La Cage Aux Folles - Review

Open Air Theatre, London

****

Music & lyrics by Jerry Herman

Book by Harvey Fierstein

Based on the play by Jean Poiret

Directed by Timothy Sheader

Carl Mullaney

In a beautifully created revival, Jerry Herman’s La Cage Aux Folles played under a (thankfully) balmy summer’s evening at Regents Park.

Billy Carter plays Georges and Carl Mullaney, Albin, in the famed story of family, identity, sexuality and love. Harvey Fierstein’s book is given an intelligent treatment by Timothy Sheader in his swansong at the Open Air Theatre. The comedy is immaculately timed and the moments of powerful pathos, sensitively handled. As the evening’s twilight darkens across the stage, Colin Richmonds’ evocative set is brought into a gorgeous relief by Howard Hudson’s lighting plots. Equally, Ryan Dawson Laight’s costumery of both the dancers at the La Cage Aux Folles nightspot, and the surrounding characters is delightful.

The strengths of this show however lie in its outstanding performances. Carter and Mullaney are magnificent in their middle-aged, decades long romance, with the act one treats of Carter’s Song On The Sand and Mullaney’s I Am What I Am proving sensational. Both men imbue their numbers with sensitivity, in the case of Mullaney’s first-half closer, a perfectly weighted power too. As the (albeit implausible) plot plays out, there is an outstanding turn from Debbie Kurup as restaurateur Jacqueline.

Aside from the show’s magnificent vocal work, Stephen Mear again turns in a marvellously choreographed dance creation. The imaginative moves, perfectly drilled, are a joy to behold. Craig Armstrong was called upon on press night to cover the role of Edward Dindon and did so with finesse. Ben van Tienen conducts Herman’s score with verve, his 9-piece upstage band offering a musical treat to accompany the evening.

There is much to enjoy in La Cage Aux Folles, one of London’s most enchanting nights of musical theatre.

Runs until 23rd September

Photo credit: Mark Senior

 

Newsies - Review

Troubadour Theatre, Wembley

***

Music by Alan Menken

Lyrics by Jack Feldman

Book by Harvey Fierstein

The cast of Newsies

On its first transatlantic crossing, Disney’s Newsies rocks up in Wembley’s cavernous Troubadour Theatre.

It’s a solid socialist yarn, founded upon history and telling of how at the turn of the 20th century New York’s newspaper vending kids ( the “Newsies”) challenged the capitalist owners and publishers for fairer trading terms upon which the papers were to be sold. It’s a fine premise, but the yarn doesn’t easily stretch to fill a two-act musical, with Menken, Feldman and Fierstein lathering on layers of schmaltz in their tunes, lyrics and book respectively, to give the audience their money’s worth.

To further paper over the cracks, Menken’s score is used as the groundwork for breathtakingly balletic dance work, where director/choreographer Matt Cole deserves plaudits for the imaginative deployment of his company’s bodies. However this is Cole's first time in the director's chair and it shows. There is a shallow, cheesiness to the show’s dialog from the get-go, with Cole lacking the heft to raise the words to a higher plane.

The actors are all terrific with Michael Ahomka-Lindsay and Bronté Barbé leading in their corny and improbable love story. Above the stage Nigel Lilley makes fine work delivering Menken's essentially forgettable tunes.

If you want to be stunned by lithe young performers performing breathtaking routines, then the show is unlikely to disappoint.

Runs until 16th April 2023

Photo credit: Johan Persson 

Funny Girl - Review

Savoy Theatre, London

*****

Music by Jule Styne

Lyrics by Bob Merrill

Book by Isobel Lennart

Revised Book by Harvey Fierstein

Directed by Michael Mayer

Sheridan Smith

“People”, who didn’t manage to nab their seats fast enough for the Menier Chocolate Factory’s Funny Girl can most definitely rest easy in the knowledge that this acclaimed and triumphant revival is an even bigger and better show following its transfer across the river to the Savoy.

Sheridan Smith’s Fanny Brice simply oozes star quality. Her comic moments are sublime, as is the heartbreak in her portrayal of Brice’s journey as the laughs fade and her world turns ever so less funny. Smith’s versatility as an actress is displayed to heart rending consequences. She grabs the audience with her quirky grin, comic panache and a varied quip of one liners and expressions sure to catch anyone’s eye, quickly proving that she has what it takes to sweep both the dashing Nick Arnstein and the audience into both her life and our hearts. Darius Campbell plays Arnstein to perfection and opposite Smith, gives us a pairing you’ll want to root for and hate in equal measure as the tale unfolds. Equally, Marilyn Cutts as Mrs Brice gives us an all too stern, yet familiar (and alongside her friends, hilarious) mother to Fanny.

Michael Mayer’s flawless direction has allowed the transfer to grow effortlessly on to the Savoy’s stage. Lynne Page’s choreography is much more refined and suited to the larger house here, with numbers such as Henry Street and the ever so hilariously diplomatic Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat evolving from impressive, to now “stand out” at the Savoy. In particular, the magnitude and accomplished intricacy of Page’s Temporary Arrangement truly dazzles in its new home. A nod too to the ensemble, whose efforts in such a fast paced “conveyor belt” of a show, both literally and metaphorically, provide the backbone to both Fanny’s fast moving world and this epic production.

Arriving (almost) hard on the heels of Gypsy, there’s more of Jule Styne’s sensational music to fill the Savoy. Under Theo Jamieson’s baton the 14 piece band provide pizzazz and nuance in equal measure as they deliver so many seasoned songbook favourites. Harvey Fierstein too has done a fabulous job in fine-tuning Isobel Lennart’s original book, proving that even the greatest shows can be improved upon.

