Ceili O Connor - The Understudy - Review

Century Club, London


*****

Amongst the best of her generation, Ceili O'Connor has achieved numerous West End castings with a talent that has seen her understudy many a leading lady, truly an achievement in itself. With understduies all too often overlooked, it has not been until recently, when we have seen some of London's finest shows having to famously call upon their understudies when the headlining star has been indisposed, that audiences have been famously reminded of just how good those covering performers are. Their performances are typically nothing less than magnificent.

But for O'Connor however, who has covered some of the biggest roles in town and on tour, fate has never yet allowed her to go on in the leading roles that she has understudied. Ever. 

So what better way to showcase her cabaret than as The Understudy - treating a packed audience at the Century Club to a whirl through many of the numbers that she had evidently honed to perfection, though enchantingly giving each of these classic songs a delightful re-imagining.

To confess, I have never seen O'Connor on stage in a large scale commercial show - rather I have only seen her deliver perfection in several fringe productions through the years. So it was appropriate that whilst her set was wittily attributed to the role of the understudy, early on in her act she paid tribute to her fringe career too, with a sublime take on Someone To Watch Over Me from Crazy For You, in which she had featured some years ago at Highgate.

O'Connor's patter was confident, assured, touching and witty. It says much for the actress that so much of her set was shared with fellow performers - and it says even more that each duet or ensemble number was performed with a meticulous yet relaxed precision. When Emily Tierney and Sophie Evans joined her for I Wish I May (surely one of the best close harmony songs written for three female voices ever) the moment was nothing short of spine-tingling. There was delicious supporting work from her fellow understudy troupers Imelda Warren-Green, Eloise Davis and Emma Kingston - and in yet another ingenious re-interpretation of a classic number and accompanied by Matthew Harvey on guitar, she offered up You Must Love Me from Evita (another leading role that O'Connor has covered) with a tenderness that revealed new layers to the song.

It wasn't all show tunes though. An ingenious act-two opener saw her blend the songs that she had grown up with into an intoxicating fusion. Janis Ian, Joni Mitchell, Disney, Cyndi Lauper and even the Spice Girls all became one glorious concoction. There was not a hint of pretentiousness around O'Connor's set list - rather a focus on honesty, wit and excellence, truly the ingredients of a perfect cabaret. 

With O'Connor having understudied Dorothy the evening had to include Somewhere Over The Rainbow and there was a neat tribute to Beguelin and Sklar, the composers of Elf. A moment of charming selflessness saw O'Connor invite her talented younger sister Aisling to sing her own composition.

One of the most unexpected treats of the night was when Michael Bradley took over the keys from Tim Evans (who'd done a sterling job MD'ing through the gig) to accompany O'Connor and Eloise in a medley of Billy Joel songs. The selection that opened and closed with New York State Of Mind was perfectly tailored as half a dozen Joel classics seamlessly segued into each other. The medley was a touching tribute to her mum and dad in the audience, Joel being one of their favourites. He happens to be one of mine too and the moment proved magical.

It's encouraging that London's cabaret circuit can attract young performers able to blend the contemporary with the classic. But more than that - they need to breach that fourth wall with elegance and élan. Supported by her guests, Ceili O'Connor performed with a beautiful bravura that was simply a delight. When her cabaret returns to London, don't miss it.

Bad Girls - Review

Union Theatre, London


****


Music and lyrics by Kath Gotts
Book by Maureen Chadwick and Ann McManus
Directed by Will Keith

Bad Girls

Ten years after it opened (and swiftly closed) in the West End, there’s a fringe revival of this tuneful take on life in a women's prison. Drawn from Bad Girls, their popular TV series, Chadwick and McManus took the programme's characters and location and fashioned them into a full blown musical. That it only lasted two months is not surprising - the plot lines are predictable and the characters are, for the most part, clichéd caricatures.

So yes - for a multi-million pound production with West End expectations, Bad Girls was possibly always destined to struggle. 

However....strip the show down to a micro-budget, stage it in the Union's intimate yet versatile cockpit and shower it with some of the strongest performing talent around - and this curious composition evolves into an evening of sometimes electrifying song and dance.

Bad Girls’ narrative duly trots out the tropes. Though with an abusive screw who can't keep it in his trousers; a principled senior prison officer out to right a flawed and corrupted system; some good cons, some bad; and jealousies, drugs, a suicide and a smouldering lesbian love between officer and prisoner (natch), there's never a dull (nor, to be honest, an unexpected) moment.

Will Keith uses the traverse space well, and with Jess Phillips' ingenious design - the simple use of meshing around the band and across the ceiling suggesting the landings between the cells - the venue's own rustic charm transforms convincingly into a prison interior - and let’s be honest, rarely have the Union's gruesome Victorian lavatories created such an effective mise-en-scene! 

There are too many back stories to describe in this review - so focusing instead upon the talent, Ceili O'Connor's Nikki offers a well-crafted glimpse of a principled murderer. She’s not been given the wit  that Kander and Ebb bestowed on Chicago’s Roxie Hart, but nonetheless O'Connor charms throughout, with magnificent voice and presence, notably in numbers Every Night and This Is My Life. She show’s some classy hoofing too in the ensemble numbers.

