The Sound of Music - Review

Festival Theatre, Chichester

****

Music by Richard Rodgers

Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

Book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse

Directed by Adam Penford

Gina Beck

Chichester’s regular audience will enjoy Adam Penford’s take on The Sound of Music. Following hard on the heels of the venue’s production of Sondheim’s Assassins, a show that is likely to have made an uncomfortable or even incomprehensible impression upon many of the south coast’s venerable gentlefolk, this hardy perennial from Rodgers & Hammerstein and set in 1938 Austria delivers, for the most part, an evening of absolute delight.

Gina Beck takes on the role of Maria, the local nunnery’s wobbling wimpled postulant who learns that her heart’s desire is to be found not within the convent, but rather beyond the abbey walls and in the arms of local hero and father of 7, the widowered Captain von Trapp.

Beck is quite simply the sound of musical magnificence. Rodgers & Hammerstein wisely gave her character the lion’s share of the show's (many) big numbers, and from the moment Beck rises from a trap door, sprawled across a local mountain top and singing the title number, she sets spines a’tingling. Whether partnering the show’s (excellent) company of kids or Janis Kelly’s equally wonderful Mother Abbess, Beck’s singing is a dream and her casting is an inspired choice.

Kelly of course has the responsibility for the act one closer of Climb Ev'ry Mountain which she delivers flawlessly. Study the programme notes and gasp at Kelly’s operatic credentials, for to hear her and Beck alone is worth the price of a ticket! Equally entertaining are the wonderful Emma Williams as the Captain’s briefly-engaged fiancée Elsa Schraeder and Ako Mitchell as Austrian impresario Max Detweiler. 

If there are flaws in the show they are that Edward Harrison’s von Trapp never quite matches Beck’s excellence and equally that the production’s casting seems clumsy. When Nazis and their sympathisers are played by performers of colour, what should be the horrifically racist impact of the swastikas that adorn the show’s post-Anschluss final act, is muted. The creative team should have thought longer and harder in this regard.

Designer Robert Jones works his usual magic on the Festival Theatre’s wondrous space, his work ingeniously transforming the stage from abbey to mountain top to the von Trapp residence. Likewise, Matt Samer and his 14-piece orchestra offer up a gorgeous interpretation of Rodgers’ timeless melodies. Audiences will not be disappointed.

Runs until 3rd September

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

White Christmas

Curve Theatre, Leicester



****

Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin

Book by David Ives and Paul Blake

Directed by Nikolai Foster

Emma Williams, Danny Mac, Dan Burton and Monique Young

There are few shows as comforting and traditional at this time of year as Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. It’s a corny old yarn for sure that sees Dan Burton and Danny Mac playing Phil Davis and Bob Wallace and two ex-trouper/troopers who team up with the Haynes Sisters (Emma Williams and Monique Young) to put on  a show in Vermont, and rescue the business of their former and much loved commanding officer General Waverly who since the end of World War 2, has been running an upstate Inn and making horrendous losses.

Strip away the seasonal feel, and the story crumbles under close scrutiny. But with Berlin’s classic numbers and in the gifted creative hands of director Foster and his choreographer Stephen Mear, the evening becomes a fabulous feel-good delight.

Foster has established form in coaxing excellence from Mac and Williams, but it is Mear who offers the lucky citizens of Leicester their biggest Xmas treat by taking Burton and Young away from his usual seasonal offering at Paris’ Theatre du Châtelet, to their native side of the English Channel and pairing them at the Curve. These two actors have seen recent years allow them to develop an intuitive connection in their dancework – they surely have to be the finest movers in the nation’s musical theatre corps, proving this again with their  phenomenal footwork in the show’s second half opener I Love A Piano.

Mear of course delivers excellence from across his ensemble, with strong performances from Garry Robson as Waverly and from Wendy Mae Brown as Martha Watson, the General’s much put upon, (but ultimate) sweetheart and, on press night, the cutest turn from Georgia Stewart as his young granddaughter Susan.

A seasonally busy Jason Carr has done beautiful work arranging the Songbook classics, while the seven piece band, under Neil Macdonald’s direction, take the packed Curve houses all the way back to the 1950s – heck, the snowblowers even deliver a venue-filling blizzard as the audience delight in a singalong of the title number.

White Christmas maybe as cheesy as a fine old stilton, but it’s still first-class festive fayre!

Runs until 13th January 2019

Photo credit: Catherine Ashmore

Half A Sixpence - Review

Noel Coward Theatre, London

****

New Music & Songs by George Stiles & Anthony Drew

Original Songs by David Heneker

Book by Julian Fellowes

Directed by Rachel Kavanaugh

Charlie Stemp (on banjo) + Company 

This website has already reviewed Half A Sixpence in both its Chichester and West End iterations, however an invitation to meet some of the show’s talented cast and take a peek backstage proved irresistible.

Josh Adams who’d not yet seen the show went along.... 

It's rare to watch a West End musical that is so wonderfully British - and Half a Sixpence really is just that, in so many ways.

