Cinderella And The Matzo Ball - Review

JW3, London

***

Written by Nick Cassenbaum

Directed by Abigail Anderson

Talia Pick and Debbie Chazen

Cinderella and the Matzo Ball marks the JW3rd pantomime from Nick Cassenbaum at London’s eponymous community centre.

Talia Pick plays the titular heroine in a fantastic performance. Talya Soames as Buttons is equally strong. 

Yet again however, Cassenbaum and his director Abigail Anderson choose not to cast a man (or men) in drag for some of this classic fairytale’s famously monstrous roles. There’s scope for hideousness (which both adults and children adore) in Cinderella’s famously ugly sisters and while the competent Libby Liburd and Rosie Yadid dutifully fulfil their sisterly responsibilities with strong turns, the show would have been so much funnier if they’d been replaced by men in frocks. At long last however Debbie Chazen is perfectly (and appropriately) cast in a JW3 panto as the story’s Fairy Godmother.

It is also hard to fathom why Cassenbaum has upended the traditional narrative by making the usually anodyne (but charming) Prince Charming, in this iteration, a money-grabbing villain. There’s enough antisemitic tropery in the world as it is, without such a troublingly unhelpful blunder.

For the most part Cassenbaum's gags are weak. The one truly sparkling gem of humour is his take on Wicked’s Popular, reworked here into Secular. Josh Middleton’s musical adaptations are excellent, with Yael Lowenstein’s choreography similarly an impressive treat in the tight confines of the JW3 space.

Children will love the show with its strong acting and visuals - Cinderella's transition into her ballgown is a delight - and parents will enjoy their kids' laughter. But this show could have been so much more.

Runs until 4th January 2026

Photo credit: Charlie Flint

Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Pig - Review

JW3, London

***

Written by Nick Cassenbaum

Directed by Abi Anderson

Debbie Chazen

London’s Jewish cultural centre JW3 makes its first foray into the seasonal (and traditionally secular) world of pantomime with a schmaltzified take on the classic yarn of Little Red Riding Hood. Taking an obscure connection into the evil world of corporate greed (ergo the Big Bad Pig) and an even more obscure connection involving the dame’s flatulence, a curious tale emerges that revolves around saving the Jewish festival of Chanukah.

This is a story that the little-ones will enjoy for sure, but if a pantomime is to truly be family entertainment then there needs to be some comedy meat (and sauce) for the grown-ups to laugh at too. Debbie Chazen puts in a game performance as dame Mother Hoodman, but she lacks both the heft and the cojones to make her character soar. A decent dame needs (ideally) to be played by a bloke with the recognised gravitas that enables us to laugh both at, and with, his drag-festooned character. It’s a tough, complex, role to fulfil and one can understand the producer’s casting challenge: Who is there in the Jewish acting world that can fit that bill?

Elsewhere the company all put in a fine shift, Tiago Fonseca’s Bubbah being a classy display of physical comedy in particular. Josh Middleton (who has also arranged the show’s excellent musical accompaniment) directs his 3-piece band from on high.

This is a noble effort from JW3, albeit more purimspiel than pantomime. If there are future plans for a seasonal panto to play here then their script and casting needs a lot more work if they are to succeed in delivering festive fun for all the family.

Runs until 7th January 2024

Photo credit: Jane Hobson

Jews. In Their Own Words - Review

Royal Court Theatre, London

**

Written by Jonathan Freedland

From an idea by Tracy-Ann Oberman

Co-created by Vicky Featherstone, Tracy-Ann Oberman & Audrey Sheffield

Co-directed by Vicky Featherstone & Audrey Sheffield

The company of Jews.In Their Own Words

Jonathan Freedland’s verbatim play Jews. In Their Own Words sees a company of seven actors perform a hundred minute one-act verbatim drama that has been drawn from the words of twelve British Jews interviewed by Freedland earlier this year. It is their true stories that form the framework for much of this play that seeks to examine the history and present state of antisemitism.

The play is born from the Royal Court’s own troubled relationship with Jews. Smarting from being caught out over the stereotypical naming of a villainous billionaire in the Court’s 2021 production of Rare Earth Mettle (a non-Jewish character curiously named Hershel Fink, an admitted lapse that the Court blamed on “unconscious bias” before renaming the character as Henry Finn) Freedland was swiftly hired by the theatre to expiate their sins, taking Tracy Ann-Oberman’s original idea and setting it to paper.

The dozen interviewees who include politicians Dame Margaret Hodge (played by Debbie Chazen) and Luciana Berger (Louisa Clein) all brought sound testimony, some of it terrifyingly mundane in the racism they spoke of and much of it harrowing. What these individuals have suffered and endured is not to be criticised at all. It is however Freedland’s stitching together of their stories that has created a flawed play.

The flaws lie in the structure of the piece that at times relies too heavily on exposition, lacking dramatic initiative. The historical depictions of the tragedies of York and Lincoln are treated with a patronizing simplicity that diminishes their horror and equally, a musical number that pops up half-way through the work is both incongruous and childish. If one is going to satirise Jews on stage and in song then recognise that both Monty Python and Mel Brooks have done it before, to perfection. Freedland’s verse pales in comparison.

And then there are the glaring omissions and bias of Freedland’s work in a play that may have been better titled Some Jews. In Their Own Words. Those of his original twelve whose political stance was known, were all from the Left. It may well be the Labour Party that has had to challenge its own problems with antisemitism, but in excluding Jews from the other shades of our political spectrum, where was the balance? The clumsy and dangerous impression that has been created here is that political antisemitism only exists on the Left.

Where was the reference to the ghastly, commonplace antisemitism that so many Jewish students face on campus today? And where was any reference at all to the vile antisemitism that sees frequent calls for the destruction of the State Of Israel and which was so clearly thrown into relief last year, with calls in London for the murder of Jews and the rape of Jewish women? 

Notwithstanding Hodge’s remarkable and tragic personal history, where was there any argument to counter her harsh criticism of modern Israel? By all means let Dame Margaret have her opinion, but for Freedland to have omitted any balanced debate on current Israeli policies simply letting Hodge’s criticisms stand as an unquestioned truth, could be charitably described as his own unconscious bias. Others may call it a useful idiocy.

There has to be a good play waiting to emerge from Oberman’s original idea. This isn’t it.

Runs until 22nd October

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

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