Aspects of Love - Review

Lyric Theatre, London

***

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Lyrics by Don Black & Charles Hart

Based on the novel by David Garnett

Directed by Jonathan Kent

Michael Ball and Laura Pitt-Pulford

Returning to the London stage and complete with re-vamped orchestrations, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black / Charles Hart’s Aspects of Love takes up a modest residency at the Lyric Theatre .

Michael Ball who starred in the original production as the young Alex, here tops the bill as the avuncular George, in this curious tale of love that according to Messrs. Black and Hart, changes everything.

Ball is magnificent and so too are his company of Laura Pitt-Pulford as Rose, Jamie Bogyo (Alex), soprano Danielle De Niese as Giuletta and Anna Unwin as Jenny (with on press night Millie Gubby as her character's pre-teen iteration). It all makes for a fabulously performed ménage à cinq that on closer inspection turns out to be a most unappetising minestrone of morals.

Technically, the show is a marvel. Not just in the actors’ glorious work, but in Lloyd Webber’s melodies married with John Macfarlane’s ingenious designs and projections, that make for an evening of exquisite stagecraft.

Ultimately though, the musical is little more than a sung-through panoply of privileged, priapic, polyamory. Go see it for the gorgeous songs.

Runs until 19th August

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Hairspray - Review

London Coliseum, London

*****

Music by Marc Shaiman

Lyrics by Scott Wittman & Marc Shaiman

Book by Mark O'Donnell & Thomas Meehan

Directed by Jack O'Brien

Lizzie Bea, Michael Ball and Les Dennis

A cast comprising both stalwarts and debutantes of the West End make Jack O’Brien’s revival of his original take on Hairspray a must-see for anyone who has craved musical theatre during lockdown’s cultural drought.

Hairspray is of course all about the power of well-integrated diversity, where life’s typical outsiders become the heroes and the bigots are the baddies. In a socially distanced London Coliseum, where the covid-compliant capacity has been shrunk from 3,000 to 1,000 it was Michael Ball who summed up the audience’s roars of rapture, by saying at the curtain-call that they had cheered like 10,000, such was the throng’s pent-up passion.

Making her West End debut – albeit with a string of regional work to her credit – Lizzie Bea  leads with a stunning Tracy Turnblad. From the moment she bursts from her vertically transposed bed, straight into Good Morning Baltimore, Bea sets the evening’s pulsating tone. Confident and charismatic, Bea wins her audience and without ever resorting to kitsch or mawkishness, she masterfully enacts Tracy’s story, winning love and empathy as she hurtles towards the show’s sublimely happy ending.

Opposite Tracy is of course her domineering mother Edna and yet again for a London Hairspray, it is Michael Ball who returns to the padded suit to reprise what must surely (after Les Miserables’ Marius) be his second signature role. The years have seen Ball age disgracefully into his Edna with him proving all the more delectably monstrous for it too. The show’s eye-wateringly brilliant comedy highlight remains Ball and Les Dennis (as hapless hubby Wilbur) duetting (You’re) Timeless To Me. The song demands perfection in its timing and nuance for its shtick to work – with the seasoned professionalism of Ball and Dennis providing a masterclass in hilarity.

The always excellent Marisha Wallace delivers a magnificent Motormouth, with a performance that both rouses and enraptures the Coliseum’s crowd. Her take on the show’s eleven o’clock number I Know Where I’ve Been sending the audience into a spontaneous standing ovation, such was her power of performance and emotion.

Rita Simons brings her 2-dimensisional character of arch-baddie Velma Von Tussle into wonderfully comic relief, while squaring the circle of the show’s key love arc, Jonny Amies (another West End newbie) offers an assuredly chiselled performance as TV show host Link Larkin.

O’Brien and his choreographer Jerry Mitchell, know Hairspray intimately and yet they still infuse a freshness and vitality into the production that makes it as relevant a comment for today as for its original target of 1960s civil rights torn Baltimore.

Outstanding musical theatre!

