Carousel - Review

Cadogan Hall, 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

To read my recent interview with Janie Dee and Jo Riding, click here

The company of Carousel

Every now and then theatrical magic descends...

So it was at the Cadogan Hall this week where Alex Parker had assembled a starry cast and a magnificent 30-strong orchestra to perform, for one night only, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. But this cast had something even more special, setting it apart from the throng of musicals currently playing in the West End and on Broadway. For back in 1992 Carousel had been staged at London's National Theatre in a production that featured Jo Riding and Janie Dee as female leads Julie Jordan and Carrie Pipperidge. Such was the excellence of director Nicholas Hytner’s show that not only did his revival win the Olivier for Best Musical Revival and Best Director, but Riding and Dee won the Oliviers for Best Leading Actress and Best Supporting Performer (both for in a Musical), respectively.

Riding and Dee had been recently reunited at the National as the leads in a revival of Follies and so it was an act of sheer vision that prompted Parker to invite the duo to reprise their Carousel magnificence in a concert performance of the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic.

Janie Dee and Jo Riding in Carousel, 1992

The pair’s contribution to the evening was a display, not only of continuing musical theatre excellence – but also of a sheer unbridled love for the show that they were singing. As the cast remained seated on stage when not called upon to perform, Dee’s passion for the piece was almost palpabke. When not performing herself she was absorbing the detail of the music and the occasion, almost in disbelief - not dissimilar to Billy Bigelow being granted the chance to descend from Heaven for a one day visit to Earth - that she had been granted a chance to reprise this heavenly score. Riding too was both entranced and enchanting and yet, in full keeping with the incredibly complex character that Julie is, maintained a sobriety that in no way diminished her evident love for the occasion.

Parker had rehearsed his musicians impeccably. From the opening bars of The Carousel Waltz, through to the closing strains of You’ll Never Walk Alone – not to mention the sheer brilliance of the demanding Act 2 Ballet, the music was a profound delight, accompanied by a vocal chorus of students from the Guildford School of Acting.

Alongside Riding and Dee, Hadley Fraser was  compelling and convincing as the violently troubled Billy Bigelow. Another character of deep complexity, Fraser imbued the errant husband with as much sympathy as could be afforded to his abusive nature. He also delivered a sensational Soliloquy.

Gavin Spokes captured Mr Snow’s comic pomposity perfectly, as Stewart Clarke’s Jigger was another deft turn from this talented young man, Clarke picking out his character’s malign opportunistic wickedness. Both men were vocally outstanding, with Matthew Kelly and Chizzy Akudolu complementing the set of supporting roles as The Starkeeper and Mrs Mullins respectively

As Nettie Fowler, Lucy Schaufer’s operatic background led to her spine-tingling take on You’ll Never Walk Alone. But back in 1992 it had been Patricia Routledge (not yet then a Dame) who played Nettie. Incredibly, and at the age of 90!, Routledge returned to this production as the narrator. For those in the audience who remembered the 1992 show, to see Dame Patricia singing along in the finale of the show’s totemic anthem was unforgettable.

Photo credit: Take Two Theatricals (2019) and Clive Barda (1992)

Grease

Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford

****

Book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey
Directed by Michael Vivian

One of many stunning dance moments from the GSA class of 2014

The audience for Grease, on a Monday night in refined Guildford with the River Wey in near flood-like spate, may well have been more blue-rinsed than Brylcreem’d but along with the cast’s family and friends they packed out the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. There, they witnessed the GSA class of 2014 morph into the Rydell High graduates of ‘58 in this all-American tale of rites of passage that over many years and countless disco mega-mixes, has been so forcibly injected into our culture.

We know the songs and the story, so with little to surprise us in the plot it is down to the cast’s talent and the show’s production values to impress. And at times this production is truly breathtaking, never better than when the full ensemble pack the stage to execute Phyllida Crowley-Smith’s inspired dance work. If the Rydell girls sing and act, en masse, better than the boys, (which generally they do) then the lads’ movement, which was at times almost acrobatic, more than makes up for it. The agile, technical excellence that the dancers display in Grease Lightning and the show’s carnival like finale, to name but two memorable moments, suggests the jaw-dropping choreography of David Toguri in his pomp.

