The Addams Family - Review

Curve, Leicester

*****

Music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa

Book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice

Based on characters created by Charles Addams

Directed by Matthew White

Ricardo Afonso and Alexandra Burke

The Addams Family hail from back in the day when The New Yorker magazine offered some of the sharpest cynicism in the world and with few contributors sharper than cartoonist Charles Addams, as the gifted artist created a deliciously dysfunctional Gothic clan who resided in a haunted mansion beneath Central Park. The Addams Family’s values were as inverted as they were recognisable and their distinctive Manhattan chic was to spawn television series and a movie and lead to this beloved menagerie of deeply damaged individuals becoming one of 20th century America's cultural icons.

Translating such utterly ghoulish satire into musical comedy requires brilliant writing that demands to be matched by equally outstanding performances. Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice who penned the show’s book have an excellent pedigree behind them. Paired with songsmith Andrew Lippa, the show is based on fabulous foundations and in this iteration of The Addams Family that has just opened at Leicester’s Curve, the cast unite to deliver an evening of arguably the finest musical theatre this year.

The Addams Family musical has been around for a few years now – last reviewed by this site in 2017 -  however this production takes its excellence to the next level. Alexandra Burke and Ricardo Afonso head the family as Morticia and Gomez. Burke bringing the seductive contemptousness that her most fatale of femmes demands, while Afonso adds Latin authenticity to Gomez’s delightful despicability. The couple’s breathtaking flamenco-enhanced Tango De Amor that brings the show towards its conclusion is just joyous and the hallmark of Alistair David’s classy choreography

This production’s strengths however are bolstered not just by such strong leads, but by epic casting throughout. The legendary Clive Rowe plays the genderless Fester, enchantingly in love with the Moon. Rowe is a giant of his generation and his big number, But Love, is as tender as it is hilarious. Lesley Joseph steps up to the plate as the 102yo Grandma of the family. There are few performers who can nail the bittersweet comic delivery required of a wry centenarian, with Joseph delivering in spades. Dickon Gough’s Lurch is a demonstration of understated physical comedy at its finest, while Lauren Jones as Wednesday is all that this infernally rebellious teenager should be.

The musical’s plot revolves around a deliciously improbable romance between Wednesday and Lucas Beineke (Jacob Fowler) but it is the gem of a performance that Kara Lane delivers as Lucas’s mother Alice singing Waiting towards the end of the first half, that almost takes the roof off the Curve. Credit too to Dale Rapley as Alice’s husband Mal – a tough role with few, but nonetheless very dry, sweet spots of humour. Rapley nails them all. And a nod to Nicholas McLean who makes fine work of Wednesday’s younger brother Pugsley.

The Addams Family is more than just musical comedy. It is the finest, most acutely observed satire, that is delivered exquisitely. This tour needs to lead all the way back to the West End. Musicals do not get better than this!

Runs until 10th August, then on tour

Photo credit Pamela Raith

Dick Whittington and his Cat - Review

Hackney Empire, London

****

Written by Will Brenton

Directed by Clive Rowe

Clive Rowe

This year’s pantomime at Hackney Empire is Dick Whittington, with local legend Clive Rowe stepping up to the double honours of helming the show as director as well as playing (Dame) Sarah The Cook.

The story of course is a perennial treat and there is fine work from Kandaka Moore in the title role, Hackney’s favourite Kat B as Dick’s cat Tommy. Graham Macduff is King Rat, Tony Timberlake is Alderman Fitzwarren, Aryana Ramkhalawon is his daughter Alice, Beth Sindy throws some magic into the proceedings as Fairy Bowbells and Max Mirza is Sarah's comedy sidekick, Idle Jack.

But, as ever, the night belongs to Rowe who this year surpasses himself with perhaps the best panto ever to grace the Hackney Empire’s stage. Amidst literally countless costume changes Rowe drives the evening’s comedy at a ruthlessly hilarious pace, all the while drawing great work from his supporting cast. The gags are fast, frequent and perfectly timed with none more risqué than cook Rowe entering dressed as a pepper-mill and telling the audience that he’d bought it on grinder (geddit?).