Runs until 29th September

Photo credit: Tristan Kenton

Chess - Review

Coliseum, London


*****



Music by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus
Lyrics by Tim Rice
Book by Richard Nelson
Directed by Laurence Connor

Tim Howar and Michael Ball

Chess, born out of the collaboration of Tim Rice’s wit and the musical genius of ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson has long been regarded as a fusion of 1980s culture, kitsch and cliché – and for the last 30 odd years, London’s producers have shied away from reviving a show that once dominated the West End.

But for one month only and backed by a budget that itself reflects a fusion of subsidy and commerce, producers Michael Grade, Michael Linnit and the ENO have assembled a cornucopia of talent and technology, that blasts the show into the 21st century.

The plot revolves around the once-glamorous world of the international chess circuit and, in a metaphor that for so much of the last 70 years was true to life, reflects the conflict between the USA and (what was) the USSR, or Russia in more modern parlance. Michael Ball is Anatoly the Russian Grand Master. Opposite him, Tim Howar is Freddie Trumper his American counterpart, while in the wings are Cassidy Janson’s Florence (Trumper’s second) and Alexandra Burke who plays Anatoly’s wife Svetlana.

As the tale unfolds, classic East v West tropes are laid bare – though from a political perspective the programme notes comment on the production’s timeliness, with today’s relations between the West and Russia turning cold again. Some may argue that they were never really warm, but it nonetheless remains a breath of fresh air from London’s theatrical community to see that in 2018 it is still Russia, rather than the USA’s current administration, that poses a more significant threat.

Rice’s original story boils the politics down to a neat (if implausible) romance that develops between Anatoly and Florence. Along the way there are tantrums from the American, a defection, and in Michael Ball’s rendition of Anthem, surely up there as one of the best Act One closing numbers ever, a spine-tingling reminder of the beauty and passion that can truly be evoked by a love for one’s country. 

There’s actually so much more to this musical theatre extravaganza. Lavishly deployed projections and digital imagery serve not only as backdrops – but also to broadcast much of the musical’s highlights to the massive, ingenious displays. The multi-screen styling is multi-purposed, for not only do the (on-stage) video cameras serve to highlight the televised nature of the much of the narrative, they also enable those in the Coliseum’s cheap seats (correction, there are no cheap seats in the Coliseum) to have a decent view of the action.

Some of the show’s songs are among the finest in the modern canon. The second half kicks off with Howar’s One Night In Bangkok, here transformed into a festival of circus skills from the ensemble along with stunning video work from Terry Scruby. The musical highlight of the show’s impending endgame is the powerfully poignant ballad I Know Him So Well, sung by Florence and Svetlana. The projected live video of Cassidy and Burke hints at a wonderful throwback to the BBC’s Top Of The Pops – though younger readers may rather conclude that this show is emphatically putting the X-Factor into musical theatre.

Howar has a massive number late on with Pity The Child, an excoriating study of childhood neglect. Done to perfection, this song should make hairs stand on end – Howar is good, for sure, but he needs to dig a little deeper. 

Credit though to Lewis Osborne on guitar. It cannot be that often that the (80 strong!) ENO Orchestra get to deliver such a rock-heavy score and they do it here, under John Rigby’s baton, magnificently. Osborne’s riffs in Pity The Child are sensational.

Amidst the talent and technology, there’s time for some tongue in cheek too, with an Alpine-clad musician knocking out Thank You For The Music on the accordion, as a backdrop to one of the mountain-top scenes.

Under Stephen Mear's visionary choreography, the dance is spectacular. Mear moulding his company into routines that are imaginative and provocative. A nod to Fosse in the bowler-hatted, umbrella wielding (oh-so British) Embassy Lament is a touch of wonderful flair.

If you can get (or afford) a ticket, go and see this show, if only because the score is unlikely to be played quite so sumptuously ever again. The whole production makes for an evening of stunning musical theatre.

Runs until 2nd June
Photo credit: Brinkhoff Mögenburg

Mack and Mabel - Review

Festival Theatre, Chichester

****

Music and lyrics by Jerry Herman
Book by Michael Stewart
Directed by Jonathan Church

Anna-Jane Casey leads the company in a spectacular Tap Your Troubles Away

There is much about Jonathan Church’s Mack and Mabel at Chichester that displays the very best of modern British musical theatre talent. Amidst a tale of humour and tragedy, the production frames a collection of performances and creative work, much of which is flawless.