The direction, choreography and music of the piece frame the energy wonderfully. Amongst the songs, Look Alive captures the boyish behaviour contrasted with the strict discipline of the workplace, while the title song is sung with such innocence and young love by lead characters Arthur Kipps and Ann Pornick, that you can almost feel the warmth in the auditorium.

Meeting Charlie Stemp who plays Arthur Kipps before the show, together with other cast members was a joy. And even more so, to discover that Stemp has the same laddish, comical yet sincere energy in person as he portrays on stage. Not only is his singing and acting fantastic but Stemp makes the choreography look like spur of the moment celebratory leaps of joy as he makes discovery after discovery throughout Act 1.

Other exceptional work comes from Bethany Huckle as the naughty playful Flo, Sam O'Rourke in the ensemble and of course the stunning Emma Williams as Helen Walsingham, Kipp’s alternative love interest. Williams is slowly becoming a legend of our time, consistently glorious to both watch and listen to.

While the above mentioned are particularly impressive, Half A Sixpence is undoubtedly one of those shows with the ensemble at its very heart. From the hustle and bustle of frolics at work through to bat and ball on the lawn, Andrew Wright’s choreography looks completely at home, at times going right to the edge of the Noel Coward Theatre’s tight playing space.

On as Ann Pornick for the night was Rebecca Jayne Davies, who like Stemp delivers a wonderful balance of youth, innocence and sincerity as her relationship with Arthur develops from childhood sweethearts. Davies yet again proves that the quality of London’s understudies remains utterly perfect

The show oozes charm from start to finish and leaves its audience beaming from ear to ear. In dance routines of breathtaking complexity glasses, curtains, bouquets and more are thrown across the stage and not a single one is dropped.

Stiles and Drewe’s musical additions to the 1960s original keep the charm and energy flowing throughout, all excellently executed by musical director Graham Hurman. The seamless transition from pier to parlour, that never sees the show lack pace, reflects slick direction from Rachel Kavanaugh.

The show builds to a flash, bang wallop of a finale. Long may it continue!

Booking until 2nd September

Reviewed by Josh Adams

Half A Sixpence - Review

Noel Coward Theatre, London


****

New Music & Songs by George Stiles & Anthony Drew
Original Songs by David Heneker
Book by Julian Fellowes
Directed by Rachel Kavanaugh

Devon-Elise Johnson and Charlie Stemp

The musical Half a Sixpence bounds into the West End from Chichester, newly adapted by Julian Fellows, with a spring in its step and an infectious grin. The story of Arthur Kipps, a lowly haberdashers' assistant who comes into money but ultimately questions what happiness it brings, is brought to life in a visually beautiful production directed by Rachel Kavanaugh.

The well known 1967 film of the musical (after the original 1963 stage production) was based on the HG Wells novel Kipps, A Simple Soul. In an Edwardian seaside town, Kipps, coming into an inheritance, has his head turned by upper class Helen Walsingham while his heart lies with his childhood sweetheart, scullery maid, Ann Pornick. Kipps & Helen are engaged to be married yet the Walsingham family, the epitome of Edwardian snobbery, only wish to use Kipps for his fortune. Helen tries to "make a gentleman" of her commoner beau but Kipps realises his happiness lies "within his own kind". The script, though full of punchy one liners, is light on heart and emotion.

Fortunately, the staging and choreography is top-notch with an exceptionally talented ensemble singing and dancing faultlessly. Andrew Wright's choreography is full of inventive mannerisms and the energy created is infectious. Flash Bang Wallop at the end of the show is a tour de force bringing the audience collectively to its feet.

Paul Brown's set design, concentric circles of revolving stage, creates a fluidity to the production with seamless scene changes that makes the stage seem vast. From a seaside pier to the ballroom of a mansion, each scene is placed perfectly with artistry, while using the minimum of props.

As Arthur Kipps, Charlie Stemp is glorious. A dancer to the tips of his fingers, he looks totally at ease taking the lead in nearly every number. Charming, committed and cocky, Stemp makes Kipps incredibly likeable. It would be good to see more emotion when in turmoil (this Kipps shows more love for a banjo than any woman) but Stemp commands the stage and was a joy to watch.

Emma Williams is spot-on as the rather unsympathetically written Helen, with perfectly clipped speech, elegant manner and singing that plucks at the heart strings. Devon-Elise Johnson is a delightful Ann, not only singing from the heart but imbuing every line of dialogue meaning. As Ann's friend Flo, Bethany Huckle adds depth and warmth to her supporting female character and her skittish duet with Johnson, A Little Touch Of Happiness is the act one highlight.

Julian Fellowes' script offers more than a nod to his juggernaut TV success of Downton Abbey with his dowagers Mrs Walsingham (Vivien Parry) and Lady Punnet (Jane How). Both actresses relish their scenes, How particularly eliciting howls of laughter with every hilarious line. Perfect for the role, she gives a master class in taking the stage and working an audience.

