen, M. Firmin and M. Andre, forever attending to and fussing over the requirements and the budgets of their productions, the quality of which, courtesy of the Opera Ghost, was often outstanding. Remove the pomposity (and of course a good few years) from these Frenchmen, shift the location to a quiet suburban London street and you start to come close to the talents of the creative managing duo of the Landor Theatre that are Robert McWhir and Andrew Keates.

In recent years London’s fringe musical theatre has seen a number of venues mount very impressive productions, few more trailblazing and audacious than the Landor Theatre’s. Perched above the pub of the same name, the former Functions Room (complete with dumbwaiter from the kitchen and Guinness pipes emerging from a wall) has been transformed with two tiers of seating into a rectangular performance space that feels almost Tardis-like, such is the quality of the theatre’s output. Awards and rave reviews are commonplace to this establishment (it scooped four Off West End awards this year alone) and like the Olympian achievements of recent weeks, the theatre’s acclaim has been garnered through nothing less than the complete devotion and jaw-dropping hard work of Keates and McWhir. Between them, these two men have taken innovative scores and libretti, attracted the cream of theatre’s performing and creative talents and presented imaginative productions to hardened London audiences.

In the mid 1990s Linda Edwards, who worked at the Italia Conti stage school next door, was invited by the forward-thinking landlord of the Landor pub to start a theatre upstairs. Robert McWhir first came to the theatre in 1997 with the production City of Angels, and almost immediately felt a connection with the place. After discussions with Linda, he was invited to manage the theatre, and has since worked almost continuously at the Landor, performing in and developing numerous shows. His close working relationship with Keates is evident and Andrew would go as far as to say that in Rob he has found not only a best friend but also a father figure, in terms of his professional respect for McWhir. One of the reasons that Keates wanted to work at the Landor was simply to ease the burden on the McWhir, allowing the more experienced man to evolve into the role of the theatre’s artistic director.

At 28, Keates (who is by some years the younger of the pair), became entranced with the creative potential of the Landor whilst appearing in Into The Woods. The theatre’s affinity with Sondheim’s work appealed to Keates, with McWhir then mounting a groundbreaking production of Follies. Never before had this most challenging of Sondheim scores been professionally attempted by a fringe company. Sceptics said it couldn’t be done, but Josef Weinberger Ltd, the music publisher, took a supportive approach to McWhir’s plans and established West End names such as Claire Moore and Bryan Kennedy joined the cast. Eschewing an orchestra for the plain musical backing of just a piano, the Landor production went on to win the resounding support of its esteemed New York composer himself.

The simple space and dimensions of the Landor create a hothouse of creativity. In a world where theatre workshops are commonplace, Keates is adamant that the Landor is a theatre workhouse. The building sports very few showbiz trimmings or trappings; there is but one backstage loo, and that is to be shared by all the cast. Front of house, economies of both space and cash demand that all involved in a show are forced to be imaginative in their work. But this workhouse works. Howard Goodall and Melvyn Bragg’s The Hired Man, had struggled in its 25 year life to find a professional stage upon which it could flourish. At the Landor the show didn’t just take root, it bloomed. Using the simplest of props, barrels and bales of straw, an impassioned cast took the audience through Bragg’s vast landscape of northern Britain at the start of the 20^th century and on to the horrors of the Great War. Directed by Keates and up against stiff competition, the show scooped best musical at this year’s Off West End Awards. Such is the respect that has been earned, Howard Goodall has proposed that his new musical A Winters Tale, taken from Shakespeare, be premiered at the Landor, directed by Keates, later this year.

McWhir emphasises that whilst the Landor is no more than a “theatre above a pub”, he wants it to be the best such theatre. He knows the strengths and pitfalls of the place better than anyone and is a master of working productions around the constraints and features of the space. One such feature is an entry to the backstage wings that is literally a door, centre stage-back. Nothing fancy, just a door. This doorway typically becomes a scenic feature of Landor productions and even when shows tour, the “Landor door” is an integral part of the set design, as I observed during the premiere of Black Slap that they took to Edinburgh last year.

The pair are pleased with the extent to which bold musical theatre is being embraced by London’s fringe, and look warmly upon Danielle Tarento’s recent productions at Southwark Playhouse and the volume of work that emerges from the Union Theatre. Keates, however, observes with irony that in 2011, apart from London Road, he cannot recall a succesful new musical premiere in a mainstream, commercial London theatre. Whilst the box office draw of the jukebox musical is recognised as a source of employment and wealth across the industry, both he and McWhir are sad that it has becomes increasingly challenging for new or newly-discovered musical theatre to become a financial success.

Those whom they have directed or produced hold both Andrew and Rob in high esteem. Kim Ismay, a West End actress with more years as Mamma Mia’s Tanya than it would be appropriate to mention, recently took two weeks out from that Greek idyll to perform a one-woman show at the Landor. “The intimate and surprisingly versatile space suited the piece so well,” she comments, “although bigger pieces with larger casts seem to have just as much success. Andrew and Robert simply have such passion for their theatre.” Ismay is not wrong; the pair’s passion is infectious and widely regarded. Not many pub theatres would expect The Times’ Libby Purves to even attend the press night of their show; she gave the Landor’s recently opened Curtains an impressive 4 stars.

The Landor’s is not simply a stage that is frequently hired out for other touring companies to use; the team’s talents are focussed on the productions that they mount and the theatre that they manage. As the theatre’s income is insufficient to employ anyone else, this dynamic duo do everything from directing and casting through to box office, website maintenance and programme design, right on down to cleaning and hoovering the theatre areas - including that backstage loo. Keates acknowledges that they probably do the jobs of 30 people, in a 70-80 hour working week. “When I was directing The Hired Man, I would run from rehearsal, to box office, to publicity. There is a lot of give from us here and not a great deal to take, but the rewards are huge, just not in the financial sense.”

“Venues such as the Landor make theatre as accessible and affordable as it should be, without skimping on standards or the resulting experience,” says Kim Ismay. Keates and McWhir simply do not seem to recognise the concept of skimping on standards. They aim to work with the best and produce the best.

Like the Opera Populaire, the Landor has its history, and its ghosts. McWhir recalls the death of that visionary landlord, who peacefully passed away in the flat at the top of the building, even to the extent of remembering the man’s body being taken away from the premises. Keates adds that he occasionally sleeps in the theatre (though only if a production has a sofa in the set), and that on more than one occasion he has sensed a spiritual presence in the room with him. From the quality of the shows that the Landor produces, one wonders if perhaps such a spirit is bestowing a positive aura on the theatre.

Since I spoke to Andrew and Rob, Andrew has announced that Curtains would be his last show as theatre manager with the Landor, making our conversation even more poignant. He adds :"I've had an incredible two years at the Landor, filled with hard-work, passion and determination. The pay off has been seeing the theatre develop into one of London's most successful theatres, winning countless awards and critical acclaim for productions. It's an unstoppable little theatre and one that I have been very proud to have called home."

By Jonathan Grant

For more information on the Landor Theatre, visit http://www.landortheatre.co.uk/

This article was first published on The Public Reviews