The "villains" of the show are the bent warders Jim and Sylvia (Gareth Davies and Maggie Robson respectively). Theirs is a strangely Vaudevillian partnership, which for all its incongruity is brilliantly choreographed here by Jo McShane and then fabulously executed by the duo, together with their supporting ensemble. There's humour in both Jailcraft and The Future is Bright, the latter comprising a sensational chorus line, Rockettes style, the intricacy of which shows just how much imagninative and exciting dance can be achieved in such a tiny space. Davies puts in a fine performance as a perverted rapist, but (SPOILER ALERT) that he ends the show in handcuffs is just too much of a pantomime happy ending. History tells us that powerful abusers rarely get brought to justice, going on to exploit their position for years. This perhaps is the show's greatest structural flaw.

Gareth Davies and Maggie Robson

Sarah Goggin as the young, vulnerable teenage mother Rachel who’s only just been sent down, offers up a performance of perfectly measured pain. Sensibly, her role is barely offered a singing number, for what she has to endure is beyond the happy parameters of a showtune. It’s all down to Goggin's acting and she smashes it, subtly breaking our hearts with her response to the (off-stage) abuse she suffers.

As the drug-dealers at the top of the prisoners' food chain, Sinead Long's Shell and her sidekick Denny (Imelda Warren-Green) make fine work of characters which, to be fair, are fleshed out with decent credibility. Their youthful menace reminds one of Alan Clarke's seminal 1977 movie Scum, and their Guardian Angel number, early on in the show is a strong piece.

Sinead Long, Imelda Warren-Green and Sarah Goggins

The two older banged up brasses, Julie Saunders and Julie Johnston are tarts with hearts who've seen it all. Jayne Ashley and Catherine Digges are on top form throughout, and if Ashley's (sincerely tear-stained) number Sorry didn't quite tug at heartstrings as much as the writers might have wished, the Julies' contribution to All Banged Up (think Loose Women, desperate for sex, but in the style of Bob Fosse) offered a further moment of hilarious excellence - again with a nod to McShane's dance work.

As gangster's missus Yvonne, all fur coat and killer heels, Christine Holman is a treat. Holman offers another example of an outstanding performance, as she makes up for a thinly fleshed out character, with stunning voice and movement. 

Christine Holman

Elsewhere Livy Evans' god-fearing Crystal kicks off the second half with the sweetest a-capella opener to Freedom Road. As Helen, the compassionate prison officer hiding a love that can't be spoken, Tori Hargreaves manages a tough gig well. Her character is little more than a two-dimensional cliché – but she shines in her love duets.  

Further praise is due to the show’s creatives. Adam Braham has cast the show with perception and Jack Weir's lighting is outstanding. In the absence of physical scenic changes it is down to the lighting plots to suggest time and place and it is rare that an off West End show is found to offer such distinctive clarity. Similarly Alex Bellamy coaxes fine work from his three piece band.

Above all - salutations to producer Sasha Regan who works tirelessly to generate this theatre's prodigious output. Shortly to move down the road, the current space's iron girders and collapsing seats will be affectionately missed. Right now however, the sassy, classy production values of Bad Girls define the Union's remarkable contribution to London’s theatre scene. 

Runs until 2nd April 
Photo credit: Darren Bell

Whistle down the Wind - Review

Union Theatre, London

****

Based on the novel by Mary Hayley Bell
And the screenplay by Willis Hall and Keith Waterhouse
And the film by Richard Attenborough and Bryan Forbes
Adapted by Russell Labey and Richard Taylor
Music and lyrics by Richard Taylor

Whistle Down The Wind is a moving tale of trust and belief. When young Cathy discovers an injured man in her father’s barn who cries out in pain, 'Jesus Christ!', she takes his exclamation literally. As her siblings and peers come to believe that Christ is truly living in the barn, so too does the cynicism of their parents grow – and amidst questions of faith, immortality and humility, the musical builds to a troubling stand off between parents and children. It’s a powerful story, presented in the Union’s intriguing confines with an economic elegance and sensitivity.

Most of the musical plays out through the eyes of Cathy,  played by Grace Osborn and her siblings Charles (Alex James Ellison)  and Nan (Imelda Warren-Green). It’s a massive responsibility for the three performers to shoulder but they bear it well. Their connection and bond is enchanting to watch, whilst their child-like characters convince completely. If their singing occasionally lacks energy and volume, their acting shines.  

Sasha Regan’s direction is well honed, coaxing tears from her actors and building to an ending that is genuinely frightening. The all-adult cast perform the child roles effectively with the Nativity scene, led by a weary teacher played hilariously by Danielle Morris, proving a stand out moment.

The Union's simplistic and bare space was the perfect setting for this humble story, with subtle changes in set and costume being cleverly executed, a wooden thatched divide contributing much to ambience and setting were very cleverly done. David Griffiths band delivered the (much underrated) score beautifully.

There is much that is touching and surprisingly witty in Whistle Down The Wind. Bravo for a simple story, told with passion and which proves to be another fine example of the quality to be found in London’s fringe.

Runs until 21st February 2015