George Stiles & Anthony Drew's new and additional songs work, for the most part. In the overly long first act, Just a Few Little Things is brilliant, however, some of their new material feels unnecessary. The second half motors along with Pick Out A Simple Tune becoming a modern day classic - it is absolutely the best number seen in this or any show for quite some time.

This is a show that will make you smile. It will make you tap your feet. It will probably make you go home singing on the tube. And that can't be a bad thing.

Booking until 11th Februuary 2017
Reviewed by Andy Bee
Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Half A Sixpence - Review

Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester


****



New music and lyrics by George Stiles And Anthony Drewe
Original songs by David Heneker
Co-Created by Cameron Mackintosh
Book by Julian Fellowes
Directed by Rachel Kavanaugh

Devon-Elise Johnson and Charlie Stemp

Half A Sixpence headlines Chichester's summer season this year and with Cameron Mackintosh co-producing, it's a rather grand re-working of Beverley Cross and David Heneker's 1963 musical. The original numbers have been reworked by Stiles and Drewe with a few new songs added too, in what is a light-hearted and delightfully dated snapshot of the English class system and its social mores around the turn of the 20th century.

The show remains based on H.G.Wells' novel Kipps: The Story Of A Simple Soul but these days no respectable take on the Edwardian era would dare show its face without Julian Fellowes, Downton Abbey's esteemed progenitor, popping up somewhere in its DNA. Fellowes has been dutifully hired to re-write the book and to be fair, he's made a decent fist of it. But with one eye perhaps on a transatlantic export/transfer and the potentially short attention spans of our American cousins, the storyline has been kept tissue-paper thin.

Set in coastal Kent, Arthur Kipps is a humble working class lad who falls in love with the equally lowly Ann Pornick. Upon inheriting a fortune he finds himself escalated to the “above-stairs” world, where a new romance emerges with the wealthy Helen Walsingham. Trials and tribulations follow, before an ultimate marriage to one of his paramours, all played out to a relentless moral backdrop that true love is more precious than material wealth. 

Originally a vehicle for the 1960's idol Tommy Steele who played Kipps, nearly every song featured his character and the reworked show upholds this premise. Charlie Stemp, an actor who has only played featured parts to date, is thrust into his first leading role and he shines. Fine in both movement and voice, Stemp is on stage virtually throughout and truly leads the cast. All of his songs are a delight, however the tender charm of his first half opener (the title song) along with the rumbustious romance of The One Who's Run Away which kicks off act two, display the range of the man's talents.

Devon-Elise Johnson's Ann is an Essex-infused delight. She was first reviewed on this site in 2013 where (as a supporting performer) her starring role potential was clearly visible even then. Johnson is a marriage of cockney charm alongside musical theatre excellence - a highlight being her take on Heneker's Long Ago, a beautifully reflective piece. 

As the quintessentially proper Helen, Emma Williams is, as ever, magnificent. Vocally gorgeous, Williams also offers the evening's briefest of dips into poignant pathos. Offered one of the newer songs to shine in, Believe In Yourself, throughout Williams re-asserts herself as one of the leading ladies of her generation.

Emma Williams and Charlie Stemp

Fresh from playing alongside Williams in Mrs Henderson Presents, Ian Bartholomew turns in a cracking cameo as Chitterlow a writer who more than loosely mirrors Wells himself. Bartholomew has the presence and panache to drive the role along with a particularly corny chapter of the narrative magnificently, bringing an overstated flamboyance that complements the show like a fizzing cocktail and is entirely in keeping with his character.

Downton enthusiasts will love the waspish sparking between dowagers Mrs Walsingham and Lady Punnet (Vivien Parry and Jane How respectively). Fellowes is no fool and has been wise to replicate the acid style of the TV series’ clashes between Maggie Smith/Penelope Wilton, which make for fine entertainment.

Stiles and Drewe's input is a curate's egg. Their contributions to (a lengthy) act one don't compare well to Heneker's original numbers of 50 years ago and if one or two of those compositions were dropped it would be no bad thing. However, after the break, their work is revelatory. Their song Pick Out A Simple Tune is the closest thing to a showstopper seen in new musical theatre writing, offering an anarchic beauty (largely fuelled by Andrew Wright's outstanding choreography) that as each new verse and key-change reveals itself, leaves one wishing the song would never end. It really is that good!

Rachel Kavanaugh's direction is masterful, playing her company well on the concentric revolves of Paul Brown's set. Truly charming, Half A Sixpence is flawlessly performed and well worth a seaside jaunt to Chichester.

Runs until 3rd September
Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Ian Bartholomew Talks About Mrs Henderson Presents

As the 2016 Olivier Awards ceremony draws closer, new musical Mrs Henderson Presents is nominated in four categories. 

Ian Bartholomew is up for Best Actor In A Musical and I spoke with him about the show.

Ian Bartholomew

JB:    Ian, what attracted you to Mrs Henderson Presents?

IB:     I was working with Terry Johnson (who has both directed and written the book for Mrs Henderson Presents) in Oh! What a Lovely War at the Theatre Royal Stratford East and he was doing some demos for this show. So I went along, did the songs, read the script and thought, you know what? I'd really like a crack at this. 

