Oliver! - Review

Gielgud Theatre, London

*****

Music, lyrics and book by Lionel Bart

Freely adapted from Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist

Revised by Cameron Mackintosh

Directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne

Cian Eagle-Service and Billy Jenkins

Matthew Bourne’s production of Oliver!, arguably the greatest English musical ever written, was outstanding when it opened in Chichester last summer. Now transferred into the West End, it is a privilege to be back soon, reviewing the situation of this production that sparkles even brighter than before. Rarely does a show offer such breadth and depth of performances, across the entire cast, as is achieved by Bourne with his wondrous company. Co-Producer and reviser Cameron Mackintosh has had a lifelong love affair with Oliver! and the subtle revisions that he brings to Lionel Bart’s brilliant original move the show effortlessly into the 21st century.

On press night it was the sublimely talented Cian Eagle-Service playing Oliver, delivering a finish to his big solo, Where Is Love? that all but took the roof off the Gielgud. Rarely, actually NEVER, has that song been sung by a child performer with such power, passion and intensity.

Bart’s genius - aside from penning a show that delivers so many hit songs in rapid-fire succession - was to take the bleak brutality of Dickens’ novel and imbue it with nuanced and perfectly pitched bittersweet comedy. The fun begins early on with Katy Secombe and Oscar Conlon-Morrey paired as Widow Corney of the workhouse and  the beadle Bumble. In a double act that in the original Oliver! was to inspire Boublil & Schoenberg in their creation of the Thenardiers in Les Miserables, they capture the duo’s heartless bombast and petty penny-pinching to a tee. With pinpoint vocals and a mastery of physical comedy, their work is flawless.

Next up are Stephen Matthews and Jamie Birkett as the undertaking Sowerberrys. Again, harsh irony and tragedy but overlaid with comic class - and it should be noted there’s a fine turn from Birkett in act two with her reprise of Where Is Love? in the role of Mrs Bedwyn.

Oliver’s arrival in London of course introduces the show’s most colourful characters. Billy Jenkins is The Artful Dodger, whose cockney vocals and nifty footwork are everything a Dodger should be and more. Aaron Sidwell has grown into the role of Bill Sikes, his understated menace proving both ugly and chilling.

As Nancy, Shanay Holmes has also matured into this most intriguing and complex of roles. Holmes is yet a further example of this company’s vocal magnificence with her take on As Long As He Needs Me giving the Gielgud’s rafters another rattling.

And then of course there is Fagin. Much like Steven Spielberg made us wait before our first glimpse of the shark in Jaws, so too does Bart let most of act one go by before Simon Lipkin erupts from a trap door.

Lipkin’s take on the old Jewish fence is carefully researched and meticulous in its delivery, unlocking Fagin’s humanity and vulnerabilities with a sprinkling of immaculately timed humour. As we see Fagin care for the newly-arrived Oliver into his den of thieves, Lipkin imbues the role with a rarely seen pathos. His skills in comedy and magic are also used wonderfully and with his spectacularly klezmer-esque Reviewing The Situation, his is one of the finest musical theatre performances in town right now.

Lez Brotherston’s designs are simply stunning. Amidst a whirl of wrought iron staircases and bridges, and a deft deployment of the Gielgud’s revolve, Brotherston shifts the narrative across the country and the capital, aided in no small measure by Paule Constable and Ben Jacobs stunning lighting designs. In the pit, Graham Hurman’s orchestra are spot-on throughout.

 

Consider yourself well-in to witness this fantastic spectacle!

Booking until 28th September

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Oliver! - Review

Festival Theatre, Chichester

*****

Music, lyrics and book by Lionel Bart

Freely adapted from Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist

Revised by Cameron Mackintosh

Directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne

Simon Lipkin

Matthew Bourne’s production of Oliver! will quite possibly be the the most glorious musical revival to open in the UK this year. Cast with the cream of the country’s musical theatre talent, Cameron Mackintosh’s revisions of Lionel Bart’s show achieve the rare distinction, that many strive for but very few achieve, of taking a classic and making it even better.

Bourne again works alongside designer Lez Brotherston, in a partnership that has lasted decades and which sees this national treasure of a musical visually re-imagined yet still authentically Victorian, with bridges and revolves and swirling steampunk ironwork transporting us across the England of the story.

The kids are gorgeous, and Bourne’s direction and choreography sees the show kick-off with Food Glorious Food that is as imaginative as it is evocatively charming. On press night it was the young and talented Cian Eagle-Service in the title role, beautifully voiced and with a charming confidence that held the narrative along with our belief in him.