As Rowe pitches his humour perfectly, leaving both adults and children in stitches of laughter, act one closes to the scene of this greatest of dames, clad on this occasion as the ocean liner “Hello Buoys”, and singing Don’t Rain On My Parade from Funny Girl. Rowe’s credentials as an Olivier-winning star of musical theatre are long established and to see him nailing this Streisand classic is to witness genius in action. Not only that, but by including such a classic gem of a song, the show also introduces its younger audience to a taste of Broadway’s golden years. No bad thing!

Act two plays out to include our heroes stranded on Ee El Pie Island after a storm at sea. This turns out to be a psychedelic ashram (yes … me neither) which while being of tenuous relevance to the storyline, allows the show a chance to reference music from Bowie, Beatles, Madness, Elton John, The Kinks and Joan Armatrading. Absolute delight for the grown-ups. 

Cleo Pettitt has done fine design work both in the show’s scenery and in Rowe’s spectacular gowns. In the pit, Alex Maynard directs his five-piece band with finesse.

Dick Whittington at the Hackney Empjre, with Clive Rowe’s damesmanship, is one of the finest traditional pantos in town.

Runs until 5th January 2025

Photo credit: Mark Senior

Sister Act - Review

Dominion Theatre, London

**** 

Music by Alan Menken

Lyrics by Glenn Slater

Book by Cheri Steinkellner and Bill Steinkellner

Additional book material by Douglas Carter Beane

Directed by Bill Buckhurst

Lizzie Bea, Beverley Knight and company

Sister Act is everything that is great about musical theatre. The star studded cast lead the audience through the tale of Deloris (Beverley Knight), an aspiring musician who after stumbling across a gangland murder is forced to go into witness protection in a convent, all under the watchful and disapproving eye of the Mother Superior (Ruth Jones). Deloris delights as she revamps the downtrodden convent’s choir into a band of all-singing all-dancing nuns with a disco edge. 

Knight gives an utterly standout performance, her breathtaking vocals leaving the audience wanting more after every song. Her take on of Deloris is wonderfully exaggerated yet still sympathetic as the audience follow her character's journey from disco diva to a true convent sister. 

The outrageous Deloris plays excellently opposite Ruth Jones’ far more muted and restrained Mother Superior. The casting decision for Ruth Jones in this role seems to have been made more for her ‘star’ status rather than musical theatre acumen, as Jones’ vocals don’t hold weight alongside her cast members. However, what Jones lacks in singing talent she makes up for in comedic contributions to the show. Despite the supposed ‘dull’ persona of the Mother Superior, Jones brings a light cheekiness to the role with her own signature Welsh twist. It is a delight as Jones opens the show with her classic greeting of ‘alright’ and wearing Welsh dragon socks, making the role feel truly her own. 

Other notable performances come from Clive Rowe in the role of Steady Eddie and Lizzie Bea as Sister Mary Robert who both very much hold their own as solo vocalists, as well as eliciting continuous laugh out loud moments. 

Morgan Large’s set is simple yet effective with mostly static set pieces and props, allowing the cast to really take the foreground without distraction. The stage seamlessly transitions back and forth from an austere church setting to colours and lights of the disco age with at least one mirror ball on stage at any given moment. Costuming, also by Large, is delightful with the perfect amount of sequins that you would want from a big hit West End musical (by the finale each cast member is decked from head to toe in sparkles).

The entire show is entirely charming and genuinely hilarious with the cast’s joyful performances providing such an infectiously bright atmosphere that it would be a shock if anyone left that theatre without beaming from ear to ear. Sister Act really will take you to heaven and make you want to raise your voice!

Runs until 31st August

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Reviewed by Dina Gitlin-Leigh

Mother Goose - Review

Hackney Empire, London

*****

Written by Will Brenton

Directed by Clive Rowe

Clive Rowe

Hackney Empire is celebrating its 120 year anniversary with Mother Goose, an absolute cracker of a festive pantomime. Hackney’s (never hackneyed) perennial Dame, Clive Rowe returns in the title role (and in the director’s chair too) and he has never been better on this stage.