Parts for gentlemen of a certain age don't come along like that. There's a bit of a love interest, there are some cracking songs, there are a few laughs and my character Vivian Van Damm is very much at the centre of the show. Towards the end of the first half when Van Damm sings his big ballad Living In A Dream World, it takes the show to a different area. It’s not just about the nudity, the musical and the fluff that everybody sees. There's heart and tragedy to it. The war and the Holocaust are happening and it takes the show into a place that you don't expect.

JB:    You mentioned Oh! What A Lovely War a musical that offers a particularly powerful message about the 1914-18 conflict. Here, your character is telling a very difficult message about the time of the Second World War. Tell me your thoughts on the potential of musical theatre to educate.

IB:    Education is not a word that you'd normally associate with musical theatre, though I don't mean to denigrate the genre in any way. I think any good theatre should make you think. When it makes you think, it may make you want to go and read up on the subject you've seen. You may talk about it with people and all good theatre should do that. Particularly with Oh! What A Lovely War which was, (and I use this word sparingly because it's used far too much) an "iconic" show. It did something that nobody had expected, packing an incredibly powerful message wrapped up in this confection of an end of the pier show.

I think that juxtaposition is what worked for Oh! What A Lovely War, making it so powerful and I think, Mrs. Henderson has elements of that too. 

JB:    What has it been like to work on the development of a new musical?

IB:    It's always been very intense. Terry knew exactly what he wanted from the show. He's no fool, our Terry. He's a real craftsman and a showman. 

JB:    Were you involved much with Don Black, the show’s lyricist, as the production developed?

IB:    Don was always around and very supportive and encouraging. Of course the creative process as regards the writing was always done elsewhere. They’d take it away to be fashioned and hammered out in a room somewhere else, as we were going on with our routines and scenes. 

JB:    What has it been like to work with two of musical theatre’s most talented ladies, Tracie Bennett and Emma Williams? 

IB:    Tracie and I have worked together a lot over the years. We did Guys and Dolls together in Sheffield actually where she was Miss Adelaide to my Nathan Detroit. That was great fun and we developed an understanding and a language of how to work with each other. 

Tracie approaches it in a completely different way to me. Both of us respect each other's way of working. We just sort of go with it and whatever comes out of it we then put together and make it work. We do laugh a lot. Tracie can be very blunt and I quite like that. I'd rather know where I am then somebody hedging around it. We have a very easy relationship on stage and we support each other a lot.

With Emma, she's just got this glorious voice. She's very particular in how she works, crafting things and you just let her get on with it. 

What I tend to do is to let things flow around me and see how I react to it. I never go into a room with a very fixed idea of what I'm going to do, I let it develop. Whereas Tracie and Emma had started very quickly to have a very clear idea of what they were doing and I would just go with it. They're both fantastic in their separate ways. They fulfil their roles within the show, I think, brilliantly.

JB:    And finally, what else would you like to say about Mrs Henderson Presents? 

IB:    I'm very proud of it. I think it's a well-crafted piece of work that is new, original and British. It’s about a part of the British character that I think was very prevalent during the War and I think is very important to be remembered.

I also think it's quite a brave show to put on. It's an “old-fashioned, modern” musical. I know that may sound odd but the story is very relevant to the time in which the show is set. It's like an old musical but it's not, because you know, 20 years ago you wouldn't have been able to put something like this on. I'm just very proud of it. 

JB: Thank you very much for your time and good luck for the Oliviers this weekend!

The Olivier Awards are presented this weekend. Mrs Henderson Presents is booking until 18th June

Mrs Henderson Presents - Review

Noel Coward Theatre, London

****

Music by George Fenton & Simon Chamberlain

Lyrics by Don Black

Direction and book by Terry Johnson

Fresh out of the ‘Bath’ as it were and straight into London’s West End comes the eagerly anticipated transfer of last year’s adaptation of the film Mrs Henderson Presents. Perhaps most commonly known to most as the ‘striptease revue film’ starring Judi Dench, Will Young & the late great Bob Hoskins. Mrs Laura Henderson and her girls bring us straight to the heart of an austerity Britain, with the women and the workers of World War 2, providing a much more gut-wrenching hit than one might have imagined. 

The show is a glorious step back into the good old days of great British revue and sits comfortably when jumping between both the on and offstage lives of its characters. Delivering equal measures of comedy and song there is also Terry Johnson’s fabulously risqué book-full of one liners to make more than your hairs stand on end. Credit here also to Johnson’s direction, which alongside Don Blacks lyrics provides captures much of Britain’s earlier theatrical heritage. The book offers all the ingredients of a hit, with just the right amount of pathos and pain on display. George Fenton and Simon Chamberlain’s score serves the piece accordingly, adding a variety of flavours that all evoke both the era and the show itself. The only missing ingredient for this ‘revue’ would have been the delicious addition of an Overture and/or Entr’acte to the proceedings, that could perhaps have paid homage to some of the great British musical classics.