The show's workhouse scenes introduce us to the despicable Mr Bumble and Widow Corney luxuriously played here by the ridiculously talented Oscar Conlon-Morrey and Katy Secombe. Musical theatre cognoscenti will know that the 1968 movie saw Mr Bumble played by Secombe’s father, the late and much loved comic-genius Harry Secombe and Secombe more than honours her father’s memory with her take on the amorous widow. Conlon-Morrey complements her in his skilled and hilarious interpretation of blustering pomposity. A nod too to Stephen Matthews and Jamie Birkett who capture the ghoulish comedy of the Sowerberrys, the undertakers to whom Oliver is sold by Bumble.

Katy Secombe and Oscar Conlon-Morrey

Brotherston’s set ingeniously shifts us to London where Billy Jenkins’ Artful Dodger gives just the right Cockney swagger to Consider Yourself before introducing Oliver, and the audience to Fagin. Much like Steven Spielberg makes his audience wait before unveiling the shark in Jaws, so too does Bart allow almost an hour of the show to (gloriously) pass by before revealing this most complex of characters.

Simon Lipkin's Fagin brings an earthy, magnetic, Sephardic interpretation to one of musical theatre’s most frequently caricatured Jews. Bourne skilfully avoids any classic antisemitic tropes in this Fagin, with Lipkin displaying an intriguing, enchanting presence in his performance. Vocally he is magnificent, owning the Festival Theatre's massive stage in his Reviewing The Situation, with a subtle klezmer-esque nuance to some of the musical arrangement of the number. Lipkin also offers inspired moments of physical comedy, and study him closely for just a hint of Max Bialystock's tragi-comedy in this most glorious of Fagins.

Shanay Holmes is Nancy with a take on this intriguing woman that almost explains her love for such a violent partner as Bill Sikes. Holmes brings power, passion and pathos to the role, wonderfully taking Chichester’s roof off (twice) with As Long As He Needs Me. Opposite Holmes, Aaron Sidwell brings a chilling menace to Sikes.

Under the stage, Graham Hurman’s orchestra of 13 make glorious work of the rich score. 

This fantastic show, with one hit song following another, sees Mackintosh and Bourne open up the genius of Bart’s writing to dive even deeper into the composer/lyricist’s understanding of Dickens' London and above all the human condition. With musicals most frequently being set in the USA, stories steeped in English culture are few and far between. This Oliver! is amongst the finest.

Never before has this show offered more!

Runs until 7th September

Photo credit: Johan Persson

A Little Night Music - Review

Ye Olde Rose And Crown Theatre, London

***

Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Book by Hugh Wheeler

Directed by Tim McArthur

A Little Night Music is up there as one of the great Sondheim musicals and it’s a nobly ambitious show that Aaron Clingham’s All Star Productions mount at Walthamstow’s Rose and Crown Theatre. Tim McArthur directs a cast of sixteen who cavort their way through the musical rom-com, itself a take on the seminal Ingmar Bergman classic, Smiles Of A Summer Night and there are some gems amongst his company.

Leading the troupe is Sarah Waddell as Desiree Armfeldt and Alexander McMorran as her enamoured and beloved Frederik Egerman. Waddell possesses the gorgeous MILFish charm that her role demands – but struggles to make an impact when she sings. If she were to tackle some of the (potentially hilarious) funny lines of You Must Meet My Wife without a mouthful of food it would immeasurably boost the lyrics’ comedy. – and McMorran (who appears a tad too young to convince in the role) offers charm but also lacks vocal presence. Every Sondheim lyric demands attention and whilst Egerman is of course a reserved man by character, the actor playing him needs a measured flamboyance to make the lawyer’s cleverly created bumbling integrity truly come across to the audience

Nonetheless, the treats amongst the cast make this production a worthwhile venture. Samuel Baker’s Count Carl-Magnus is famously a cardboard (or should that be tin?) cut out role, every inch a cliched stereotype, but the beautifully booted Baker relishes the regimented dragoon and makes the part his own. He is only surpassed by the ever excellent Jamie Birkett as his embittered Countess. Birkett nails the tragi-comedy of her character, whilst her masterful Every Day A Little Death proves the evening’s heartbreaker.

Elsewhere Joshua Considine’s cello-playing Henrik is deliciously angst-ridden, whilst Jodie Beth Meyer’s lusty Petra positively steals the second half (which should rightfully have belonged to Desiree’s Send In The Clowns) with a passionate The Millers Son.

Hard on the heels of her recent outing as Mary Phagan in Parade in Fulham, the gamine Kerry Loosemore reprises her cute 14yo girl – is Loosemore a future Eponine perhaps? – whilst another Southern belle from that Parade, Lily De-La-Haye shines out amongst the (otherwise generally good) Liebeslieder Singers.

Flaws notwithstanding, there’s more than enough here to entertain as Clingham’s four-piece band make a valiant fist of Sondheim’s demanding orchestrations. Just as the summer night smiles on the young, the old and the foolish, so too does this show smile on Walthamstow, making for a delightful night out.

