Kinky Boots - Review

London Coliseum, London

****

Book by Harvey Fierstein
Music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper
Directed by Nikolai Foster

Johannes Radebe

Strutting back into the West End, Cyndi Lauper’s Kinky Boots takes up a 16-week residence at the London Coliseum. Nikolai Foster directs, stunt-casting a brace of reality TV stars with Johannes Radebe of Strictly fame playing Lola and former X-Factor champion Matt Cardle as shoemaker Charlie Price.

Set around the turn of the century and loosely based on real events, the story moves on some clever pivots. Drag queen Lola bemoans that glamorous boots for men are impossible to source, at the same time as Price’s Northampton factory is on its uppers.  Harvey Fierstein's book sprinkles a hint of fantasy over the proceedings, as his glamorous tale of the bootmaker and the queen plays out to a spectacularly sequinned happy ending.

The role marks Radebe’s debut in musical theatre and he smashes it out of the park. Immaculate footwork is a given for the South African performer (whose accent to be fair, doesn’t quite match up to his having grown up in Clacton in Essex as the story demands), however it is not just his dance, but also his vocal strength and acting that add depth and colour to a complex role.

Cardle delivers a competent cobbler but is outshone by Radebe. Vocally strong - with the duet sung by the two leads in the first act, I’m Not My Father’s Son proving to be one of the evening’s more poignantly sensitive moments - his acting at times seems strained.

Lauren, the factory girl who falls in love with the boss, is played by Courtney Bowman in a powerhouse performance. Her solo The History of Wrong Guys (another first-half banger) is simply magnificent, with Bowman sustaining impressive energy levels throughout the show. A number of smaller roles are crucial to the story’s narrative and there are marvellous contributions from Billie-Kay, Billy Roberts and Rachel Izen that keep the evening perfectly paced. On the day of this review Joshua Beswick and Rio-Blake Power played Young Charlie and Young Lola respectively, with both boys delivering delightful work.  

The show’s creative credentials are excellent. Leah Hill choregraphs the dance-heavy production with whip-smart flair and precision. Robert Jones set design ingeniously appears to crop itself with luminous borders scaling the proscenium’s height and width – and his representation of the Northampton shoe factory is ingenious. Jone’s work is well complemented by Ben Cracknell’s lighting plots. In the Coliseum’s pit, Grant Walsh directs his nine-piece band to make fine work of Lauper’s powerful score.

With sky-high heels, a full-throttle score and a star turn stealing his every scene, this Kinky Boots doesn’t just return—it kicks down the door in spectacular style.

Booking until 11th July

Photo credit: Matt Crockett

The Nutcracker - Review

London Coliseum, London

****

Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Choreographed by Aaron S. Watkin and Arielle Smith

The English National Ballet

In a gorgeous display of Christmas tradition, the English National Ballet bring Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker to the London Coliseum for the holiday season. Aaron S. Watkin and Arielle Smith co-choreograph the piece to deliver an evening of stunning dance, music and spectacle.

The fairytale dream of the story is beautifully realised by the ballet’s company and creatives. A roster of children dance as the young Clara. On the night of this review, Delilah Wiggins was on stage, and as she fell into a deep sleep following a beautifully danced party, Ivana Bueno took over the role of the adolescent Clara, with Paulo Rodrigues playing the Nutcracker Prince who whisks her off to the enchanted Land of Sweets and Delights. Their departure, flying off in a magical sleigh drawn by a seahorse, was but one of the ballet’s stunning design touches from Dick Bird.

Act two plays out entirely in the land of sweets, where Bird has created a staging that is as visually satisfying as a box of chocolates! All sorts of confection from around the world are danced to Tchaikovsky’s timeless tunes with a corps of Wiggins’s juniors, all from the Adagio School of Dance performing a great routine as the contents of a box of Ballet’s Liquorice Allsorts. The Nutcracker's melodies of course remain a reminder of just how much the Russian composer’s music has imprinted itself onto our consciousness.

Bird’s visuals along with Leo Flint’s video designs are breathtaking, and as Sangeun Lee brings the evening’s ballet-work to a crescendo with her Dance of The Sugar Plum Fairy, the moment is exquisite.

Technically wonderful, and with the English National Ballet Philharmonic under the baton of Maria Seletskaja sounding delectable, The Nutcracker is a fabulous festive treat.

Runs until 11th January 2026

Photo credit: Johan Persson

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

Hairspray - Review

London Coliseum, London

*****

Music by Marc Shaiman

Lyrics by Scott Wittman & Marc Shaiman

Book by Mark O'Donnell & Thomas Meehan

Directed by Jack O'Brien

Lizzie Bea, Michael Ball and Les Dennis

A cast comprising both stalwarts and debutantes of the West End make Jack O’Brien’s revival of his original take on Hairspray a must-see for anyone who has craved musical theatre during lockdown’s cultural drought.

Hairspray is of course all about the power of well-integrated diversity, where life’s typical outsiders become the heroes and the bigots are the baddies. In a socially distanced London Coliseum, where the covid-compliant capacity has been shrunk from 3,000 to 1,000 it was Michael Ball who summed up the audience’s roars of rapture, by saying at the curtain-call that they had cheered like 10,000, such was the throng’s pent-up passion.