Helming her ‘Revuedeville’ Girls - the fabulous Tracie Bennett steals the show and the laughs with some outstanding lines and a wonderfully driven and deliciously dirty Mrs Henderson. Bennett gives an effervescent portrayal of wit, charm and sincerity that may well go on to pay dividends for her come awards season. And whilst it is left to Bennett to steal the laughs, Emma Williams has no problem in stealing our hearts with a beautifully epic portrayal of the wonderful Maureen. Williams again delivers comedy and heartache in abundance, providing another award worthy performance to add to her catalogue of recent successes. A special nod must also be given to Lizzy Connolly, Katie Bernstein and Lauren Hood, leading their fellow ensemble of girls through a whirlwind performance of both excitingly comical and poignantly beautiful work when it comes to Mrs Henderson’s show itself. Throughout, the ensemble provide a sparkling array of classic musical theatre magic, with production numbers such as the wonderful Mrs Henderson Presents led by Samuel Holmes and What a Waste of a Moon, with its beautiful choreography from Andrew Wright. 

With a wonderful supporting design by Tim Shortall, and some inspired musical direction of this fine new score from Barney Ashworth, Mrs Henderson Presents gives us more than a glimpse into the bleak and backstage struggle of Britain in the midst of crisis - and perhaps this is where both show and story triumph. It is what is going on behind the curtain that makes Mrs Henderson Presents quite such an epic statement on the country’s chaos. And, indeed, ultimately makes Laura Henderson herself quite the empowered and driven ambassador at the helm of her show, and our story. Mrs Henderson Presents certainly doesn’t fail to capture our attention - but quite unexpectedly it manages to capture our hearts as well.

Now booking until 18th June 

Guest reviewer: Jack Clements

Photo credit: Paul Coltas

Mrs Henderson Presents - Review

Theatre Royal, Bath

*****

Music by George Fenton & Simon Chamberlain

Lyrics by Don Black

Direction and book by Terry Johnson

Tracie Bennett

A musical can only be as good as its underlying book – and in Mrs Henderson Presents, the show’s fable couldn’t be more strong or poetic. Based upon the 2005 movie, the true story tells of Laura Henderson, wealthy widow and owner of London’s Windmill Theatre, who sought to halt the venue’s falling revenues by putting on shows of naked girls. Britain’s censorship laws were fierce at the time, forbidding nude performers, but in a bid to circumvent the Lord Chamberlain’s disapproval, Henderson, along with close adviser Vivian Van Damm, concoct a revue that will feature naked women but in still life tableaux. The Windmill’s success was assured and as war with Germany broke out in 1939, so did the Windmill never close, always packed with troops enjoying morale boosting visits even through the darkest days of the Blitz and in its own way capturing the essence of British resilience.

The story works on so many levels. Laura Henderson herself is an independently minded woman, ahead of her time. Van Dam is a Dutch Jew, painfully aware of his family’s destiny in continental Europe, the Lord Chamberlain is a deliciously blustering (and compromised) political buffoon (who one can easily imagine lived in Dolphin Square) and then there are the girls. Invited to contemplate performing in the nude, the show picks out their anxieties, aspirations and in the case of Maureen, a Lyons’ nippy who much like Mack and Mabel’s Mabel Normand is discovered by Mrs Henderson and fast becomes the star of the show, a poignant love interest too.

Terry Johnson’s book (and Johnson also directs) in conjunction with Don Black’s lyrics precisely fillets the shows emotions. There’s comedy that includes moments of fabulously rehearsed plank-based slapstick, naked men’s bottoms and a sprinkling of Carry On infused knob gags - a seam of humor which if mined responsibly can always prove eye-watering. But there is also the pathos of Laura Henderson’s love for her theatre and ultimately her girls, set against her own mortality and failing health. There’s the tragedy and passion of the war – and there is the portrayal of the girls’ journey to their nude performances, delivered without pulling any punches, but which is at all times beautiful, tasteful and not once gratuitous.

Making a welcome return to the English stage, Tracie Bennett plays Laura Henderson with her usual perfection in poise, presence and performance. Believable as a wealthy lady bucking the disapproval of her peers, Bennett commands the stage. Vocally magnificent, with Whatever Time I Have, along with a massive finish to If Mountains Were Easy To Climb Bennett reminds us what a star of today’s musical theatre stage she truly is. More of this woman, please.

Ian Bartholomew is Van Dam, bringing a carefully crafted compound of comic bluster with profound pathos to his part. There’s smutty genius in his number Rubens And Renoir, that sees him explaining the concept of nudity to the girls (in a scene that using a hugely oversized picture frame, speaks volumes just in imagery) – whilst Living In A Dream World offers just enough of a carefully weighted glimpse into his agony at what is happening across the North Sea.

Maureen is played by the truly scrumptious Emma Williams – whose voice and movement are exquisite. We see her rise and fall in love and in moments that wrench at heart strings, Williams is always on point, never sentimentalising, just delivering. Her number Ordinary Girl tells of plaintive aspirations, whilst her duet with Matthew Malthouse’s Eddie, What A Waste Of A Moon is a vocal and choreographic treat. Indeed, huge credit to choreographer Andrew Wright who at time brings traditional music hall, gorgeous tap routines and some moments of glorious ballet to the show.