Michael Stewart’s book, revised by his sister Francine Pascal, famously tackles a complex history. Telling the true story of the love between movie director Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand, the star he discovered, is a challenge. The show charts Normand’s rise from deli delivery girl, to the heights of Hollywood fame, before an early death hastened by addiction and scandal – and all played out against a collection of numbers that blend melancholy with the madcap farce of Hollywood’s silent slapstick golden years. It is a combination of tableaux that has longed proved a challenge to its (stage) directors.  

Michael Ball plays Sennett in a performance that imbues the Hollywood director’s vision and ruthless singleness of purpose with a magnificent stage presence and masterful vocals. Ball is arguably unmatched in his abilities – and his range: imperious in Movies Were Movies and perceptively tender in the beautifully crafted I Won’t Send Roses defines his place in the musical theatre pantheon.

Broadway import Rebecca La Chance makes her UK debut as Mabel – and it’s a tough ask. If her performance lacks the impish defiance that her opening number Look What Happened To Mabel demands, she makes up for it with a powerfully scornful Wherever He Ain’t. La Chance’s work in act 2 impresses as she captures Normand’s capricious management of fame alongside a drug-fuelled decline. Her final solo Time Heals Everything (set in the 1920’s and with La Chance clad as a gorgeously shimmering flapper – great design work from Robert Jones) offering a scorching torch-song in its interpretation.

Stephen Mear’s choreography is as inspired as it is ingenious. The little touches that include a trio routine that kicks off Wherever He Ain’t are a treat – whilst the big ensemble numbers all impress. Hundreds Of Girls wittily combines projections with dance (as well as some eye-watering work with beach balls) whilst Hit ‘Em On The Head weaves a Keystone Cops yarn into a routine whose technical excellence suggests David Toguri’s ground-breaking work at the National Theatre more than thirty years ago.

Act two’s penultimate number Tap Your Troubles Away has long been the show’s big dance routine and in a revelatory move, Mear intricately links Normand’s addictions with the flamboyant splendour of his  tap-dancing company. It’s all black waistcoats / basques and red shoes, led by the jaw-dropping Anna-Jane Casey’s Lottie whose feet become a blur of brilliance. Mark Inscoe’s William Desmond Taylor is an elegantly competitive cad to Sennett, whilst Jack Edwards’ Fatty (Arbuckle) similarly adds a convincing layer.

Robert Scott conducts his 15 piece ensemble (heavy on brass and reeds) gorgeously – setting the scene with one of the finest overtures in the canon.

The show runs until September before embarking on a nationwide tour. With Jerry Herman’s classic melodies, Michael Ball’s peerless performance and Stephen Mear’s dance work it’s well worth catching. 

Runs until 5th September and then tours.

To read my review of Mabel's Wilful Way, a Mack Sennett two-reeler and watch the film itself on YouTube, click here

Stephen Mear - An Extraordinary Year For An Extraordinary Choreographer

Mear rehearses Lara Pulver in Gypsy (photo Roy Tan)

Since this article was first published, City of Angels has opened at the Donmar Warehouse to rave notices.
My 5* review of this outstanding musical can be found here.

The virtually sold out City of Angels is currently previewing in the intimacy of London’s Donmar Warehouse. As rehearsals were drawing to a close last week, I spent a delightful evening at Joe Allens with acclaimed choreographer Stephen Mear, to learn a little more about this man’s remarkable career and achievements.

As 2014 draws to a close, Mear is likely to have had the rare distinction of having choreographed two of the year’s most highly acclaimed musicals this side of the Atlantic and both away from the mainstream thrust of the commercial West End. As well as the buzz surrounding City Of Angels, he has only recently returned from a brace of theatrical excellence at Chichester. His work on the movement in Rupert Everett’s Amadeus that opened the re-built Festival Theatre was a gorgeous treat of rococo splendor, whilst his choreography of Jonathan Kent’s production of the Sondheim & Styne Gypsy, a giant of a show with a cast led by Imelda Staunton with Lara Pulver, has contributed to the production being hailed as a “once in a lifetime” event. 