Just, for one minute, take a look back at London’s theatre landscape over the last 12 months. It is incredible that so many of this nation’s smaller and regional theatres have transferred sensational revivals of Broadway classics into West End houses (and, in the case of the Menier’s The Color Purple, even back to Broadway itself!). Britain’s theatre practitioners lead the way, with Funny Girl proving yet another 5* example of world class Theatre.

Booking until 8th October

Reviewed by: Jack Clements

Photo credit: Johan Persson

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

Casa Valentina - Review

Southwark Playhouse, London


*****


Written by Harvey Fierstein
Directed by Luke Sheppard

Gareth Snook and Ashley Robinson

Harvey Fierstein’s second London opening this week after Kinky Boots is Casa Valentina, which makes its European premier at the Southwark Playhouse and proves a remarkable piece of theatre.

Set in the remote Chevalier D’Eon inn, tucked away in New York’s Catskill Mountains the drama revolves around a group of transvestites, all ostensibly heterosexual married men who visit the resort for weekend retreats where they can live out their feminine personae. The time is the early 60’s and as Fierstein’s brilliantly layered narrative unfolds, the complexities of denial and deceit and repressed sexualities plays out against a McCarthy-esque backdrop of prejudice, where even in the liberal Northern USA, homosexuality is still a crime.

The opening act paints a rich and credible tableau. George (aka Valentina and played by Edward Wolstenholme – keep up) runs the Inn with wife Rita (Tamsin Carroll) – and who as business is flagging, has enlisted the support of Charlotte (or Isadore – Gareth Snook) a Californian transvestite (TV) whose Sorority Magazine promotes the TV cause across the country and whose endorsement of the resort could boost visitors. But Charlotte has her own agenda and as Matthew Rixon’s brilliant Bessie (aka Albert) a man who, for these weekends, becomes a “decorated war hero in housecoat and turban” sagely comments: “politics and prosthetics don’t mix”.

The humour, poignancy and pathos of the piece is perfectly crafted by Fierstein, with Ben Deery’s nervous Jonathan/Miranda proving a finely nuanced definition of gauche as a relatively recently married man, nervously experimenting for the first time amongst fellow TVs. Ashley Robinson’s Michael/Gloria offers another finely sketched portrayal of a handsome young man who having famously deflowered most of the girls in his college year, still found himself yearning for their dresses the morning after. Veteran Bruce Montague as Theodore/Terry is a gem, whose brief appearance smoking a pipe whilst in full female garb is comedy gold, whilst Robert Morgan’s Judge (or Amy) hairy armed and on the verge of retirement takes the story to tragic depths.

Luke Sheppard has coaxed flawless work from his entire company – and in a production where again, budgetary constraints are tight, the genius of this show can only flow from the human talent on stage. Not only the acting, but also technical wizardry of some of the “girls’”makeovers is remarkable, both in make-up and mannerism.

Snook’s handbagged creation is every inch a woman whose shrewd and ruthless politics channel Margaret Thatcher crossed with Machiavelli. Perfectly poised and sensational without sensationalising, his is a convincingly terrifying performance. Yet it is Tamsin Carroll who breaks us. Her loving wife, desperately clinging to the vestiges of the man she thought she loved – but who ultimately loves Valentina over all else – offers a picture of grief and despair as profound as it is understated. This remarkable cast define Casa Valentina as unmissable theatre. It deserves a West End transfer – but until then, rush to catch it in Southwark.

Runs until 10th October 2015

Kinky Boots - Review

Adelphi Theatre, London


****


Book by Harvey Fierstein
Music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper
Directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell

The Company

Two years after its Broadway debut, Kinky Boots strides into London’s Adelphi Theatre, helmed again by Jerry Mitchell who is evidently looking to repeat the show’s award-winning success over here.

Based on the BBC film of a decade ago – in turn inspired by true events - Kinky Boots tells of a Northampton based shoe factory facing closure, that stumbles across the idea of making women’s fashion thigh-length boots but built for a man’s body. As their kinky boots go down a storm amongst the transvestite and drag community, the company is saved.

It’s a neat conceit and the story hinges around two men. Lola - really Simon from Clacton – an acclaimed drag act, who underneath the costumed façade is desperate to be accepted by the world around him, particularly his ageing father. Charlie is a straight guy who has inherited the shoe factory and who comes to learn to love and respect Lola (who has provided the inspiration along with the creative input and design for the factory’s kinky boots), for who he is.

But whilst there’s a decent integrity to the show’s pulse of self belief and determination, Fierstein’s book is too predictable. If Matt Henry’s Lola, in all his splendour, had burst into singing I Am What I Am from La Cage Aux Folles when he visits the Clacton old folk’s home, in place of the maudlin Hold Me In Your Heart it would not have been out of place. That being said, Henry is a stunning turn and his duet with Killian Donnelly’s equally impressive Charlie in Not My Father’s Son, makes for spine tingling musical theatre. 

In amongst all the fabulously choreographed dick-heavy chicks there’s a straight love story too. Amy Lennox’s Lauren offers way too much talent to a role that’s often not much more than cliché, rivalling Amy Ross’ deliciously cynical Nicola, Charlie’s frustrated fiancee who’s harshly not even offered one song credit. The view of a gritty Northampton through Fierstein and Lauper’s glitzy Broadway prism doesn’t quite convince and if only there was as much meat in the show’s story as there is in its well packed dancers' lunchboxes, then this could have been quite the perfect musical.

But no matter, because for the whooping girlies and twirlies in the audience, Kinky Boots undoubtedly hits the spot. Mitchell also choreographs and his vision creates some sensational routines. With numbers staged on fashion-show runways, workshop staircases and ridiculously (but with jaw-dropping brilliance) even on a moving factory conveyor belt, the song and dance of Kinky Boots bear the hallmarks of cutting edge West End originality.

Booking until 6th February