Runs until 31^st October

Saucy Jack And The Space Vixens

Leicester Square Theatre, London

***

Book by Charlotte Mann

Lyrics by Charlotte Mann and Michael Fidler

Music by Jonathan Croose and Robin Forest

Directed by Stuart Saint

Jamie Birkett

Michael Fidler, the creator of Saucy Jack And The Space Vixens suggests in his programme notes that we are all Space Vixens at heart. Whilst Fidler may be right, the fact that it has taken nigh on 18 years for his celebration of disco to arrive in London's West End, suggests that there hasn't been too much demand to explore that particular zeitgeist. Fidler also says that when he wrote the show he (rather arrogantly) envisioned a "Cheers" set in outer space. Well it's safe to say that that dream also, has yet to be realised. This show is a fantastic froth of intergalactic crime busting, set against a glitter encrusted culture of a disco beat and gratuitous fetishism and if you’re sober, it’s rather dull. If you've had a couple of beers then the show may well be brilliant, but then of course you run the risk of missing out on appreciating the truly outstanding collection of talent that Stuart Saint has assembled. It's a tough call.

The cast is actually magnificent. There is not one weak link and a handful of the company are outstanding. Ralph Bogard is Jack, an outrageously flamboyant and murderous character, who made up, resembles a hungover Steve Strange in his pomp. But boy can this boy act. He holds the audience in the palm of his hand throughout and like many of the cast, gives the material far more talent than it deserves. Wonderful too is Lisa Gorgin, who masters three characters during the course of the show and whose two big solos Vulva's Tango (subtle huh?) and Space Trucking are fabulous. Big up too to David Malcolm whose transvestite Booby Shevalle is the most convincing drag turn to have been seen at the LST in quite a while. Leanne Jones, gracing a London show for the first time since becoming a mum, proves that her vocal talents have only grown alongside her ample maternal curves and she remains, as always, a delight. Finally the Offies nominated trouper Jamie Birkett again proves herself the most versatile of actresses. Impressive glittered heels giving Birkett a statuesque aura never seen before and allowing this gem of an actress to dominate the stage in a glorious trio of speech, presence and song. 

Technically, the producers need to have performed much better. Too many words are inaudible and whilst the lyrics may well not be worth listening to, it would be nice to be given the choice. And whose idea was it to have a character who has been written around being a sax player, being then made to mime his sax playing to a backing track? That is a shameful piece of corner cutting and starves both the production and the writing of some rare passionate praise that it might otherwise have garnered.

Saint writes bravely in the programme of how developing this production gave him a positive focus in life as he battled cancer and notwithstanding this critic's gripes, if the power of disco offered him such a force for good, then it is to be cheered and celebrated for nothing is more important than such a journey of recovery. But showbiz demands that such sentiment be put to one side and as a piece of musical theatre writing Saucy Jack And The Space Vixens disappoints. To mis-quote a certain phrase, whilst this show does indeed remain unpolished, it has unquestionably been rolled in an awful lot of glitter.

Runs until 15th September

Cross Purpose - Review

Kings Head Theatre, London

*****

Written by Albert Camus

Directed by Stephen Whitson



Jamie Birkett as Martha

Every now and then, a performance and a production come along, that astound. Cross Purpose, a little known play by Albert Camus is such an event.

Conveniently staged in the now traditional October run-up to Halloween, the premise of the play is a troubling horror story that is at once both visual and psychological. Jamie Birkett is Martha, a woman who together with her mother has run a guest house in the rural wilds of some landlocked European nation. We are told that over the years occasional guests have been robbed and routinely murdered by the couple and how Jan, a handsome young man who has checked in that day, looks like a suitable case for slaughter. Unbeknownst to the hosts, Jan is their long lost son and brother, keen to re-acquaint himself with his family. To say more of the plot would be to spoil, but the understated menace that surrounds the exchanges between man and women, is chillingly played.

Understatement is the watchword of this carefully crafted tale that has been expertly translated by Stuart Gilbert. Birkett is a callow harridan, aged before her time, made up with pale drawn features that are shocking to look at. Her face is that of a woman deprived of the sunlight of love and happiness and when late in the play she says “ No one has kissed my mouth or seen me naked…. and that must be paid for” we get a glimpse in to the hellish furnaces of contempt and jealousy of compassionate humankind that burn within her.  Where Martha is grey faced, Jan’s complexion is tanned and attractive. Early in the story, we see Martha possibly attracted to the visitor ( unaware at that stage that he is a sibling ) , leaving the audience alarmed that a possibly incestuous love could yet unfold in addition to any potentially murderous horrors. In a coincidental echo of Sondheim’s Mrs Lovett from Sweeney Todd, Martha longs to leave her landlocked misery for a life by the sea and indeed this tale chimes with that musical on several occasions, serial killing being undertaken by those angry with a world and a society that has forsaken them.