(read my review of Gypsy here)

A lean and incredibly athletic 50 year old, Mear speaks of his influences, with his career stretching back to performing in the early years of the original productions of both Cats and Evita. He has both worked alongside and assisted many of the dance greats having known Fosse, worked with Gillian Lynne and counts Broadway’s (and lately the West End too) Susan Stroman as a close friend. And it is probably that rich breadth and depth of Mear’s experience that makes the quality of his work so distinctive. We both recall Richard Eyre’s seminal and groundbreaking Guys And Dolls at the National Theatre in 1982, where Mear was to find the late David Toguri’s choreography an inspiration.

That introduction to Eyre's musical theatre style was to plant the idea in Mear's mind of working with the director in later years. Alongside Matthew Bourne, Mear choreographed Eyre’s multi-million Disney-dollar Mary Poppins. That dance pairing was to prove sensational, with Mary Poppins winning the 2005 Olivier for choreography before going on under the same creative talent to garner a Tony nomination two years later in New York. The vision behind that show was unique - Who can forget Gavin Lee, upside down, tap dancing his way across the top span of the Prince Edward Theatre's massive proscenium? At this point Mear confesses: he is afraid of heights. In rehearsals a swing had been constructed especially for him, to allow the dance maestro to be suspended from the stage upside down alongside Lee. The height proved too much for Mear and he was swiftly returned to terra firma, but it says much for his perseverance and commitment that he even permitted himself to be hoisted aloft at all.

Gavin Lee and ensemble in the famous Mary Poppins Step In Time routine

The Eyre association continues to this day with Mear having worked alongside Sir Richard on Betty Blue Eyes as well as the short-lived Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Don Black offering, Stephen Ward. Mear looks back appreciatively on that show, especially upon being able to have worked again with the likes of Jo Riding and for the first time having the opportunity to have worked with Lloyd-Webber. Eyre was to hire Mear again last year for Chichester's charming revival of The Pajama Game, a show that was to see a 2014 transfer to the West End - and as Gypsy prepares to land at the Savoy Theatre next March, allowing Mear's glorious work to be shared with the wider audience it deserves, the theatre world is abuzz with what is likely to be the 2015 musical theatre revelation… It's Chichester again, this time producing the Jerry Herman stunner Mack & Mabel, with Michael Ball lined up to play Mack Sennett, the genius director of two-reeler silent movies. Again Mear will be responsible for the dance and in a show that offers a famously perceptive and sometimes dark commentary upon the early years of Hollywood, personally I cannot wait to see Mear's take on the slapstick comedy that underlies the brilliantly maverick number Hit Em On The Head!

But right now, amidst the season of tinsel and glitter, the talk of the town is of a show that focusses upon Tinseltown's darkest side, the noir of the 1940s styled City Of Angels. Billed as a musical comedy, the show reflects two parallel plots - a writer desperate for his screenplay to be produced woven together with the fictional story that he is creating. It's a world of gumshoes, hazy cigarette smoke and sleazy intrigue and its been a good 20 years or so since the Prince of Wales theatre last gave the show a West End outing.

City of Angels marks Mear's first time working at the venue as well as alongside director and the Donmar’s Artistic Director Josie Rourke. Another first is that City of Angels is Rourke’s entrée into musical theatre and Mear speaks glowingly of her approach. "She's amazing and hasn't missed a trick" he says, adding that the acclaimed director, some years his junior, believes in a constructively collaborative approach to planning the show. Mear adds that City of Angels is a show not famed for its dance routines - yet without giving too much away, talks excitedly about his staging of the Prologue and refers to how the casting of the show will complement some of the plot's darker racist undertones.

Mear is also fortunate in having been gifted a platinum-plated cast to work with. Hadley Fraser who numbers amongst the cream of his generation is playing the writer Stine, whilst his on-stage wife Gabby is played by real life (and newly wed) missus Rosalie Craig, another British musical theatre A-Lister. That the cast also includes Peter Polycarpou as movie mogul Buddy Fidler only appeals further to Mear - he worked with both Polycarpou and Fraser on The Pajama Game, gleaning a thorough understanding of these performers’ potential. With Katherine Kelly, Samantha Barks and Tam Mutu also on the bill, Mear truly feels spoilt with the talent that he has been blessed to work with.