Graham Hoadly’s Lord Cromer, the Lord Chancellor, is yet another turn from this gifted performer that defines comic acting through song, as Mark Hadfield serves up a treat as a stand-up comic, part narrator, part teller of gags that are as old as the hills, yet which still raise a chuckle.

The show’s nudity demands a professional bravura from its actresses and as Williams leads the line, she is ably backed by Katie Bernstein, Lizzy Connolly and Lauren Hood who all bring a respectful, tasteful dignity to their roles – beautifully sung and acted.

George Fenton and Simon Chamberlain have written a score that defines England through the 19th and 20th centuries. There is much of the music-hall in some numbers, whilst the Lord Chamberlain’s Song suggests a nod to Gilbert and Sullivan. Their lampooning of the Germans as the war rolls on and creation of melodies that define a sense of national pride, offer a musical take on history that speaks loud and clear to a modern audience. Theirs’s is beautifully crafted work, alongside Tim Shortall's inspired set design and Richard Mawbey's wonderful wig work.

The orchestra is under Mike Dixon’s baton and it is clear that this gifted music-man has had much to do with the show’s evolution. It was the Dixon and Johnson team (with Bartholomew starring) who last year so wonderfully revived Oh What A Lovely War! At Stratford East and there is just a touch of how that show marked The Great War, in how Mrs Henderson Presents tackles the war with Hitler.

Mrs Henderson Presents is innovative new writing – beautifully staged and so wonderfully British. Only dipping the briefest of toes into Bath’s delightful Theatre Royal, this show demands a transfer to the West End.

Runs until 5th September

A Spoonful Of Sherman - CD Review

*****

Just released on CD, A Spoonful of Sherman is a delightful recording that preserves one of the most sparkling revues of recent years. Staged at the St James Theatre in 2014, the show captured the songwriting genius of Richard and Robert Sherman. I reviewed it then (here) and an extract of my review, now to be found quoted on Wikipedia reads “It is a wonder that this charming show has not been staged before. Amidst all of Broadway’s giant songwriting partnerships, none reaches out to the child within us quite like the legacy of the Sherman Brothers. Cleverly crafted songs that speak of hope against adversity, written in verses that talk to every age.” Listening to the CD now, those words ring ever true.

The two disc compilation not only includes the show’s music, but also Robert Sherman’s son Robbie’s commentary that affords a remarkable insight into the lives of his father, uncle and grandfather. Aside from Disney classics that included The Jungle Book and Mary Poppins, the Sherman brothers penned soundtracks for other studios’ movies such as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Slipper And The Rose. Few other movie scoring partnerships have matched their prodigious output.

Robbie Sherman conceived the show with musical director Colin Billing – and it is Billing who accompanies on piano throughout – assembling a lineup of some of the UKs finest musical theatre performers. Leading ladies Emma Williams and Charlotte Wakefield sing with Stuart Matthew Price and Greg Castiglioni, with solos and close harmonies that make an exquisite collection.  

As expected there are lavish nods to the Shermans' most famous works. Williams’ Feed The Birds and her later duet with Price in Doll On A Music Box / Truly Scrumptious capturing the magic of the originals and imbuing them with a contemporary poignancy. The CD brims with moments of wistful reflection for those of us old enough to have had these songs as the soundtrack to our childhood.

Castiglioni contributes a noble Bert from Mary Poppins with Step In Time, whilst his Ugly Bug Ball is a comic treat. Mention too to Price’s Poppins number – A Man Has Dreams – another gem. Wakefield leaves her mark of youthful excellence on the show’s title number, whilst also reminding us of quite what a gem The Jungle Book’s My Own Home truly was. 

Not just about the big movie numbers, there is a nod to the Sherman Brothers’ oft forgotten contribution to Tin Pan Alley that includes Price’s take on the 60’s classic You’re Sixteen along with Tall Paul.  

Robbie Sherman has inhertited the family’s musical genes and the album also includes a couple of numbers from his own work Bumblescratch – but it is in his appreciative commentaries on his forebears that so much is revealed. Robert Sherman was amongst the US troops that liberated Dachau and thus bore witness to  the depths of man’s inhumanity. In the post-war years and as the Cold War prevailed, this knowledge gives an added depth to the purest sense of human optimism that underscores the brothers’ There’s A Great Big Beautifiul Tomorrow and the timeless (and to be fair, often infuriating!) simplicity of It’s A Small World (After All).

Offering so much more than just a collection of beautifully performed songs, this is a lovingly crafted tribute to a pair of the 20th century’s cultural giants. A gorgeous CD and not just for lovers of musical film and theatre, A Spoonful Of Sherman appeals to the child in us all.