Making her West End debut – albeit with a string of regional work to her credit – Lizzie Bea  leads with a stunning Tracy Turnblad. From the moment she bursts from her vertically transposed bed, straight into Good Morning Baltimore, Bea sets the evening’s pulsating tone. Confident and charismatic, Bea wins her audience and without ever resorting to kitsch or mawkishness, she masterfully enacts Tracy’s story, winning love and empathy as she hurtles towards the show’s sublimely happy ending.

Opposite Tracy is of course her domineering mother Edna and yet again for a London Hairspray, it is Michael Ball who returns to the padded suit to reprise what must surely (after Les Miserables’ Marius) be his second signature role. The years have seen Ball age disgracefully into his Edna with him proving all the more delectably monstrous for it too. The show’s eye-wateringly brilliant comedy highlight remains Ball and Les Dennis (as hapless hubby Wilbur) duetting (You’re) Timeless To Me. The song demands perfection in its timing and nuance for its shtick to work – with the seasoned professionalism of Ball and Dennis providing a masterclass in hilarity.

The always excellent Marisha Wallace delivers a magnificent Motormouth, with a performance that both rouses and enraptures the Coliseum’s crowd. Her take on the show’s eleven o’clock number I Know Where I’ve Been sending the audience into a spontaneous standing ovation, such was her power of performance and emotion.

Rita Simons brings her 2-dimensisional character of arch-baddie Velma Von Tussle into wonderfully comic relief, while squaring the circle of the show’s key love arc, Jonny Amies (another West End newbie) offers an assuredly chiselled performance as TV show host Link Larkin.

O’Brien and his choreographer Jerry Mitchell, know Hairspray intimately and yet they still infuse a freshness and vitality into the production that makes it as relevant a comment for today as for its original target of 1960s civil rights torn Baltimore.

Outstanding musical theatre!

Runs until 29th September

Photo credit: Tristan Kenton

Ria Jones In Conversation

Ria Jones as Norma Desmond, Curve, 2017

 

Sunset Boulevard, directed by Nikolai Foster and starring Ria Jones as Norma Desmond, is currently available to stream until January 9th 2021 and my review of this remarkable re-imagining of Billy Wilder's classic Hollywood tale can be found here.

But while the show, recorded at Leicester's Curve Theatre, may be remarkable, Ria Jones' association with Sunset Boulevard is even more incredible. In 1992, Andrew Lloyd Webber unveiled the show at his Sydmonton Festival, with Jones playing Norma. It was to be some 24 years before Jones was to return to the role, this time at London's Coliseum where she played in standby to Glenn Close.

Fate intervened, and Jones was gifted the chance to lead the Coliseum's show for a series of performances while Close was unwell - and such was the strength of her performance that the Curve, together with producer Michael Harrison, created a touring production of Sunset Boulevard that opened to critical acclaim one year later in 2017.

Now, in the pandemic, it is that touring production that has been revived for streaming.

This week Ria Jones and I discussed Norma and her. Read on.....

JB:     Ria, you have returned to Sunset Boulevard in the midst of a pandemic – tell me how this current, streamed production evolved. 

RJ:     To be honest, when Nikolai Foster, the show’s director first asked me, I literally thought it would be a concert performance with me in a nice dress walking on in front of a microphone and, with the cast, simply singing the songs. But then I thought, how can we do that? Because if you just take the songs, that's not going to last for even an hour!

Then the more I learned about the production, and that there was a revolve that had been donated by Cameron Mackintosh to the theatre, and I thought, okay, that's going to be a bit different to a normal concert. Then I heard we were in costume. And then more and more, and it just sounded more as if it was going to be like the production - although it couldn't be because there were no sets! And then when I heard it was with the 16 piece orchestra, I thought, I'm in! Sadly, a lot of shows can't afford to have that many musicians, but this score begs for that cinematic sound. From that first chord that you hear in the overture, that big, low bellowing sound, it's just fabulous. And I thought, definitely. I think it's a great time to do it because of all the shows I've done, this one is so special for so many reasons. Of all the shows I'd love to sing this year, of all years, would be Sunset, would be Norma.

And then as you know, Leicester went into Tier Three. So, we thought “that would be it, that's it!” and then Nikolai said, "We're thinking of filming it....." 

To be honest, I wished I'd had a few months’ notice and could have gone on a diet because of the lockdown weight I’d put on. HD is cruel at the best of times, let alone after COVID for 10 months! I'm sorry to say this, but HD is not kind unless you're Danny Mac and you wake up perfect like that. 10o'clock in the morning and he would look just as good as at anytime of day! 

As the streamed production came together, the lovely thing about Nikolai was that he allowed us all to put our own ideas in the mix. And he genuinely meant it. This take on the musical was so new and so groundbreaking that we were all able to contribute to its creation. Dan came up with the idea of Betty and Joe underneath the stage with all the scaffolding for that scene in act two, a moment that I thought was just gorgeous. It was a learning curve for us all.