Like all drama school productions, the focus here is on the company rather than upon the leading characters. That being said, there are still some stand-out performances on offer. Ones to watch from this year’s graduation are Erik West, whose bespectacled square-jawed Eugene is a masterclass in akward geek and who when the Rocky Horror show is next being cast should be a nailed on Brad. Elizabeth Walker admirably tackled the challenge that is Sandy. To plausibly play the pink-clad saint-like virgin, who falls from grace to become a cigarette smoking high heeled hussy ain't easy but Walker pulls it off. Andy Owens’ Doody singing These Magic Changes was perhaps the most charismatic male vocal turn, but the truly spine-tingling performance of the night came from Ellie Ann Lowe’s take on the grizzled Rizzo. Lowe skilfully explored the layers of this brash and ballsy yet still damaged and complex character with empathy beyond her years and her solo, the not often heard “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” was deeply moving in its honest intensity.

For the townsfolk of Guildford, Grease makes for a grand night out. The staging is clever, the laughs are familiar and corny and so long as the teeming Wey stays within its banks, there truly are worse things you could do than give these talented undergraduates full houses for the rest of the week.

Runs until 15th February

Photography by Mark Dean

Jerry Springer The Opera

Electric Theatre, Guildford

***

Music and lyrics by Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee

Directed by Charlotte Conquest

Chris Keily and Kim Strommen
( photo Mark Dean)

Jerry Springer The Opera is this term’s offering from the Year Three students of the BA Musical Theatre course at Guildford School of Acting. It being 10 years since Hecuba last saw the show, in preview at London’s National Theatre, its return to Guildford’s Electric Theatre proved an irresistible temptation to slip off down the M25 to re-discover some guilty secrets.

The structure of the musical may be well known but to recap, act one is a typical day in the life of the Jerry Springer show, with freaks and misfits bearing all under Springer’s provocative probing. There is a denouement to the act (that shall not be spoiled here) leading to a second half in which Jerry is called upon to settle divine/diabolic (take your own point of view) disagreement between a trinity of God, Satan and Jesus.

In some ways the show is ideal for a large troupe, requiring a chorus of “audience” in act one, and of "celestial or infernal beings" in act two, so that in addition to the principal roles this is a show that offers much for an ensemble to get their teeth into.

Some of the casting was spot on, some not so. It will probably always be difficult for a young cast to convincingly play such a collection of adult perverts, but in a show that was broadly fun to watch, there were nonetheless a number of exceptional performances where an individual’s acting/singing/dancing was confident and convincing. The chrous/ensemble also threw up some cracking cameos during the evening, that leads one to wonder whether, for some characters (typically those not mentioned in this review,) the right casting decision from amongst this 29 strong cohort had been made. Anyway, this being a student production, the opinions of this review will be restricted to praise only. For these hard working undergrads it’s a tough enough gig starting out on the boards without drawing subjective and opinionated “flack from a hack”  before even graduating.

Chris Kiely played Springer, a man thrice his age and a global media phenomenon, so for any young actor to portray such an icon is a huge challenge. Act one saw Kielty gaining in credibility, even if some of his opening interviewing approaches were a little cautious. Post interval however, in conducting debate between the divine and the damned caught up in a world that is literally fantastic and imaginary, he exuded confidence and talent and was frequently very funny.

Kim Strommen, a native Norwegian was Jerry’s foil throughout the show as Warm Up Man / Satan. Strommen relished his role and ably grasped some of the very challenging melodies written for his characters. Deliciously nasty throughout, he sported his Satan suit wonderfully and cleverly delivered the complex blend of evil and frustrated petulance that Thomas and Lee penned for his character.

Sam Robinson played Steve Wilkos , chief bouncer on the TV show. He was brilliant – A physical presence on stage throughout the first halr, with movement, timing and acting that was pin-pointedly precise. Humour depends upon timing and Robinson’s contribution to the success of the show is significant.

Molly Stewart and Nick Martland were Shawntel and Chucky, a couple made up of desperate housewife married to a mysoginist redneck. Stewart’s vocal and dancing talents were perfectly cast catching Shawntel's complex misery with a perception that belied her years. Martland was a chillingly convincing ignoramus, deliberately underplaying his abusive racist character and with an impressively confident voice.

Emilie Fleming, a BBC Dorothy finalist, lived up to her pedigree. Her Baby Jane was amusing in the first half and harrowing in the second with Fleming giving a performance that combined talent with considerable understated maturity from such a young actress, whilst Christina Bennington’s Peaches and Jo-anne van Steensel’s deliciously decadent Zandra were also  women whose stories one wanted to hear.

Charlotte Conquest directed with imagination, her TV experience manifest in the intelligent but non-gimmicky way, in which the “broadcast” aspect of the first act was managed, though one could question her casting decisions.  The movement and choreography of the piece were well conceived, whilst Niall Bailey’s professional band kept a perfect pitch and tempo to the night’s proceedings.

All in all a grand night out from a promising bunch of talent, shortly to be unleashed upon the professional world.

Runs until February 9 2013