Set in Hackneywood, a parody on Tinseltown, the storyline is a simple fable of love and humanity being worth more than fame and money, with an appropriately 21st century morality pitch that shows up the shallow selfie-seeking values of the mobile phone age. There’s goodies and baddies, slapstick, perfectly pitched comedy and a slickly choreographed company, all contributing to an evening of glorious entertainment.

Kat B (another Hackney regular) is great in the comedy role of Mother Goose’s son Billy, Tony Marshall is fun as a hapless landlord (the chocolate bar routine between those two is one of the night’s comic highlights), while Rebecca Parker as the Demon Queen is as evil a villain as you could hope to boo at.

In this special 120th year there’s also a fine tribute to the history of the Frank Matcham venue, with a 5-minute whirl in the second act that pays a nod to some of the greats who’ve graced that stage - from Marie Lloyd and Harry Houdini through to Morecambe and Wise and Louis Armstrong.  

But the evening of course belongs to Rowe, whose years of panto experience allow him to direct the show brilliantly. His stand-up and put-down work is perfectly timed, a hallmark of his consummate professionalism. Rowe’s costumes are gorgeous (credit to Cleo Pettitt) and as for his voice, when Clive Rowe gets his chops around Ain’t No Stopping Us Now and later on, What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted, one is reminded quite what a star of musical theatre he is.

The sets by Imagine Theatre are colourful and lavish the five piece band under Renell Shaw are equally wonderful. Steeped in and proud of its local community, Hackney Empire’s family pantomime does not get better than this!

Runs until 31st December

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Sister Act - Review

 Eventim Apollo, London

****

Music by Alan Menken

Lyrics by Glenn Slater

Book by Cheri Steinkellner and Bill Steinkellner

Additional book material by Douglas Carter Beane

Directed by Bill Buckhurst

Beverley Knight and Company

Beverley Knight leads a cracking cast as the pandemic-delayed production of Sister Act finally arrives at the Eventim Apollo. In a glitter-ball enthused celebration of kitsch, Knight is on top form as singer Deloris Van Cartier, hiding for her life from her gangster boyfriend Curtis amidst the nuns of Philadelphia’s Church of Perpetual Sorrow convent.

The story is a Hollywood confection that taps into the joy of the human condition as Deloris brings sunshine and singing to the downtrodden sisters. Jennifer Saunders is perfectly cast as Mother Superior, catching her character’s nuances of disapproval with immaculate comic timing. Stunt-casting maybe, for Saunders cannot sing, but in a show that’s as much fun as this that’s no big deal. Elsewhere in the convent Leslie Joseph and Keala Settle are on fine form, but the standout turn amongst the nuns is Lizzie Bea’s Sister Mary Robert, displaying a vocal strength that is simply breathtaking.

Jeremy Secomb as Curtis is a delicious baddy and his take on When I Get My Baby is the best one-man tribute act to the 1970s that you are likely to see. It is Clive Rowe however as veteran cop Eddie whose soul number I Could Be That Guy offers up the standout male performance of the night.

Bill Buckhurst directs effectively within the shallow confines of the Eventim stage - ably assisted by Morgan Large’s designs and Alistair David’s choreography. Alan Menken’s score is a disco-driven collection of tunes, which while not being memorable are nonetheless gorgeously delivered by Jae Alexander’s 12 piece band.

For a night of slick West End entertainment that’s wonderfully performed, Sister Act is a delightful evening of musical theatre.

Runs until 28th August and then on tour

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Aladdin - Review

Hackney Empire, London

****

Written and directed by Susie McKenna

Clive Rowe

There’s something truly magical about panto at the Hackney Empire. Writer/director Susie McKenna delivers her 20th (oh yes it is!) festive production with a show that captures the diversity of her London patch, yet cleverly avoids cultural appropriation and all the while managing to maintain the joyous irreverence that makes pantomime such a glorious British Christmas tradition.