As the tech went on, we got more and more excited because we could feel and see how good it felt and as soon as we heard the orchestra play, it was like sitzprobe all over again. Actually, it was like a sitzprobe each time they played as they were in the room with us throughout, rather than hidden away in a rehearsal room upstairs. That worked especially well, helping us to connect with the musicians and we needed that even more so with there being no audience to relate the story to. 

I think for me playing Norma to an empty auditorium was just amazing because, for her, she was still in a silent world, looking out to the empty seats, the empty auditorium. Tragic in a way, but also quite beautiful because it summed up her whole world, the silent world.

Since the first streams have been broadcast I have had people say that they found my singing "With One Look" or, "As If We Never Said Goodbye," to an auditorium with empty seats was quite moving, especially today. 

JB:     Indeed – the poignancy of the empty Curve is striking. Within the show, the most moving moment for me remains when Hogeye, a Paramount lighting operator who remembers Norma from her glory days, shines a spotlight on her – sending her mind back through the decades. 

RJ:     Yeah, me too. And the music, the way the music is written for that moment is stunning, because the climax of the light hitting her on that with one look moment, that it's just absolutely glorious to play.

"I can say anything I want, with my eyes!"

JB:     It is a heartbreaking piece of humanity, tied to brilliant visuals and brilliant music.

RJ:     Yes, exactly, exactly, exactly. Because in an ideal world, on a film set, it would be those huge empty studios, and with just that one beam of light smacking her in the face. And whether I did it at the Coliseum, even when I first did it at Sydmonton, I remember that, the build-up. It's all the build-up to that moment, isn't it, for her? And it's just so beautifully written and timed.

And of course in her head, and she's just completely in her own world. Nobody else exists. Even though she sings “I don't know why I'm frightened”, it’s as if she's telling them, she's not. She's in her own little world remembering the fairy tale. It's the fairy tales, and the laughter and the joy and the nervousness of it all. She's a teenager, she's 17, again. She's 17. And that beam of light is that smacking her in the face. She's 17 and she’s just met Mr. DeMille who made her a star.

I bawl my eyes out every time, because that's the age I was when I started in the business. I was 16 doing the tour for Bill Kenwright of Joseph. During the tour, I became 17. And then I really got going when I was 17. So when he says that, "If you could have seen her at 17, beautiful and strong, before it all went wrong. She doesn't know that she never knew the meaning of surrender." And you just think, "Oh, there but the grace of God, go I!"

Ria Jones as Norma Desmond, Curve Streamed Performance, 2020

JB:     How did social distancing impact upon your performance?

Social distancing has imposed some strange and unfamiliar working practices upon the company. We couldn't have wigs. We couldn't have dressers. We had to dress ourselves and I had to do my own hair. I always do my own makeup anyway, but of course again under the scrutiny of HD cameras, you've got to think and I've got to be a makeup artist all of a sudden; I've got to be a hairdresser. Previously I’d have had three dressers. Literally, I would come off stage, and have three dressers around me to get me dressed quickly for the next scene. So that was strange. 

Luckily for me though, I could wear turbans for most of the stream. Also, luckily, I'd grown my hair through lockdown, for no other reason than just change really. And so that's why I was able to use my hair for the last scene. On tour, Colin Richmond had designed two wigs for me. The glamorous one, when she's the ingenue, trying to flirt with Joe and the hair has to be perfect. And then one for her breakdown in Act Two, that was much thinner and going grey and everything.

So I thought, how can I do that this time? And I decided to use my own hair and make that look a bit mad, so that the streaming audience see that Norma is real underneath the turban. 

All of those things were tricky, because as well as thinking about what I was singing, I was also thinking about my quick changes, doing my own hair and makeup, all while we were in the real-time of a show. It was not like we were doing a film with the luxury of stopping for an hour while I did a complete makeup change and hair change. I had five, 10 minutes to do all that in, before I was back on camera. So that was scary.

JB:      Your association with Sunset Boulevard has been remarkable, given that you workshopped the show with Andrew Lloyd Webber before performing as Norma Desmond in its first outing at Lloyd Webber’s  Sydmonton Festival in 1990. Please tell me about that journey. 

RJ:     From the outset I adored the songs, they really suited my voice. And it was lovely to work closely with Andrew on them. I mean, I remember sitting next to him at the piano, in his home in Belgrave, literally while he was writing the end of "As If We Never Said Goodbye," And he was like, do you think it is up or down? I said, no, I think it should go up at the end of “goodbye”, which it does – and then of course he added "we taught the world, new ways to dream" And I thought, yes, that's a lovely touch to the song. 

Ria Jones as Norma Desmond, Sydmonton, 1992

At first I thought I really understood why it was there. So then when I played Norma again – fast forward to the Coliseum 26 years later or whatever - oh my gosh, had I learned a lot more, because I had lived a lot more, and by then (in 2016) I was the right age. And having been in the business then for 30 odd years, and having experienced tragedy, loneliness and fear of being on my own at times all helped me get into the bones of Norma Desmond, because the one thing I didn't want was to become a caricature of her. 

