Death Takes A Holiday - Review

Charing Cross Theatre


*****


Music & lyrics by Maury Yeston
Book by Thomas Meehan and Peter Stone
Based on the play La Morte in Vacanza (Death Takes A Holiday) by Alberto Casella

Chris Peluso and Zoe Doano

It is rare that a musical is presented with such exquisite elegance as Thom Southerland delivers with Death Takes A Holiday, making its European premier at the Charing Cross Theatre. The essence of Maury Yeston's musical, itself drawn from Alberto Casella's 1920s Italian play, is that of a love story spun from the finest filigree, yet, like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, played out against a hauntingly gothic backdrop. 

The prologue sees the beautiful Grazia thrown from a speeding car in a horrific crash. Her death must surely be unavoidable but Death himself, so captivated by her beauty, spares her. Intrigued by the mysteries of humanity, whose lives he has claimed and stalked over the centuries, for one weekend only Death grants himself two days of mortality. Assuming the identity of a Russian Prince, he visits Grazia's home as an unexpected house guest and what follows is quite literally a fairy tale of enchanted love and ultimate tragedy. Throughout Death's weekend vacation no-one (anywhere) dies, Grazia's family discover new depths of relationships, while Grazia herself falls in love with Death, in a passion that is as deeply doomed as it is reciprocated. 

It's a brave story to stage - for to suspend the audience's disbelief and convincingly create a world that is potentially of the darkest horror, requires nothing less than precision stagecraft. Leading the show are Zoe Doano and Chris Peluso as Grazia and Death. The two are magnificent and with both having only recently led in major West End roles, their pedigree is breathtaking. Zoano's soprano voice combines power with fragility. Her four solos are compelling and commanding, while her duet with Peluso, More And More, is a heartbreaker. Likewise Peluso, whose striking performance captures the inscrutable paradox of his weekend of humanity. We believe he is a man with the ultimate of powers and yet at the same time reduced to a childlike curiosity when confronted with that most profound and rawest aspect of humanity, the power of love.

It’s impossible not to care for nearly all of the supporting characters too. Mark Inscoe is the Duke Lamberti, Grazia's father, already mourning the recent death of his son and as the host, charged by Death not to reveal his house guest’s true identity. As he watches his daughter fall for Death's charms and knowing what could potentially await her, Inscoe's delivery of this most complex of emotional struggles adds yet another layer of tragic beauty to the plot. In a modest role Kathryn Akin's Stephanie, Grazia's mother delivers the most poignant of numbers that mourns her son with Losing Roberto, Yeston’s composition truly touching the heart.

Samuel Thomas offers another ingenious cameo as the battle-hardened fighter pilot who recognises the Russian Prince for who he really is, while James Gant's butler Fidele, offers occasional moments of well nuanced comedy that are beacons of relief along the story's bittersweet arc. There are equally weighted moments of brilliance from Anthony Cable and Gay Soper as a veteran star-crossed couple finding love, their ageing temporarily paused during the weekend's magic and from Scarlett Courtney and Helen Turner as Grazia’s contemporaries. 

The creative talent behind the show is as topnotch as the cast with Morgan Large's set proving as simple as it is wondrous. A rotating set of palazzo walls and doorways, graced by rococo chairs, ingeniously create the Lamberti home, complemented by Jonathan Lipman's period-perfect costuming, with Matt Daw's lighting proving both sinister and spectacular in equal measure. Hidden away offstage, Dean Austin's 10 piece band could easily pass for a far larger West End orchestra, such is their treatment of Yeston's soaring score.

The show deserves to be snapped up for a longer run or transfer - it really is that good, but until then rush to the Charing Cross Theatre. Death Takes A Holiday is the darkest of fairytales in a work of musical theatre that is at the very top of its game.

Runs until 4th March
Photo credit: ScottRylander

Funny Girl - Review

Menier Chocolate Factory, London

*****

Music by Jule Styne

Lyrics by Bob Merrill

Book by Isobel Lennart

Revised Book by Harvey Fierstein

Directed by Michael Mayer

Sheridan Smith as Fanny Brice

The capital’s love affair with Broadway's Golden Age continues apace as Michael Mayer's visionary interpretation of Jule Styne and Bob Merrill's Funny Girl opens at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory prior to a limited run at the Savoy.

Imelda Staunton may have just wowed in Styne and Sondheim's Gypsy, but hard on her heels is Sheridan Smith's take on Fanny Brice. In a role that famously demands an unconventional beauty - and which, from both Broadway and Hollywood launch pads Barbra Streisand was rocketed into the highest of stellar orbits - Smith has enormous shoes to fill. But from the moment she eases into her first (and so wonderfully titled) solo I'm The Greatest Star, it is clear that Smith is arguably unsurpassed amongst her peers, offering a performance that defines a perfection in voice (and wow, that belt) combined with an innate ability to act through song, dialogue and sheer presence. From the moment the irresistible Gatsby-cum-cad Nick Arnstein enters her life, we want to shout out to her "don’t do it" and yet Smith nails Brice's complex cocktail of talent, chutzpah and a vulnerable need to be loved as well as to be famous, with aplomb.

And then of course there's the show’s legendary songs. In tackling People, Smith simply shatters the Streisand mould and makes the song her own. Likewise, she scales the immensity of Don't Rain On My Parade and The Music That Makes Me Dance with a sublime confidence that is more than matched by her stunning charisma and ability.

Alongside Smith, Mayer's company of actors match her excellence. The Brooklyn-ese shtick that is the acutely observed card-playing trio of her mother and her two elderly friends, defines New York, Jewish, gossiping yet caring grandmothers, to a tee. First class work from Marilyn Cutts, Valda Aviks and the venerable Gay Soper.

Bruce Montague's Florenz Ziegfeld captures the vision and gravitas of the legendary Broadway impresario, whilst Joel Montague's Eddie is another finely observed portrait of friendship and vision, brilliantly executed on stage.

And as the dapper rogue Arnstein, Darius Campbell is sensational. His persona easily proving a match for Smith, Campbell manages Arnstein’s arc, from majestic to emasculated - as his wealth ultimately collapses - with a voice of magical resonance.

The show's design (bravo Michael Pavelka) is an ambitious conceit, with moving belts that cleverly shift the cast through time and location - and a nod too to Campbell Young's sensational wig work alongside Matthew Wright's costume. Be it Broadway, Brooklyn or Baltimore, the era's style is perfectly captured. 

Harvey Fierstein hones the original book to a finer sharpness – Funny Girl being possibly Fierstein's greatest show in town at the moment - whilst Alan Williams has wrought a thing of beauty from Styne's magnificent score.  If Lynne Page's choreography is at times a touch ambitious for the Menier's confines, it will probably mature into perfection into the run.

This production portentously hints at greatness and its omens are good. Firstly, the theatre it's in. With The Color Purple, the Menier are proving that they can produce a Broadway show and ship it back across the Atlantic better than it was before. Secondly in Michael Mayer, an accomplished Tony-winner who must surely know that he is sowing awesome seeds in this classic work. And finally in Sheridan Smith herself. An accomplished stage and TV talent on this side of the pond, just watch Smith’s Funny Girl trajectory to prove she truly is the greatest star.

Sold out at the Menier until 5th March 2016 – Then at the Savoy Theatre from 9th April until 2nd July
Photo credit: Marc Brenner