Set on the fictional island of Ha-Ka-Ney, McKenna’s company of Mare Street stalwarts launders the age-old Middle-Eastern cum Chinese fairytale into a 21st century iteration that it is anything but washed out. Obeying the genre’s conventions meticulously, Gemma Sutton is the titular Principal Boy (as McKenna lobs in a bravely scripted swipe at gender-fluidity too!). Sutton of course, as this website has long proclaimed, is up there with the best of her generation in UK’s musical theatre and it shows! She brings poise and precision to the role, capping it off with her wondrous voice. Her leading the company in The Greatest Showman’s This Is Me is spine-tingling.

Making his return to Hackney’s panto after a short sabbatical, Clive Rowe shares the bill-topping honours with his wonderful Widow Twankey. Showmen aside, Rowe is arguably The Greatest Dame of our time. His presence is sublime with razor sharp wit and precision timing making each one of the corniest, smuttiest gags sparkle. Rowe’s gift for pantomime is a rarity and his beautifully frocked, twerking Twankey is worth the ticket price on its own.

In time-honoured tradition, McKenna lampoons the lunacy of our leaders, with Brexit and assorted Tories coming in for some well-deserved flack. But if there is one criticism of the piece, it is the bias. Given the current debacle that is manifest throughout our political class, there is no reason to have let Labour off the hook quite so lightly.

Other top-notch Hackney regulars comprise the classy company. Notables are Tameka Empson, released by the Beeb from her duties on Albert Square to play the Empress, Julie Yammanee’s Princess, Kat B's energetic Genie and Tony Timberlake’s dastardly Abanazar. Heck, they’ve even roped in stage legend (and Mckenna’s missus) Sharon D. Clarke to voice a Goddess!

Whilst the show’s budget may not be as palladian as some, not only are Hackney’s tickets affordable but the show's professionalism and panache are a treat, well earning it the moniker of “London’s No 1 panto”. McKenna continues to create the very essence of pantomime - a show that is firmly rooted in its local community, yet packing a hilarious punch with technical excellence. (And did this review even mention Steven Edis' music, the stunning flying dragon scene or Richard Roe’s super-slick tap-dance routine?)

Meanwhile Clive Rowe's Widow Twankey, masquerading as Cher and serenading Abanazar with ABBA’s Fernando, will stay with me for a long, long time.

Runs until 6th January 2019

Photo credit: Robert Workman

Guys and Dolls Live in Concert - Review

Royal Albert Hall, London

****

Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser

Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows

Directed and choreographed by Stephen Mear

Leading cast members|

Gamblers, gangsters and nightclub singers mingle together in 1950s New York in Guys and Dolls, Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows’ ‘musical fable of Broadway’, which returned to London in concert form for just 3 performances this October. Directed and choreographed by Stephen Mear and featuring a talented cast of star performers accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, this production was filled with moments of sheer musical brilliance and perfectly demonstrated why, almost 70 years after its inception, Guys and Dolls is still one of the most beloved musicals ever written.

Assuming the lead role of big-time gambler Sky Masterson was acclaimed actor Adrian Lester. Lester is a magnetic performer with an easy charm and inexorable presence which dominated the gargantuan stage of the Royal Albert Hall effortlessly. He starred opposite Lara Pulver as Sergeant Sarah Brown, a pious missionary with a starry-eyed streak. The pair’s act one duet I’ll Know was an early indicator of the smartly cast lovers’ compatibility. Unfortunately though, large script edits that were presumably implemented in an effort to increase the show’s given its scaled-down concert form meant that the interactions between Sky and Sarah felt disconnected, resulting in much of their chemistry never being given a chance to fully blossom.