Even now, in the two and a half years from doing it on tour to filming it last week, I've experienced more layers to her. 

And also, I am grateful to Norma. For many reasons, she's been a big part of my life. When I was standby to Glenn Close, Norma got me back out there into the world after my illness and that was great.

 

JB – Tell me more about the Coliseum production

RJ:     Because I wasn't actually in the show as an understudy, I was standing by in the wings literally every night. It's not every day you get to watch a Hollywood A-Listers rehearse and create and everything and that was fascinating for me. Also it was a way of me dipping my toe back into the business, but not with all the pressure of eight shows a week or everything. It was a nice way for me to just slowly get back into it and by gosh, it worked out.

Of course I was booked as Glenn's standby – so when the time came to step up to the role one had to remember that the reason you're going on is because somebody else is poorly. So as much as you can celebrate it, you have to also be respectful of that.

Ria Jones as Norma Desmond, London Coliseum, 2016

JB:     Kevin Wilson (Theatre PR)  had a ticket in the audience for your first night on at the Coliseum as Norma and he penned a 5* rave review of your performance. 

RJ:     He did. And it went viral, I think! It was amazing and as someone wrote, "It took 36 years to be an overnight success." But it's a case of being at the right place, the right time, the right musical and the right age and the right style for me.

Everything, all the stars aligned and I swear it was Victoria Wood’s heavenly influence too! She had sadly passed away the day before I got the call to play Norma at the Coliseum  and she was a good friend of mine. At the time I said to Steven Mear: "You know what? She's gone up there and thought, right. It's about time for Ria!." I swear it was Victoria.

We all know that unless you make it on TV, you could be a jobbing performer for 40 odd years. I'd rather be a jobbing actress respected by my peers any day than just being a star for the sake of it.

The sad reality of course is that stars do put bums on seats and you do lose out sometimes on jobs you should maybe get, simply because you're not famous. But I'm happy with my lot more than, more than, and so lucky to have been able to have done Sunset Boulevard at the end of what has been an awfully dark year for theatre.

But you know, we're such survivors. We really will come back better than ever after all this. And I'm just thrilled that we had the chance to do this and it's been done and received really well. Yeah!

Sunset Boulevard In Concert - At Home is available to be streamed until 9th January 2021. For tickets, click here

Man Of La Mancha - Review

Coliseum, London

***

Music by Mitch Leigh

Lyrics by Joe Darion

Written by Dale Wasserman

Directed by Lonny Price

Kelsey Grammer and Danielle De Niese

It has been 50 years since Man Of La Mancha last played in London’s West End and based upon this year’s offering from the ENO and co-producers Grade-Linnitt it is easy to see why. This curious tale of romance, chivalry and ageing, drawn from Cervantes’ Don Quixote, demands production values that are nothing short of excellent if its hidden but cheesy charms are to truly suspend an audience’s disbelief.

Here however, celebrity stunt casting has stripped what could have been a majestic musical of its Iberian magic. Kelsey Grammer leads as Cervantes / Quixote and while Grammer’s ability to carry off the close-ups of a carefully scripted TV sitcom is unmatched, he fails to fill the demanding chasm that is London’s Coliseum. Compared to the West End’s finest Grammer can sing, just. But he cannot act through his song and for a show that is built around one absolute money-shot of a number, the first act's closer The Impossible Dream, one is left wandering out for an ice cream and feeling distinctly short-changed even before the rip-off prices of a vanilla tub.

There’s mediocrity elsewhere too - Nicholas Lyndhurst (another gem of the smaller screen) puts in a throughly average turn as the Governor / Innkeeper and even Peter Polycarpou as Sancho Panza, a man who usually delivers musical theatre genius, is burdened  by director Price with a cod Spanish accent that reduces his part to little more than a Spanish waiter. Polycarpou is so much better than this.

There are some moments to the production that imbue quality. Danielle De Niese is magnificent as Aldonza / Dulcinea - her voice, particularly in the closing act, breaking hearts as she sings of her love for the dying old man. And the music is rather wonderful too with the ENO Orchestra under David White’s baton proving an absolute delight. For anyone who loves Mitch Leigh’s sumptuous score, you will never hear it played live any finer than this.

Runs until 8th June

Notre Dame de Paris - Review

London Coliseum, London



***


Music by Richard Cocciante
Lyrics by Luc Plamondon
Directed by Gilles Maheu

Richard Charest

They say context is key and thus two things are paramount prior to watching Notre Dame de Paris. Firstly, the show is firmly of its time: with Victor Hugo’s original work having been published in 1831 and taking place in 1482, equality of any sort is lacking; the second consideration is that this is a thoroughly French production and that any comparison with its West End contemporaries is moot. The emphasis here is on the "spectacular", rather than on the musical and the distinction cannot be underestimated. 

The narrative famously charts the arc of bell-ringer Quasimodo and his love for Esmerelda; a Romany who takes a poet as a husband, falls in love with a soldier and is herself the obsession of the (celibate) Archdeacon of Notre Dame. It’s quite the love rectangle, and that’s before the soldier’s betrothed comes into play. Needless to say, it does not end well - a happy ending would be difficult to achieve and at odds with Gothic literature.