Peter Polycarpou in rehearsal for City of Angels
photo by Johan Persson

Mear’s talent know no bounds and this piece has not even mentioned his New York achievements with Disney’s The Little Mermaid on Broadway, nor his acclaimed Die Fledermaus last year at the New York Met. The list is endless. For now though, its all about shoehorning the immense craft of this lord of the dance into the bijou confines of the Donmar. City of Angels will be a sassy show performed by the cream of the industry’s talent and in a production sculpted by the finest creatives. What a fabulous way to see in the new year!

City of Angels plays at the Donmar Warehouse until 7th February 2015. The production is sold out, however a number of Barclays Front Row seats are released for sale each Monday and a limited number of seats can be purchased each day at the box office.

Gypsy transfers to London's Savoy Theatre in March 2015

An Evening of Gershwin

Kenwood House, London

****

Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra

Conductor - Jae Alexander

An afternoon of Gershwin, in the glorious grounds of Kenwood House, on a balmy late summer’s afternoon, gave a whole new meaning to "Sunday in the park with George". The last in the 2013 series of the Live By The Lake concerts got underway at the altogether rather civilised time of 5pm with the event having a strangely grand but nonetheless traditional feel of sitting in front of a rather sumptuous bandstand.

The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra returned to the stage for the occasion with Jae Alexander conducting. Alexander had already amassed years of Gershwin experience from the pit of the Prince Edward Theatre’s Crazy For You run, but with the orchestral magnificence of the Kenwood sound dwarfing even the finest West End show band, he can rarely have conducted such a musically magnificent take on the New York composer's work.

The afternoon’s cast were magnificent. Gina Beck taking time out from her Glinda’s Wicked swansong was a soprano delight with The Man I Love and defined the afternoon’s Gershwin credentials with a sublime Summertime in the second half.

Kerry Ellis, who with We Will Rock You’s Meat and Wicked’s Elphaba performed on both sides of the Atlantic to her credit, must surely be West End royalty, gave the classic Someone To Watch Over Me an absolutely sparkling treatment, having already warmed up with one of the most bittersweet numbers written, But Not For Me.

David Bardsley provided some fabulous baritone work with A Foggy Day In London Town being appropriate for the location (if not the delightful weather).

Michael Ball, billed as the show’s star, was conspicuously absent through much of the first half until that set’s closing number. Walking modestly onto the stage, as Alexander struck up the band, so Ball eased himself into Strike Up The Band, re-imagining the song with soul and sensitivity in a delivery that was simply spine-tingling. The audience who had been baying for his arrival were swiftly placated and as the number played out, the cheers from the crowd as they headed off for a tea and champagne break were rousing.

The second half featured Ball extensively, including a delightful duet with Ellis who gave perhaps the most enchanting corpse ever. Embraceable You had been carefully planned and rehearsed by the pair, yet Ellis, heavily pregnant so therefore of course forgiveable for any vocal wanderings that she may commit, collapsed into infectious laughter and just giggled her way through Ball’s having to turn the prepared two-hander into a solo. It was all rather lovely.

Highspot of the half though was Viv McLean’s Rhapsody In Blue. For one to be able to lie back on the Kenwood lawns, bubbly in hand, gaze at the skies and listen to this man’s virtuoso take on one of the most glorious piano compositions of the 20th century canon, was nothing short of a fine and rare privilege. 

Bravo to Rouge Events who have had the vision and tenacity to negotiate with Kenwood’s neighbours and re-instate these concerts as a fixture of London’s calendar. Here’s to the 2014 season and their beautiful contribution to the capital’s Summertime.

Kerry Ellis talks of Gershwin, Scott Alan and legends

This weekend sees Kerry Ellis take to the stage at London’s Kenwood House, for an open-air evening of music celebrating the work of George Gershwin. She found time to talk briefly about the legendary New York composer, as well as the city's more contemporary Scott Alan. We also talked about the legends that have influenced her in recent years, Queen's Brian May and the Royal Air Force's very own world class display team, The Red Arrows...

What was it that attracted you to doing an evening of Gershwin?

I have always enjoyed performing at outdoor summer events and the opportunity to sing some of these fabulous songs backed by a full orchestra was just too good to refuse. The rehearsals (in a line up hosted by Michael Ball and which includes Gina Beck) have been amazing and it’s a combination of fabulous songs sung by some amazing voices.