Available to purchase at:
http://www.simgproductions.com/Records/A_Spoonful_of_Sherman.html 

West End Recast

Duke Of York's Theatre, London

*****
Directed by Adam Lenson

Every now and then the planets align and an occasion of breathtaking excellence is created. So it was at the Duke Of York’s Theatre, where Adam Lenson's revue West End Recast was staged for one night only. An ingenious conceit - invite the best of West End talent to sing numbers that for reasons of age, race, gender, physique, whatever, they would be unlikely to perform in a regular commercial casting. Though this review features only a few of the sixteen performers, without exception all were outstanding, with turns ranging from comic brilliance to spine tingling magnificence.

Emma Williams got proceedings underway as a Diana Ross inspired Billy Elliott singing Electricity and as she warmed the crowd up so followed the incredibly voiced Jon Robyns with I Cain't Say No from Oklahoma!. Robyn’s be-suited straight-faced take on Ado Annie was to prove the first pastiche highspot of the night. Other first half gems included Gareth Snook's sublime interpretation of Sally Bowles' Cabaret. Bowler hatted and with spread legs suggesting a nod to Fosse (notwithstanding a bulging crotch) his red-stockinged chanteuse was a blast. Martin Callaghan was listed to sing A Chorus Line's Dance Ten Looks Three, but actually opened his routine with I Hope I Get It from the same show, making a witty if ironic and poignant reference to his own need for a job in the light of Stephen Ward's untimely closure. Simon Bailey's rarely heard Make Them Hear You from Ragtime proved the most stirring moment of the half, as he powerfully brought home the message of the song's plea for liberty, given a distinct twist sung by a white man. Closing the act, Nick Holder sung Defying Gravity in an arrangement that was both soulful and outrageous. Written by Schwartz to be sung by an adolescent student girl, to hear the modern classic performed by a beautifully voiced but nonetheless portly and grey-haired man, summed up the quirky brilliance of the show.

Frances Ruffelle opened act two with Wilkommen from Cabaret as the show’s gartered, gamine, Emcee. Fresh from her Paris focussed cabaret set, Ruffelle's accent was perhaps a tad more French than German, however her neatly choreographed take on Two Ladies, accompanied by the gender-reversed Snook and Callaghan was a hoot. Laura Pitt-Pulford was then to give what must surely be the most re-imagined Tevye ever. Her take on If I Was A Rich Man displayed her beautiful voice having an almost klezmeresque authenticity whilst her performance suggested a Jewish Princess with movement that simply sizzled. Michael Matus defined the coruscating bitterness behind Joanne's The Ladies Who Lunch from Company in a performance that was powerful and at the same time wryly tragic.

Bailey returned as Disney's Ariel with a hilarious Part Of Your World, but it was with Tracie Bennett's Ol' Man River, a song claimed originally, classically and above all, appropriately by Paul Robeson, that for the first time amongst the audience, jaws dropped. Bennett's take on the Showboat classic was so moving and inspirational that it almost prompts a recasting of the show, with the diva playing Joe the muscle bound dock worker.

It was left to Cynthia Erivo to close the set and where Bennett had dropped jaws, Erivo nailed them to the floor. Taking two songs from Streisand's Funny Girl she opened with a masterfully understated People, before segueing seamlessly into Don't Rain On My Parade. No wonder Simon Cowell has cast this actress to lead his Palladium show - her X-Factor was off the scale as her petite frame produced a sound that filled the Duke Of York's with a performance of clarity, expression and sheer beautiful power.

An ensemble encore of When I Grow Up was a neat touch that sweetly rounded off the evening. With Daniel A. Weiss’ 5 piece band, Adam Lenson has created an event of magical potential. The show demands to be repeated, it is simply the very best of London's talent.

A Spoonful Of Sherman

St James's Theatre, London

****

The Sherman Brothers

It was with good reason that Walt Disney labelled Robert B. Sherman “The Poet”. Together with his brother Richard, Sherman was to pen Oscar winning scores for Disney movies during the studio’s golden era of animation in the 1960’s and 70’s, before then going on to create the songs for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. That both Disney’s Mary Poppins and Chitty were to be given fresh interpretations as spectacular West End and Broadway shows, only served to see the brothers’ talents span the centuries and it is a wonder that this charming show has not been staged before.

No other songwriting partnership has created so many numbers that have become fused into our psyche. Amidst a sold-out St James Studio, every member of the audience would have either sung the Shermans’ songs as children, or sung them to their own kids (or grand-children). The hard-wired familiarity created by songs such as Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has a value in Western culture that is priceless.

Iconic songs demand performers of confident stature and Robert J. Sherman (the son of Robert senior) who compered the evening had assembled a cast that represented the finest of Britain’s young but accomplished musical theatre performers.

Stuart Matthew Price was as assuredly excellent as ever. Singing the little known Music Of The Spheres,written by Robert J, his tone was sublime and during his take on Hushabye Mountain from Chitty, tears were flowing in the audience. Charlotte Wakefield is another gifted actress who only last summer presented her credentials as a governess with an acclaimed Maria in The Sound Of Music. Tonight, with her performance of A Spoonful Of Sugar, one can confidently say that the position in the Banks’ household is hers. It was an enchanting cover of Julie Andrews' legendary performance and when Wakefield later sung My Own Home from The Jungle Book, the crystal clarity of her gorgeous performance could almost have suggested that the movie had been digitally re-mastered.