In what proves to be a curious evening There are stellar vocal performances across the board; both earnest and powerful. Gringoire (Richard Charest) sets the bar high with the first number, an ode to cathedrals that firmly channels Hugo’s original objective of persuading French society to treat these architectural masterpieces with the respect he believed them to be deserving of (Le Temps des Cathédrales). This is swiftly followed by an introduction to Clopin (a commanding Jay) and, thereafter, the dynamic between Frollo (Daniel Lavoie) and Quasimodo (Angelo Del Vecchio).

Before she even steps to the front of the stage, eyes are drawn instantly to Esmerelda (a role played expertly by Hiba Tawaji). With a headset microphone and green dress Tawaji stalks the stage in a manner reminiscent of Britney Spears’ iconic I’m A Slave 4 U 2001 MTV VMA performance. All that is missing is a Burmese python.

That’s not a bad thing, however. This is more like a concert, after all - one which takes influence from Italian opera and French pop music and the effect is at once melodramatic, rousing and bold.

The principals are supported by a troupe of acrobats and dancers, bursting with energy and colour throughout, once again making this production feel more like a concert. However there is more than one occasion during which the stage feels too big for this grand vision, and challenges the decision to put this on at one of the West End's largest venues.  

Despite the lead vocals being sung live, they sit atop a prerecorded and heavily produced backing track and while the musical support from English National Opera’s orchestra, under the direction of Matthew Brind, is a nice touch, it feels token. Ultimately it is nigh-on impossible to tell what is being performed live and what is not. Performed entirely in French, the production is localised for the British audience with surtitles set atop the stage. Given that each number’s substance is thin, the need for the textual assistance slowly wears off; watching the performers is enough to grasp the storyline. 

Ultimately this is what hinders the production from packing a punch. This is a show built on a series of songs that fail to carry a narrative thread effectively. But for a musical spectacle, perhaps that’s not necessarily too important after all.

Runs until 27th January

Reviewed by Bhakti Gajjar

Photo credit: Alessandro Dobici

Nutcracker - Review

Coliseum, London


****


Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreographed by Wayne Eagling

One of the best-loved ballets, Nutcracker returns to London’s Coliseum and is a real festive treat from start to finish. 

Wayne Eagling’s lavish production for the English National Ballet, which premiered in 2010, is set on Christmas Eve. A young Clara is enjoying her parents’ Christmas party, where she is gifted a Nutcracker doll by her godfather Drosselmeyer, toymaker and magician, and shares a dance with his nephew. Later that night she dreams of an enchanted world with Nutcracker, who becomes Drosselmeyer’s nephew, the evil Mouse King and his army, and the Sugar Plum Fairy and her prince. 

Tchaikovsky’s score is brought to life by the English National Ballet Philharmonic Orchestra and is paired with fine performances from members of the English National Ballet. Rina Kanehara is graceful and elegant as adult Clara, and shares brilliant chemistry with both Fernando Carratalá Coloma as the Nutcracker and Jeffrey Cirio as Drosselmeyer’s nephew. The Sugar Plum Fairy’s pas de deux with Cirio was one of the show’s highlights. Credit must also go to the young performers from Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, sure to be stars of the future, particularly the young Clara and Freddie, danced by Sophie Carter and Oscar Williams respectively.

This Christmas classic is a feast for the eyes thanks to the spectacular set and a wealth of stunning costumes courtesy of Peter Farmer, including the Sugar Plum Fairy’s beautiful Swarovski-studded tutu. It’s a somewhat dark production at times, with the evil Mouse King making his presence known even in the second act, but there are warm moments tinged with humour, notably during a winter scene complete with snowball fights and ice skating mishaps. It is in the second act that the production really comes into its own, with dances from around the world followed by the Waltz of the Flowers all showcasing the talents of the English National Ballet. 

At times it does get confusing with the Nutcracker and Dr Drosselmeyer’s nephew switching back and forth, particularly for younger members of the audience, and a slight niggle is that the hideous Mouse King does outstay his welcome in Act II. That said, Nutcracker is a charming and enchanting production sure to entertain and inspire people of all ages. 

There may be three versions of Nutcracker on in London this Christmas, but a standout company of dancers, magnificent score and the lavish surroundings of London’s Coliseum all combine to ensure that this festive treat is not-to-be-missed!

Booking until 29th December

Reviewed by Kirsty Herrington

Swan Lake - Review

Coliseum, London


*****


Music by Tchaikovsky
Directed by Konstantin Tachkin

The Corps de Ballet

It is all too rare that this blog visits the ballet for it is, quite simply, a treat to be able to sit in the Coliseum and savour the St Petersburg Ballet’s Swan Lake that is here in London for a fortnight.

The tale is a classic. Prince Siegfried falls for the beautiful Odette who has been placed under a spell by the evil Rothbart, condemning her and her peers to live as swans until the spell can be broken. The ballet is enchanting and under the vision of the company’s founding director Konstantin Tachkin, the interpretation is riveting.