Tell me more about performing with Michael Ball.

Michael is the ultimate showbiz person. Kind and generous, yet always professional. I have known him for years, have been a guest on his show and we’ve been at the Oliviers together, yet we have never actually performed together on stage. This is a first and I am loving the experience.

What Gershwin songs are your favourite?

Summertime, which will be sung by Gina Beck, is probably my favourite song, but another number which I love is Embraceable You, that I am so looking forward to doing as a duet with Michael.

With you as a legendary Elphaba and Gina Beck currently appearing as Glinda, is there likely to be any sort of a Wicked feel to the evening?

Not exactly. The eras and musical styles are so far apart that there is not much room for a crossover, but its an interesting thought that Gershwin, who was writing words and music in the 20s and 30s may have had some modest influence upon Stephen Schwartz, who composed so much in the latter half of the 20th century. 

Whilst many people will know you from Wicked or We Will Rock You, I was first drawn to your talent at the Royal Albert Hall's 2010 Festival of Remembrance  when you sang Chess' Anthem, accompanied by Dr Brian May on guitar. Tell me more about that performance.

That Festival, on the night before Remembrance Sunday, was one of the most memorable moments of my career and I think it will stay with me forever. The enormous emotion and significance of the occasion, combined with the power of the song and Brian’s guitar work made for an unforgettable occasion.

That evening was to precede the launch of my Anthems album which we were to take on tour and marked 8 years of Brian and I having worked together. Only recently we performed our Acoustic By Candlelight tour and where once this legendary rock guitarist of frankly iconic status had been my mentor, we have now become professional partners.

I had the privilege of hearing you sing Scott Alan's Never Neverland at your Pheasantry gig in Chelsea earlier this year. Tell me more about that connection.

I first encountered Scott when he saw me performing on Broadway and asked me to sing Behind These Walls for his album Keys. Last year he asked me to sing Never Neverland at his Birdland concert, which was also released on his album Live. I think he is a beautifully talented writer, gifted in his ability to write songs for women.

I recently interviewed Scott whilst he was in town for his concert at the O2 and there is talk that his musical Home (that includes Never Neverland) may premiere in London. If that happens, would you like to be one of the four women who make up Home's cast?

If I was asked to and was able to, then without a doubt, I would love to be involved with the show. There is a real buzz in the air at the moment about Scott's work that is very exciting.

Finally, and even asking this question makes me insanely jealous, what was it like to fly with the Red Arrows?

It was amazing. I still pinch myself that it happened. It's the ultimate thrill ride, performed by some simply amazingly brave and talented guys and I can't believe they even let me "drive" the plane too! It was a bucket list experience and an absolute privilege to be allowed into a Red Arrows cockpit. I love those guys!

Kerry can be seen in Summertime - An Evening Of Gershwin at Kenwood House this Sunday September 1st, at 5pm

Visit www.LiveByTheLake.co.uk for details and tickets.

Live By The Lake - Kenwood House to host the return of exquisite summer entertainment

Kenwood House

Live By The Lake describes the concert season that return to Kenwood House next month and it’s a phrase that could quite possibly sum up my own summer relationship with this beautiful treasured corner of Hampstead Heath, a location that has entertained me, my family and my friends for more than 40 years.

I can recall the old GLC hosting concerts over an 8 week season. Each Saturday night featuring an eminent orchestra playing a worthy classical programme. There would be a mid-season treat of Tchaikovsky’s 1812, complete with cannon blasts and an end of season spectacular, typically Handel’s Music For The Royal Fireworks performed with due firework wizardry. With the GLC long since disbanded, English Heritage picked up the baton (sublime pun) and the survival of this landmark of London’s summer culture seemed assured. If the programmes were not dumbed-down, there certainly evolved a more populist feel, with themed nights being introduced and fireworks each week.  Perhaps understandably, some of the Hampstead and Highgate locals started to express their displeasure at a weekly fireworks display shattering their summer Saturday nights and thus it was a few years ago that whilst the House and its sumptuous grounds remained open, come Saturday nights in July and August, Kenwood fell dark with gates firmly padlocked.