Horror is challenging enough to portray on screen, requiring the audience’s disbelief to be suspended sufficiently enough to allow natural emotions of fear and anxiety to be stimulated. The requirements for on stage horror to succeed are identical, but even more challenging as the performers are forced to rely almost entirely upon the strengths of their own abilities, rather than gruesome props or special effects. Birkett’s ability to take us on this grim journey is a tour de force, reminiscent of a young Fiona Shaw. The play is entirely dark, though occasional glimmers of wry irony are allowed to pierce the misery and in these moments Birkett’s hotelier performance evokes an infernal concoction of Basil Fawlty, Psycho’s Norman Bates, with just a hint of Les Miserables’ M. Thenadier. An accomplished musical theatre performer to date, this role defines Birkett as a dramatic star of her generation.

The supporting cast are a treat to watch. Christina Thornton delivers an ageing Mother weary of her murderous life and deeply troubled. Like Sondheim’s barber, she evokes both our loathing and also at times our sympathy for her miserable plight. David Lomax is a convincing Jan, wholesome and attractive, with a sincere compassion towards his mother and sister. Making a marvellous cameo as the house’s wise and all seeing Manservant is 86 year-old Leonard Fenton. Famed as EastEnders’ Dr Legg, this veteran actor proves that there is life after Albert Square, just. Mute, until the play’s final scene, his ability to act through an authentically doddery movement and a gimlet eye is a masterclass in performance that adds to the disquieting aura of the isolated setting of the tale.

Stephen Whitson has helmed a well-crafted production. The Kings Head’s stage is small with limited scope for props and scenery and as has been well documented, a convincing horror story depends on skilfully crafted sound. Designer Tim Adnitt achieves ambience and setting, as well as background noise, in a way that is chilling and convincing, but never melodramatic.

This production only runs for ten performances but undoubtedly deserves a larger venue and a longer residency. Dramatic performances rarely come better than this.

Runs until November 11

Rent - Review

Greenwich Theatre, London

***

Book, music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson

Directed by Paul Taylor-Mills



Edward Handoll as Roger

Rent at Greenwich Theatre is an energetic production of the Broadway hit. Inspired by the opera La Boheme of more than a century earlier, the musical is set around a Manhattan tenement block colonised by young bohemians who span all sexualities and with the plague that ravaged Puccini's characters replaced here by the modern nightmare of HIV/Aids.

 

Mark Stratton plays Benjamin Cohen, an aspiring filmmaker whose camerawork provides the medium by which the show's narrative can be played out. His roommate , musician Roger,  played by Edward Handoll is HIV+ and his number One Song Glory , in which he tells of his desire to write a powerful song before he dies is a moving moment. He falls for Mimi, a strong performance from Stephanie Fearon. A junkie, she too is positive and the point when both characters learn that they each carry the virus I Should Tell You, is powerful number to close act one.

The show offers several main characters. Zoe Birkett plays Maureen Johnson, a bisexual performance artist, in a portrayal that drips with provocative sensuality. Her vocal strength matches her physicality, and her on stage presence dominates her scenes. Noteworthy too was Mikel Sylvanus, who as Tom Collins, is befriended by Angel, the one character who succumbs to Aids. Sylvanus’ voice is a beautifully rich baritone and he is an actor to watch for the future. Jamie Birkett, as Joanne, Maureen’s lesbian partner also delivers a performance that is a delight to both observe and listen to. Birkett has previously impressed in ensemble roles in last year’s Ragtime and The Hired Man and it is particularly pleasing to see her confident portrayal of such a significant character. As Steve, Richie Gooding’s delivery of Will I?, a brutally honest description of a man being forced to confront his mortality at a far too early age also touched a chord of raw tenderness and Thomas Lloyd as the dealer peddling death through drugs set a convincing tone of evil sleaze with each appearance.

Rent’s story weaves vivacity with tragedy and whilst this production certainly has some stunning performances from it's impressively sized troupe of 28, as a whole it fails to reach the heights of passion or the chasms of poignant loss that are within its grasp. Paul Taylor-Mills’ direction lacks a degree of depth and maturity that it is not unreasonable to expect. When Angel dies, his falling into his friends’ open arms could have been conceived by a sixth form drama class, rather than the seasoned eye of an accomplished professional. The sound design was also poor. Sat in prime centre stalls seats, it was frustrating that too many voices were inaudible over the music, particularly in the ensemble numbers and this is a matter for urgent attention.

This popular show remains a production that deserves to be seen. On press night it was well received, the theatre was full and at least half the audience rose to a standing ovation, suggesting that its return to a London stage has been long overdue.  And of course Rent's signature tune Seasons of Love remains one of the most beautiful songs of modern musical theatre.

 

Runs until September 16