Another drawback of this usually impressive show’s concert staging was that its focus was inevitably pulled away from some of the more intimate numbers, such as Sky and Sarah’s delightful first act closing duet I’ve Never Been In Love Before. The Royal Albert Hall’s vastness left the more intimate scenes seeming a little distant and impassive, even more so when the energetic orchestra, enthusiastically conducted by James McKeon, filled every corner of the venue with rich sound.

The evenings large group numbers however energised the space quite thrillingly. The Crapshooters’ Ballet was a vibrant, frantic sequence masterfully choreographed to both showcase the virtuosity of the ensemble and emphasise the bustling frenzy encapsulated in Loesser’s score and was undoubtedly a concert highlight. The second half’s other invigorating ensemble number, Sit Down You’re Rocking The Boat was helmed by Clive Rowe with charisma and dynamism in excess.

Notwithstanding a flush of tremendous performances, the night truly belonged to actress and cabaret artiste Meow Meow, who played a terrifically funny Miss Adelaide, the sniffling fiancée of Jason Manford’s hapless crap game promoter Nathan Detroit. Perfectly balancing bawdy grit with cutesy charm, her larger than life performance commanded the stage at all times. Meow Meow’s rendition of Adelaide’s Lament, a comedic gift of a song in its own right, was an expertly mixed cocktail of neurosis, fury, and flair which encompassed the tone of the entire concert!

Reviewed by Charlotte O'Growney

Me And My Girl - Review

Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester

****

Music by Noel Gay

Book and lyrics by L Arthur Rose and Douglas Furber

Book revised by Stephen Fry with contributions by Mike Ockrent

Directed by Daniel Evans

Alex Young, Ryan Pidgen and company

A showbiz dream came true at Chichester this week when Matt Lucas, the starring lead of Me And My Girl, had to pull out of the show on doctor’s orders and company member Ryan Pidgen stepped up to the plate to take on the role of Bill Snibson. With barely a couple of hours to rehearse, Pidgen who was warmly received by the Chichester audience, was magnificent delivering an opening night performance that could have been a moment straight out of 42nd Street.

Pidgen may have been the unexpected star of the evening, but in Daniel Evans’ cast he was surrounded by the cream of British musical theatre talent. Opposite him, and in her first major leading role, Alex Young was a convincing and vocally charming Sally Smith. Interestingly, for a leading lady, the show does not give Sally too many singing highlights – but in her one stunning solo of the night, Once You Lose Your Heart, Young proved (yet again, for this website has long been in awe of her talents) why she is one of the finest performers of her generation.

The plot of Me And My Girl is a far-fetched hokum that sees the cockney working-class Snibson discover that he is a landed peer. His newly-realised upper-crust family are horrified by Snibson’s cultural roots and the narrative plays out as Snibson learns to mingle with the aristocracy, while at the same time holding onto his London heritage. There are shades of My Fair Lady in the story, (and even a couple of nods to that musical too in the second half) but where Lerner and Loewe’s foundations lay in a wondrous book, Me And My Girl sits on a far flakier fable. Snibson’s journey is all about old fashioned class and sexual prejudice and while the love between him and Sally is unquestionably deep and sincere, she is reduced to little more than a woman who has to change her role in life to win her man. Elsewhere the excellent Siubhan Harrison is reduced to playing (wonderfully) Lady Jacqueline Carstone, a beautiful aristocrat but a woman with no depth whatsoever. Take a step back and this show is a dated cornucopia of corny cliché and caricature. It is hard to believe that the modern era has seen Stephen Fry (no less) revise the book.

And yet for all its moral flaws, Daniel Evans has fashioned a thing of beauty here, drawn solely from the excellent company that he’s assembled. In supporting roles, Caroline Quentin is the dowager Duchess of Dene, while the venerable Clive Rowe plays Sir John Tremayne – another bumbling toff and the two are simply perfection. Much of the show’s momentum is carried by crass puns and double-entendres which should, by rights, have the audience groaning. Here however they are hilarious, with Evans having drilled his cast to deliver the comedy with split second timing and perfect delivery. There’s a gorgeous twist of role reversal too, as Jennie Dale takes on the role of Parchester, the landed family’s solicitor. Dale (also, always brilliant) shines like a diamond as she tap dances her way through moments of sensational hilarity.