As the Disney corporation discovered decades ago, you can’t beat a fairy tale for a ripping yarn.  These ancient fables are typically simple, easily defined, make our imaginations soar, and are built upon strong moral foundations. But long before Disney, the Russian Tchaikovsky recognised Swan Lake’s magic, going on to write a score that is chock full of  absolutely banging tunes. Aside from those richly symphonic familiar melodies that we all know and love, the work is littered with exquisite references that draw upon Latin and Baroque influences to name but two. And to have the opportunity of hearing the score played live by the magnificent  ENO Orchestra (under the baton, on press night, of Vadim Nikitin) only adds a further layer of delight to an already fabulous occasion.

Ballet of course demands that its narrative be played out through dance. Movement and nuance are everything - and Tachkin has coaxed virtually flawless work from his entire company. Prima Ballerina Irina Kolesnikova plays Odette (and also Odine, Rothbart’s daughter - google for a more detailed plot summary), bringing perfection in her poise and presence. Compelling us to empathise with her plight, Kolesnikova is a picture of enchanting athleticism, while her pirouetting (and at a ridiculous rpm!) is almost Regan-esque in its intensity. Denis Rodkin dances Siegfried - a man who looks as good as he dances and, to use the Cockney vernacular, is clearly as fit as a butcher’s dog. His powerful moves appear effortless - and as he picks up and spins Kolesnikova, we have a rare chance to witness poetry in motion.

It’s not just these two though. Dmitriy Akulinin brings a captivating menace to Rothbart and in the ensemble there is excellence too. Sergei Fedorkov’s Jester is a delight, pirouetting and cartwheeling across the stage with as much acrobatic talent as dancing skill in his delivery. Likewise, the Four Little Swans’ routine provides another delicious moment, while the entire Corps De Ballet are just immaculate - not only in their dance - but in how they hold themselves poised and still on both sides of the space, frozen in time for what must be agonising minutes, framing the action that's playing out centre stage 

The production’s sets are as enchanting as the tale with Act 2 in particular, set in Siegfried’s castle, bearing the Gothic illusional finesse of an MC Escher graphic. In short, a marvellous evening's dance and a production that should appeal to both connoisseurs and novices alike. Now that’s what I call ballet!

Runs until 2nd September

Chess - Review

Coliseum, London


*****



Music by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus
Lyrics by Tim Rice
Book by Richard Nelson
Directed by Laurence Connor

Tim Howar and Michael Ball

Chess, born out of the collaboration of Tim Rice’s wit and the musical genius of ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson has long been regarded as a fusion of 1980s culture, kitsch and cliché – and for the last 30 odd years, London’s producers have shied away from reviving a show that once dominated the West End.

But for one month only and backed by a budget that itself reflects a fusion of subsidy and commerce, producers Michael Grade, Michael Linnit and the ENO have assembled a cornucopia of talent and technology, that blasts the show into the 21st century.

The plot revolves around the once-glamorous world of the international chess circuit and, in a metaphor that for so much of the last 70 years was true to life, reflects the conflict between the USA and (what was) the USSR, or Russia in more modern parlance. Michael Ball is Anatoly the Russian Grand Master. Opposite him, Tim Howar is Freddie Trumper his American counterpart, while in the wings are Cassidy Janson’s Florence (Trumper’s second) and Alexandra Burke who plays Anatoly’s wife Svetlana.

As the tale unfolds, classic East v West tropes are laid bare – though from a political perspective the programme notes comment on the production’s timeliness, with today’s relations between the West and Russia turning cold again. Some may argue that they were never really warm, but it nonetheless remains a breath of fresh air from London’s theatrical community to see that in 2018 it is still Russia, rather than the USA’s current administration, that poses a more significant threat.

Rice’s original story boils the politics down to a neat (if implausible) romance that develops between Anatoly and Florence. Along the way there are tantrums from the American, a defection, and in Michael Ball’s rendition of Anthem, surely up there as one of the best Act One closing numbers ever, a spine-tingling reminder of the beauty and passion that can truly be evoked by a love for one’s country. 

There’s actually so much more to this musical theatre extravaganza. Lavishly deployed projections and digital imagery serve not only as backdrops – but also to broadcast much of the musical’s highlights to the massive, ingenious displays. The multi-screen styling is multi-purposed, for not only do the (on-stage) video cameras serve to highlight the televised nature of the much of the narrative, they also enable those in the Coliseum’s cheap seats (correction, there are no cheap seats in the Coliseum) to have a decent view of the action.

Some of the show’s songs are among the finest in the modern canon. The second half kicks off with Howar’s One Night In Bangkok, here transformed into a festival of circus skills from the ensemble along with stunning video work from Terry Scruby. The musical highlight of the show’s impending endgame is the powerfully poignant ballad I Know Him So Well, sung by Florence and Svetlana. The projected live video of Cassidy and Burke hints at a wonderful throwback to the BBC’s Top Of The Pops – though younger readers may rather conclude that this show is emphatically putting the X-Factor into musical theatre.