Emma Williams, who had created the role of Chitty’s Truly Scrumptious on stage, lived up to that character’s reputation for perfection. Amongst her first half highlights, Feed The Birds from Mary Poppins was to prove another moment of tear-streaming delicacy, whilst her Chitty contributions were as fresh as when first performed at the Palladium some 12 years ago. 

Greg Castiglioni provided the final voice to the quartet, an accomplished performer whose acting through song was a treat throughout the evening. Allocated perhaps more than his fair share of comic animal-songs, his Ugly Bug Ball was a blast, whilst one of the funniest Disney songs ever, I Wanna Be Like You from The Jungle Book, was sung brilliantly notwithstanding the almost show-stealing simian accompaniment from Stuart Matthew Price’s gorilla-esque whooping and chimp-like chatter. (Should the singing work ever dry up, Price would make an excellent Johnny Morris.)

Accompanying all, Colin Billing’s piano work was outstanding often suggesting the low-keyed elegance of a cocktail bar, whilst ramping up the tempo when required. Robert J. Sherman’s narrative through the evening was not only undoubtedly authentic, but also sincerely presented and if he stumbled occasionally, the atmosphere of the room was nothing less than warm and forgiving. 

With a second act that could be slightly trimmed and an encore that’s simply a treat (no spoilers here) the show is a glorious tribute to some of the USA’s finest songs of the last century. Amidst all of Broadway’s giant songwriting partnerships, none reaches out to the child within us quite like the legacy of the Sherman brothers. Cleverly crafted songs that speak of hope against adversity, written in verses that talk to every age. This show deserves to tour and when it comes to your town, don’t miss it!

Momentous Musicals - Review

New Wimbledon Theatre

*****

Directed by John Garfield-Roberts

 A full house at Wimbledon lent an air of great expectation to this inaugural show of musical theatre classics from innovative producers, Speckulation Entertainment. With an eye to ticket sales as well as production values, Gareth Gates topped the bill supported by leading West End talent.

Rachael Wooding opened, appropriately with One Night Only from Dreamgirls. With legs that went on forever, matched by cascading blonde locks, she looked as good as she sounded and set the tone and the standard for the programme to follow.

G4’s Jonathan Ansell and Emma Williams ( has there ever been a more scrumptious Truly ?) duetted All I Ask Of You from Phantom. Interestingly, if the show had one slightly weak link it was Ansell, who when performing with his peers lacked a lustre. This song too, did not showcase Williams at her best and is one of the very few numbers that needs attention before the evening is repeated.

Daniel Boys came on to own the stage with Maria, from West Side Story. Boys has a youthful vivacity, an electricity in his appearance and a sublime voice to match his attributes. Each time he took the stage, his confidence and ability simply shone.

Gates debuted as fourth on the bill with one of his signature pieces, Close Every Door from Joseph. To say the audience was partisan would be an understatement as the man could do no wrong, however he sung delightfully with magnificent presence and charisma. With one exception, all of Gates’ songs were performed solo, without backing singers or dancers. This may well have been due to the artist’s hectic schedule ( he is currently appearing in Legally Blonde on tour) , but it served to accentuate an air of superiority to the star that suggested a hint of perhaps unintended aloofness and a lack of teamwork amongst the company.

In Mein Herr, from Cabaret, Miss Williams was as sultry and seductive a Sally Bowles as could be wished for whilst the musical arrangement of the song was a refreshing variation on the traditional. The sleazily choregoraphed Fosse style routine that accompanied her was similarly first-rate, and the song was one of the evenings 5 star moments.

The second act saw Boys impress with Sondheim’s Being Alive, and as a delightful Rusty in the Starlight Sequence from Starlight Express. The disappointing feature of this song was Ansell as the Poppa character. The role demands a bass baritone for the magic to work between the two steam engines, lacking in this performance.

The evenings biggest numbers served as a crescendo to the shows finale. With Why God Why? from Miss Saigon, Gates truly earned his star billing. Ansell then performed a Gethsemane that was outstanding, receiving a modest standing ovation for his turn. Whether this adulation was due to Lloyd Webber’s Superstar currently on TV screens, who knows? But the singer gave his all to the performance, that was breathtaking to witness.

With No One But You from We Will Rock You, Rachael Wooding took on a massively moving song nailing it with poise and spine-tingling power, before duetting touchingly with Gates in Schwartz’s For Good from Wicked, even if that particular song is becoming a little familiar on the ear.

The creative team assembled under the talented Garfield-Roberts were faultless. George Dyer’s direction of his 8 piece band was lively with imaginative arrangements, Racky Plews’ choreography was as innovative and expertly drilled into the youthful ensemble and credit to Alan Wareham’s sound design, crystal clear in the rear stalls.

The show deserves to tour, see it if you get an opportunity



@jaybeegee63



This review originally appeared in The Public Reviews