In the pit Gareth Valentine (who not only conducts but has also arranged the show’s score) has taken familiar melodies and revitalised them, as alongside Evans, Alistair David’s choreography is slick, imaginative and impressive.

Me And My Girl’s politics may be of the dark ages – but its ability to put grins on faces and set toes tapping is the mark of a modern show that knows how to please its audience. The talent on stage here is unmatched, and for a seaside festival of song and dance, there’s nothing finer in the country.

Runs until 25th August

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Jack And The Beanstalk - Review

Hackney Empire, London

****

Written and directed by Susie McKenna

Debbie Kurup and Clive Rowe

Who is the nation’s greatest Dame? Maggie Smith, Judi Dench or Helen Mirren? Well think again, for as pantomime season descends upon us, Clive Rowe yet again claims that illustrious honour with a barn-storming performance as Dame Daisy Trott in Hackney Empire’s Jack And The Beanstalk. Who else commands such a usual flair that their entrance, in a cart/chariot drawn by a pantomime cow as they sing Winter Wonderland, other than the lovably rotund and risqué Rowe? There’s a perennially strong community feel to this panto, where TV soap star top billings are ignored in favour of Rowe (the programme suggests that Trott is his 6th Hackney damehood) supported by theatrical excellence.

Aside from Rowe’s pinpoint timing, stunning costumes (brava Lotte Collett) and THAT voice – he offers a great take on Harry Nilsson’s Without You whilst his Climb Every Mountain, sung as he follows Jack to the top of the beanstalk, will stay with me for a long time - Rowe is in great company. Debbie Kurup’s Jack is wholesome and lovable, deftly performed and of course Kurup’s voice and presence is a knockout!

A neat post-modern twist sees local hero Kat B in white-slap as a Jamaican snowman (don’t ask). His hilarious patois along with an excruciatingly funny take on Uptown Funk make for another of the evening’s delights.

There’s no need to summarise the well-worn plot though if there is one criticism it is that writer director Susie McKenna, who has written every Hackney panto for nigh on 20 years, is possibly starting to run out of steam. At close to three hours long, the multi-racial Hackney audience that ranges from toddler through hipster to grandparent, deserve more than the occasional thrown away gag about Jeremy Corbyn or Greece’s debt. 

Even if they’re all top-notch, there’s a tad too much pre-recorded celebrity voiceover – McKenna should have stopped at the genius opening projections of local newsmen Jon Snow and Robert Peston – and a glaring omission from the programme means that we never learn who are the talented duo inside what is a sensationally choreographed pantomime cow.

Mark Dickman's 5 piece band puts in fine work, Jocelyn Jee Esien and Tony Timberlake entertain and earn our boos as the Giant’s henchmen, whilst dear Julia Sutton enchants us all as Mother Nature, out to save the planet. But its Dame Clive Rowe who steals this show!

Runs until 3rd January

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying - Review

Royal Festival Hall, London

****

Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser

Book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert

Directed by Jonathan Butterell

Clarke Peters (l) and Jonathan Groff in rehearsal

There must be something in the Thames as it flows around the bend of Waterloo Bridge that enchants the work of Frank Loesser. Back in the 1980s the National Theatre gave the capital a groundbreaking Guys and Dolls and yesterday, for one night only, Jonathan Butterell directed a sensational production of Loesser’s How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (almost) next door at the Royal Festival Hall.

It’s been fifty years since How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying last popped up in the West End and Butterell was blessed with a star-studded cast to perform this concert staging. In a story that is occasionally heavy on a complex narrative, the show set in the offices of the World Wide Wicket company takes us on a whirlwind tour of ladder-climbing both literal and metaphorical, as we watch “the rise” of window cleaner J. Pierrepont Finch and his studious devotion to a self-help book on business success. In today’s parlance the show would represent a mash-up of The Office with The Apprentice and all set to show-tunes of a deliciously cheesy improbability. 