Howar has a massive number late on with Pity The Child, an excoriating study of childhood neglect. Done to perfection, this song should make hairs stand on end – Howar is good, for sure, but he needs to dig a little deeper. 

Credit though to Lewis Osborne on guitar. It cannot be that often that the (80 strong!) ENO Orchestra get to deliver such a rock-heavy score and they do it here, under John Rigby’s baton, magnificently. Osborne’s riffs in Pity The Child are sensational.

Amidst the talent and technology, there’s time for some tongue in cheek too, with an Alpine-clad musician knocking out Thank You For The Music on the accordion, as a backdrop to one of the mountain-top scenes.

Under Stephen Mear's visionary choreography, the dance is spectacular. Mear moulding his company into routines that are imaginative and provocative. A nod to Fosse in the bowler-hatted, umbrella wielding (oh-so British) Embassy Lament is a touch of wonderful flair.

If you can get (or afford) a ticket, go and see this show, if only because the score is unlikely to be played quite so sumptuously ever again. The whole production makes for an evening of stunning musical theatre.

Runs until 2nd June
Photo credit: Brinkhoff Mögenburg

Bat Out Of Hell - Review

London Coliseum, London

****


Music & lyrics by Jim Steinman
Book by Jim Steinman & Stuart Beatttie
Directed by Jay Scheib

Andrew Polec and Christina Bennington

Jim Steinman’s Bat Out Of Hell has just landed in the West End and with no intention of being a quiet neighbour in theatreland either. From the onset the audience are confronted with an immense overture of the loud rock delights that feature in this epic production.

Steinman is of course best known as the co-creator of 1970s rock megastar Meat Loaf, and while a familiarity with the singer’s work will only enhance the show, it is far from a prerequisite.

A familiar tale of forbidden love serves as the story’s template, swerving more often into rock opera rather than jukebox musical. Imagine a gothic West Side Story replaced with the flames and ruin of a dystopian Manhattan driven by rock power ballads and one begins to grasp the tone of the show. 

Leading the cast is Andrew Polec’s young Strat, who with his gang of “eternally” 18 year olds seeks to win over the love of the newly turned 18 and beautiful, Raven played by Christina Bennington. She’s been kept prisoner in a high tower by her over bearing parents (Rob Fowler and Sharon Sexton) who as a duo work brilliantly off each other, delivering some of the evening’s best comedic moments.

If it’s at times slightly cheesy, the show is nothing if not true to the theatrical nature of Meat Loaf as an act - the audience on board with the campery and making the journey even more special. 

It is hard to single out cast favourites, with every name on the bill delivering vocal work that is hair-raisingly brilliant. Emma Portner’s choreography is spectacular, only adding to the immensity of the experience, as director Jay Scheib succeeds in incorporating visual effects that immerse the audience further into the tale.

The songs play out with an operatic fluidity as unnecessary dialogue has been mercilessly trimmed. Bat Out Of Hell is all about the music and as one classic number follows another, so too do the audience seem to channel their own energy back to the actors. By the finale the whole crowd are on their feet, screaming to the Coliseum’s lofty rafters, craving more.

If you're a Meat Loaf fan - the show is five star bliss, but even if you’re not just go and wallow in a night of premium rock opera. Side effects may include feet stomping, feelings of joy and acute whistling of songs upon leaving the theatre. Like a bat out of hell, get yourself tickets before they're gone gone gone.

Runs until 22nd August
Reviewed by Josh Kemp
Photo credit: Specular

Carousel - Review

Coliseum, London

****

Music by Richard Rodgers

Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

Based on Ferenc Molnar's play Liliom as adapted by Benjamin F Glazer

Directed by Lonny Price

Alfie Boe, Katherine Jenkins Gavin Spokes, Alex Young and Brenda Edwards

Rodgers and Hammerstein considered Carousel to be their finest work. The show is this year's semi-staged Coliseum offering from Michaels Grade and Linnit and they have laid on a sumptuously sized cast and orchestra that bring a rarely encountered richness to the famed musical.

The story based on the Molnar's original Hungarian fable is a latter-day fairytale, suggesting that true love can conquer all and that within even the darkest most damaged souls, there is the capacity to love and to be loved in return. It's a sound and wholesome precept for sure, but this ain’t Beauty And The Beast. The argument at the core of Carousel suggests that domestic violence whilst frowned upon is not only acceptable, but can also be bearable so long as the woman truly loves her abusive partner. It is truly a dated yarn, from an era of ghastly sexual politics.

Putting issues aside, the songs are magnificent - though the show's casting, even if commercially platinum-plated, is artistically curious. The star-crossed leading characters of Julie Jordan and Billy Bigelow are played by uber-diva Katherine Jenkins and the megastar of musical theatre that is Alfie Boe. The pair's vocal excellence is beyond comparison – but the chemistry between them lacks sparkle. Jenkins too often seems to forget that this Coliseum gig is live musical theatre rather than an opera or a recording studio. Her flawless voice is not matched by an ability to act through song and she fails to make us truly believe in her journey.