Until now that is. Producers Rouge Events in conjunction with English Heritage, have cleverly arranged a 6 night season taking place over two long weekends at the end of August. Their season’s remit is broad. Opera, Choral Greats, a Gershwin celebration, an inspired screening of Singin In The Rain with live orchestra and two evenings of alternative rock from Suede and Keane to complete the line up. The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra perform for three of the concerts including the Gershwin evening, which hosted by Michael Ball, will see established stars of the West End musical stage, including Kerry Ellis and Gina Beck, sing some of those talented New York brothers' fabulous compositions.

Michael Ball hosts the Gershwin night

Long before New Years Eve fireworks were broadcast live from the London Eye, the pyrotechnic designs at Kenwood House were arguably the most beautiful to be found in town. By late August, come 9.30pm, the night on the Heath has become deliciously dark and as the first smoking flares transform the woods through various hues, the gasps of astonishment from the crowd are only surpassed by the traditional oohs and aahs as rockets and starbursts explode high (but not too high) over the treeline. The fireworks over the lake provide beautiful illuminations that leave a pall of wonderfully smelling smoke hanging heavily over the dark mysterious woods, an impression left upon me in childhood and which I have been thrilled over the years to be able to share with our children. This year’s evening of Choral Greats promises “spectacular fireworks” so bring your kids and friends and not only will you be sharing with them an evening of cultured firework magic, you will also be bringing (and possibly introducing) them to some of the most spine-tingling arias of Verdi and Puccini.      

The 2013 Kenwood season promises the traditional charm and magic of the concerts that have long featured in the grounds of this exquisite house, but brought up to date to reflect the appetite of a modern audience. Nathan Homan of Rouge Events has said “the calibre of artists who are appearing at Live By The Lake is a testament to their own enjoyment of playing outdoor concerts and I think audiences across the six nights will love every minute of it.”  From the programme he has arranged, Homan is not wrong and if this glorious sunshine continues, there will be no finer place to be in the capital than at an evening, Live By The Lake in Hampstead.

The full programe of the season is listed below.

For more details and to book tickets , visit the Live By The Lake website

For more details of visiting Kenwood House , click here

@LiveByTheLake

@EHKenwood

PROGRAMME at a glance:

August 23rd: SUEDE and special guests BRITISH SEA POWER

August 24th: CHORAL GREATS with the ROYAL CHORAL SOCIETY and the ROYAL PHILHARMONIC CONCERT ORCHESTRA conducted by RODERICK DUNK

August 25th: KEANE and special guest LAURA MVULA

August 30th: ‘SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN’ – film screening, score performed by the ROYAL PHILHARMONIC CONCERT ORCHESTRA conducted by NEIL THOMSON

August 31st: OPERA AL FRESCO with ANA MARIA MARTINEZ and the ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA ORCHESTRA conducted by PAUL DANIEL

September 1st: MICHAEL BALL and friends sing songs by GEORGE & IRA GERSHWIN with the ROYAL PHILHARMONIC CONCERT ORCHESTRA conducted by JAE ALEXANDER 

Sweeney Todd - Review

Adelphi Theatre, London

*****

Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Book by Hugh Wheeler

Adaptation by Christopher Bond

Directed by Jonathan Kent

Imelda Staunton and Michael Ball

Sweeney Todd at the Adelphi Theatre is a rare production these days. Having received critical acclaim in Chichester in 2011, the producers brought it to the West End for 6 months only, and when its residence on The Strand ends this week, that’s it. The show’s over.  No formulaic production here, complete with instantly recognisable logo or slogan, that can be replicated around the world, and re-cast every 12 months as necessary. Neither are there any gimmicks apart from a rather gruesome barber’s chair and pints of stage blood. This Sweeney is most definitely cast-specific, and it shows.