Crossing the Atlantic to play Finch, Jonathan Groff is probably best known here for his time on the US TV series Glee. Make no mistake though, Groff has serious stage credentials, with spurs earned both on and off-Broadway and stellar vocals that make Finch the true hero of the piece. It should also be noted that given the very  limited rehearsal time available, his performance oozed a charming confidence that forgave his occasional glances at the script.

Cynthia Erivo and Hannah Waddingham made for Finch’s vibrantly intriguing colleagues. As love interest Rosemary, Erivo brought a warmth and sincerity to her vocals that truly allowed us to understand her desires beyond the office walls whilst Waddingham’s Hedy La Rue brought another aspect of sexual desire to the tale in a role as perfect to listen to as to gaze upon. 

Making a rare and welcome return to a London stage, Clarke Peters’company President J.B Biggley provided a strong backbone to the office set up. Elsewhere Clive Rowe as Trimble was as ever delightful in his fleeting appearances, with Rowe’s soaring vocals lending a massive contribution, not least to the glorious ensemble numbers Company Way and Brotherhood Of Man. In another neat touch, London's Loesser cognoscenti will have noted that both Peters and Rowe include the National’s Guys and Dolls in their biographies

A nod too to Amy Ellen Richardson as Smitty and Anna-Jane Casey’s Miss Jones, who both brought quirk and charm to the office table on top of their stunning stage presence. 

Loesser’s luscious and vibrant score, boasting many forgotten and understated classics, was expertly executed under Mike Dixon conducting the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. It is a treat to hear a classic score so excitingly pitched and performed at that by a full size orchestra too.

The company’s excellence left one longing for a fully staged return of this charming old show and with such a remarkable array of talent and so finely polished too, Butterell certainly showed how to succeed in musical theatre!


Picture credit: Poppy Carter Portraits at www.poppycarterportraits.com

The Light Princess

National Theatre, London

***

Music & lyrics by Tori Amos

Book & lyrics by Samuel Adamson

Directed by Marianne Elliott

Rosalie Craig

It says much for Marianne Elliott that the National Theatre currently have three of her shows on in town. This visionary director confounds the conventional boundaries of theatre and in combining well crafted puppetry with slick animation and excellent actors continues to astonish her audiences. A George MacDonald 19th century fairy tale, The Light Princess has been transformed into a musical by Amos and Adamson and whilst the show is a visual treat, scratch the surface and the musical is found to be truly light indeed.

Amos’ melodies albeit with an occasional rock undertone, often blend into a ballad-fest, with lyrics that lack craftsmanship (one loses count of how often the clumsy phrase “H2O” appears in songs). The show has a strong message to deliver on female emancipation, but sets about bludgeoning its cause into the audience with the subtlelty of a suffragette protestor rather than a slickness of modern artistic debate. Lest the show’s message is lost, Amos and Adamson hammer it home with lengthy speeches for both prologue and epilogue and the good folk of the National (under the brilliant Lyn Haill) endorse the politics with a programme that includes 18 pages of (some political) commentary and lavish photographs, yet strangely omits a list of the show’s musical numbers. Extensive animations pepper the show, yet all this clever speech and vision do not make up for the singular failure of The Light Princess to convey its message through the genre of musical theatre. A good musical, even one with a political message, (think Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret and Kiss Of The Spider Woman or Jason Robert Brown’s Parade) should be able to tell its entire story through song and dance. Prologues, epilogues and fancy animations are tell-tale signs of writers who lack the depth or talent to fully argue their subject musically and who have taken an easy way out. The beautiful work of Macdonald’s original tale and Elliott’s stunning direction is cheapened by Amos' and Adamson’s feminist politicising, with a reference in the show to anorexia that is almost offensive. When Althea vomits through having been force-fed, should that really be a laughing point for the audience? Of course not and that moment is a (thankfully rare) episode of disappointing stagecraft.