Thankfully, the show’s supporting roles are marvellous. Alex Young - who must surely rank alongside the most gifted performers of her generation - gives a perfectly pitched Carrie Pipperidge, with immaculate timing, voice and presence. Her take on Mister Snow is a treat, while alongside her, as the eponymous hard-working Enoch Snow, Gavin Spokes is another comic gem. Geraniums In The Winder has rarely sounded so deliciously, puritanically hypocritical as it does here.

Derek Hagen's Jigger Craigin is a seedy menace - again performed with wit and conviction, Brenda Edwards breaks the Coliseum's hearts with a stirring You'll Never Walk Alone and even the modest character of Mrs Mullin, the carousel owner who offers a sensitively nuanced shading to Billy's complexities, is wonderfully played by Susan Kyd.

A mention too for Amy Everett as the teenaged Louise Bigelow, whose second act Ballet is beautifully delivered.

As if Boe and Jenkins wasn't enough for the coach parties, Nicholas Lyndhurst has been hauled back to the West End for a turn as the heavenly Starkeeper. Of course his performance is divine, he'll get a few more bums on seats and thankfully Lyndhurst is not really required to sing.

However – what truly sets this production of Carousel apart is the visual (and aural) prominence afforded to the full ENO Orchestra, sat in their raised pit. The melodies are the finest in the canon and under David Charles Abell's baton, as the timeless Carousel Waltz plays out it is entirely possible to consider that this may be the classic score's most glorious realisation on this side of the Atlantic, if not ever.

Lonny Price assembles a strong creative team to enhance the show's imagery. Mark Henderson's lighting serves well amidst the economically designed set - with James Noone's projections effectively creating the New England coastline as Josh Rhodes' dance routines also serve to drive the narrative.

A pricey ticket maybe, but there's much to enjoy in riding this Carousel.

Runs to 13th May

Photo credit: Tristram Kenton

Ria Jones Plays Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard - Review

Coliseum, London

*****

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Book and lyrics by Don Black & Christopher Hampton

Directed by Lonny Price

Ria Jones

Last night, following the indisposition of the show's leading lady, Ria Jones was called upon to play Norma Desmond.

Theatre PR Kevin Wilson was in the audience and with his permission, I am proud to share his review here.

The West End and Broadway is littered with real-life cases of people taking over in a starring role through illness or misfortune and shows like 42nd Street even use it as the main story frame. But those of us fortunate to personally know Ria Jones, who stepped up to the plate so heroically in Sunset Boulevard last night when Glenn Close was taken ill, know that she is already one of our greatest Musical Theatre stars, yet largely unknown as a "face". 

At 19 she had been the youngest actress ever to play Eva Peron in 'Evita', followed shortly by her stunning West End debut in 'Chess' as both Svetlana and Florence. Grizabella in 'CATS', Fantine in 'Les Miserables, The Narrator in 'Joseph And His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat' Liz Imbrie in 'High Society' Reno Sweeney in 'Anything Goes', 'The Witches of Eastwick' all followed among many other notable roles... Hell, she even created the role of Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber's original Sydmonton workshop. 

Born to play this flashy, dramatic, highly operatic role, she was always billed as The Alternate Norma but few expected her to get to actually don the turban. Last night she did with just a few hours notice. And she stormed the stage and took the roof off the building. She must have been terrified (and exhilerated in turn) as she uttered Norma's first words off stage and descended the massive staircase to the stage below and a sea of disappointed punters. But she won them over with a performance that was pure CLASS.

There had been blood on the carpet in the box office as puce-faced theatregoers waving self-print tickets costing hundreds of £££ in the air demanded their money back (no chance, there) – and they delayed the show by 20 agonising minutes. Thanks to just 3 puny notices, hundreds more in their seats weren't aware anything was wrong... Then the theatre manager (poor man) took to the stage with a microphone and announced Ria was in the lead. Someone behind me in the stalls shamefully shouted out loudly "GIVE US OUR MONEY BACK!" There was no large scale booing but much murmuring and muttering then her army of fans – me included - many in the gods having bought tickets at just an hours' notice screamed and shouted and clapped her in. 

"I know you are in for a treat and it sounds like many of you here know already and agree with me," the apologist manager finished with final rejoinder to the neersayers. 

And Ria was S-E-N-S-A-T-I-O-N-A-L. Backed by the 51-piece ENO orchestra (who all applauded her off stage after the curtain call) she has never sounded better... this was HER MOMENT and she knew she had to be better than she's ever been before. She hit every high note like a clarion bell. Her final, thrilling defiant "They'll say Norma's back at last ...With one look I'll be me!" silenced any doubters that they were seeing an inferior performance... and the crowd went absolutely wild. 

At the curtain call, co-star Michael Xavier bowed down before her on stage and producer Michael Grade was first to grab her in the wings as the sound of the cast applauding her enveloped her. A class act, indeed and one I am so priviliged to say I witnessed up close and personal from the front row. It was a night I will never forget.

Siobhan Dillon, Michael Xavier, Ria Jones, Fred Johanson