Jonathan Kent has set Sondheim’s work in an unspecified era with Anthony Ward’s design being darkly evocative, bleak and stark. This deliberate blurring of the time boundaries  (The Judge and Beadle predate Robert Peel’s police force,  yet Pirelli drives a petrol powered trike) adding to the production's sensation of disquiet and enhancing the slightly supernatural aspect of Todd’s persona. The feel of the production is almost as cold as steel itself. It is harsh, industrial, and gritty. A steam sirens blasts, heavy doors clang shut and even the massive set piece that bears Todd’s barber shop, is stored behind a noisy steel roller shutter door when not in use. The one item striking item of garish colour on the set is the neon sign ( again, a time-warping design feature ) promoting Mrs Lovett's Pie Shop. The neon is of course ghoulishly ironic, beckoning customers to enter and unwittingly feast on their fellow man.

Michael Ball plays the barber with calculating vengefulness. His smiles are always insincere, his purpose always focussed as he uses any means he can to avenge his wife’s supposed death, his daughter’s abduction and his false imprisonment. Rarely is a murderer so convincingly sympathetic and Ball explores the full depths and complexities of the troubled man as we follow his journey. Sondheim’s lyrics and melodies are not easy, nor is the show easy-listening. The words are fast and harsh, and the harmonics frequently in complex minor keys, yet 6 months into the show’s London residency, Ball remains both fresh and comfortable in the role, without in any way slipping into lazy over-confidence. His comic moments are few, often being a straight man to Mrs Lovett’s effusiveness, yet they shine. In A Little Priest, his understated irony is perfect, whilst his armchair sardonic attitude towards the clearly besotted Mrs Lovett, in a parlour scene leading up to By The Sea, has distinct echoes of Michael Robbins’ Arthur, from 1970s TV’s On The Buses.

Without question, Michael Ball is one of the country’s musical theatre stars. Since creating the role of Marius in Les Miserables, his performances have nearly all involved lyrics as well as prose. By contrast, Imelda Staunton who plays Mrs Lovett, herself one of the country’s top actresses, does not have such a popularly recognised reputation in musical theatre. Yet, when the Chichester casting was announced in 2011, the decision to pair Staunton with Ball, was deservedly greeted with universal acclaim. Lovett is a down trodden, poor, woman of the people, as well as being arguably the (second) most evil character in the show and Staunton plays her definitively. Her character is complex: cunning, compassionate, caring, comic but above all, lonely. Staunton’s performance portrays all these aspects and then some more and does so with a breathtaking clarity of speech and melody of voice.  Maybe one day Sondheim will write the story of what happened to Mr Lovett. As and when he does Imelda Staunton should reprise her remarkable creation. Both Staunton and Ball are professionals who are at the pinnacle of their careers and whose ability to act through song cannot be surpassed. They quite simply provide a masterclass in musical theatre. 

Adding a further comment with regard to Staunton, this reviewer witnessed her as a Hot Box Girl in Richard Eyre’s Guys and Dolls some 30 years ago and devotedly followed her progress within that show over time, until she was rewarded with the lead role of Miss Adelaide. It is interesting to note that with both Miss Adelaide, and now Mrs Lovett, Staunton has taken iconic women from two seminally New York and London inspired shows, both of whom, coincidentally, had been memorably and famously performed by Julia McKenzie, and given each her own unique and powerful interpretation.

The supporting cast are typically outstanding to a man. John Bowe is a nauseatingly perverted Judge, whose lust, first for Todd’s wife and then for the barber's young daughter is flesh-creeping. And it speaks volumes for the pedigree of this show that an actor of the calibre of Peter Polycarpou was lured to take the modest role of Beadle Bamford. As the young lovers, Lucy May Barker and Luke Brady play their parts in the story with passion and conviction.

All these outstanding performances however are hung on the framework of creative excellence that is Sondheim's talent with words and music. A New Yorker, his eye for the pulse of a city is cleverly worked into his rhythm and words and coming from across the pond, his is a rare talent that can compose lyrics and dialogue that have an authentic London feel. His cockney writing has more to do with Lionel Bart's Oliver, than Disney's "Mockney" that the Sherman brothers foisted on Mary Poppins' Dick van Dyke.

It is both sad but also absolutely correct , that Sweeney Todd should bring the curtain down this weekend. The inspired brilliance of the pairing of Ball and Staunton is not likely to be replicated soon on a London stage, and it would be a travesty to deliberately re-cast this union with fresh actors. If you have not seen the show yet, you have five more days and seven more performances to catch it. Not to be missed!

Runs until September 22 2012