Notwithstanding her minor flaws, it still remains Elliott’s treatment of the show that demands that this piece of theatre be given attention. Rosalie Craig is Althea, the Light Princess, onstage almost throughout and who through the devices of both beautiful human puppetry and state of the art flying technology, spends nearly the entire show with her feet off the ground. In Elliott’s War Horse, the human puppeteers “disappear” from conscious vision after about 5 minutes or so and we believe we are seeing horses on stage. In this show, the excellent Acrobats who manipulate Craig don’t quite disappear from our vision, but they do deliver an effect that surely is as enchanting as anything MacDonald could have wished for. Craig is a delight in her starring performance though she is supported by a sublime cast around her. Clive Rowe could not be a more majestic king and whilst his previous National roles have offered him better lyrics to work with, his singing in this show reminds us what a treasure of the London stage he truly is. Amy Booth-Steel’s Piper narrates and sings with flair, whilst Laura Pitt-Pulford’s gorgeously booted Falconer, gives a thrilling rock belt to a number early in the show that is one of the few musically exciting moments of the evening.

New theatre and especially musical theatre is always to be encouraged and bravo to the National and to Nick Hytner for getting behind such innovation. The show might not be the best of the bunch, but its performers certainly are.

Now booking until 9th January 2014.

The Hothouse

Trafalgar Studios, London

*****

Written by Harold Pinter

Directed by Jamie Lloyd

Simon Russell Beale and John Simm

The Hothouse is a delicious treat of a Pinter play. Unashamedly political, it encompasses sexiness, absurdity and menacing violence, as well as some brilliantly comic moments.

Simon Russell Beale is Roote, an ex-military man who leads the team at an undefined state institution, administering psychiatric treatments to its residents, none of whom are named, only numbered. John Simm is Gibbs his oleaginous but oh so perceptive number two, with eyes for Roote's job. It is Christmas, one patient has just died whilst another has just given birth to a child, apparently fathered by one of Roote's team. It is quite clear that Roote has lost his grip on managing the institution and Russell Beale plays him as a tragi-comic with gloriously controlled eye-popping incredulity. Think Basil Fawlty crossed with his long-term hotel resident, The Major and when in act two, Russell Beale directs his formidable acting firepower towards some perfectly timed slapstick involving whisky throwing and cake eating, the comedy is sublime.

By way of contrast, clean shaven Gibbs is no laughing matter at all, though his repartee with Roote is as good a double-act as you are likely to see. He has the measure of his buffoon boss, along with his colleagues and his elegant yet smarmy and duplicitous servility is another masterclass of performance. Where his fellow staffers only aspire to climb the ladder of promotion, Simms scales it ruthlessly and when his ambition and motive demand that his colleague Lamb be subject to brutal Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT), Gibbs does not flinch from arranging the shocking voltage to be applied. The reasons for patients'  detention in this facility are never made clear, but the frequent references to “the Ministry” combined with Soutra Gilmour's brilliant set depicting a greying, publicly-funded government department, add weight to the suggestion that the unit adminsters a brutally harsh response to those who seek to challenge an authoritarian regime.

Key supporting cast are Harry Melling's Lamb and John Heffernan's Lush. Both are on the faculty staff albeit with different responsibilities and both deliver impressive monologues, mastering Pinter's complex concepts and Melling's delivery of his character’s reaction to the ECT is harrowing to watch. Indira Varma is Miss Cutts, a seductively attractive staff member who, trapped in the stifling hothouse of the institution , craves male approval and knows how to use her body to attract it. That actors of the stature of Clive Rowe and Christopher Timothy have been recruited for critical but nonetheless tiny cameo roles, speaks volumes for the cache and impact of this wonderfully slick production.

It's not a long show - each act barely 45 minutes or so, but the production is an accessible collection of performances that provides The Hothouse with a very fresh interpretation as well as also making it a useful introduction to Pinter for those not familiar with the writer’s work. Encapsulating absurdity and menace, as well as outstanding satire, this company rank amongst the best to be found on a London stage.  

Runs to August 3 2013