Rodgers & Hammerstein (& Me Too)

Bread & Roses Theatre, London


***

Directed by Edward Goggin

Molly Lynch in rehearsal

For this week only, the capital can again savour the vocal excellence of Molly Lynch in her one-woman show Rodgers and Hammerstein & Me Too. The titular pun is deliberate as the accomplished Lynch takes her audience through a dozen or so R&H classics, interspersed with verbatim references to a selected choice of recent years' headline stories.

Lynch is a magnificent performer with the tightly packed hour long show demonstrating not only her ability to sing - but also a perfectly nuanced knack to act through song too. And for some of the evening the emotional punch of the stories she relates are painful and poignant. The interweaving of Kyle Stephens’ testimonies - a woman who as a young child was horrendously abused by America’s notorious paedophile Larry Nassar - with the lyrics of My Favourite Things from The Sound Of Music proves powerful and heartbreaking. But there are moments when the counterpoint is clumsy. Contexting Rose McGowan’s description of Harvey Weinstein’s vile behaviour to a backdrop of the comparatively sugary sweetness of That’s The Way It Happens from Me And Juliet is an intended irony that misses the mark

Save for a brief reference to Jimmy Savile, Lynch's politicking is aimed squarely (and disappointingly, politically correctly) at the USA. This being the "woke" 2019, her failure to reference either the numerous misogynist regimes around the world that see women treated appallingly or, closer to home, the thousands of young girls in the UK that are and have been preyed upon by grooming gangs, are glaring omissions. 

Most fine musical theatre songs are best left unadulterated and, above all, uninterrupted. Good songwriting should tell its story and pack its punch through melody and lyric and it takes a fine and subtle hand to meddle with a masterpiece effectively. If Lynch returns to the intimacy of a cabaret venue - and one sincerely hope she does - the politics could perhaps be parked in favour of an evening that breaks the fourth wall and shines some light on the genius that underlies this young woman who is surely one of Ireland’s most talented exports.

When Katherine Jenkins played Julie Jordan in the Coliseum's Carousel a couple of years ago, Lynch was her acclaimed understudy and it remains a source of regret to many (Jonathan Baz included) that they missed those rare occasions that saw her step up to the leading role. This concert however offered some solace, with Lynch including What’s The Use Of Wond’rin’ in her set list. Her take on the song is exquisite, showcasing one of the finest voices to be found in London.

Runs until 3rd August

Jo Riding & Janie Dee talk Carousel, Follies and friendship

Janie and Jo on London's South Bank, 2019

Janie Dee and Jo Riding are two of the UK's finest musical theatre performers. At the National Theatre the return of Dominic Cooke’s acclaimed production of Follies currently stars the two actresses. 

Dee continues magnificently as Phyllis (could she ever leave this wonderful show?) however Cooke has re-cast his Sally and Riding (or rather Joanna Riding as she is listed in the programme) is now taking the role to even greater heights. The pairing of these two women has made for one of London's most sensational casting decisions in years. 

Cognoscenti of London's theatre however will know that the two have shared a National stage before. In 1992 they led Nicholas Hytners’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel as Julie Jordan (Riding) and Carrie Pipperidge (Dee) and such was their excellence then that they BOTH(!) won well-deserved Olivier Awards in '93 for their work.

So, while this time hop of 27 years to 2019 isn’t quite the 30-year gap that Dimitri Weismann marks at the reunion of his fabled Follies, there's the slightest, almost whimsical hint, of life imitating art as these two wonderful women work their magic on Sondheim’s sensational show. 

Making this casting even more exciting is the news just announced, as this interview is published, that on Sunday May 19th, Riding and Dee will return to the capital's Cadogan Hall for one night only in a concert production of Carousel, that will see them reprise their award winning performances!

My own memories of Hytner’s Carousel production are wonderfully vivid and so it was both joy and privilege to spend an afternoon in the company of these two fabulous performers. Amidst a rare burst of some South Bank springtime sunshine, we sat by the River Thames and talked of Follies, Carousel, friendship and musical theatre....

JB:    Janie and Jo -  Follies was outstanding in 2017. This time around, it's even  better. Tell me about the chemistry between the two of you that is so very palpable!

Jo:    That chemistry of Carousel... Well what was happening on stage with those two was kind of happening off stage as well, because I think that Carrie looks after Julie. She looks out for her. "You're a queer one, Julie Jordan, but I kind of like you, and I'm going to look after you." And that was exactly what was going in the rehearsal room.

I was very green and wet behind the ears, and I was having a bit of a hard time and Janie sort of came to my rescue and took me under her wing. A couple of little meetings in the dressing room just to have a nice chat saying "Are you alright? Don't take any notice."

Back then I'd never worked at the National. I'd done very little and a lot less than Janie and with her I just felt looked after in her very, very good hands and I've adored for that ever since. And yeah, it's kind of strange now that we're playing these old friends in Follies, with the sort of little crappy one looking up to the big glamorous one!

Janie:    Just before this interview Jo and I were looking at some Carousel pictures and there was one of Jo at the sewing machine, in a scene in which she had been required to age up (during the show) say 20 years and I also had to turn up with these ten children or something that I'd had with Mr. Snow and it was a lovely photo of us – as Jo said, it was almost like Sally and Phyllis!

Jo in Carousel, 1992

Jo:    One at her wits' end, and the other looking ever so glamorous, despite the fact that she'd spat out ten kids. You did look incredibly fabulous for having spat out so many!

Janie:    Julie and Carrie in Carousel, were very, very good friends and we kind of felt that friendship very truly whilst we were in the show. And we have stayed friends all through our lives until now. I've seen a lot of Jo's work. I went to see her in stuff and always thought she was amazing and I've got to know her various boyfriends over the years too. I don't know her husband so well -

Jo:    My boyfriends before the husband, that is.  Make sure you add that!

Janie:    Before the husband, of course! What I mean is that on and off stage we've kept in touch. And then, recently, we were brought back together, which was really wonderful, by Alex Parker to do A Little Night Music. And so that again kind of gave us a bit of a jolt, didn't it?

JB:    Julie and Carrie were friends. Are Sally and Phyllis friends, in 1971, at the Weismann’s Follies reunion party?

Janie:    No, I think they've grown apart. But I think what Phyllis is dealing with is not unlike Pinter's play, Betrayal. The betrayal isn't just of the people who had sex, it's the betrayal of the friendship as well, that obviously was the kernel of it all.

It was a good friendship between these two girls. And was it 30 years before that? So in 1941, it was Sally who took Phyllis under her wing and said "You can come and stay with me, and I know somebody. My boyfriend can bring an extra man for you," who ends up being Ben who ends up being her husband. And then we see what happens 30 years later when they return for the party, the reunion.

Jo:    It was quite a brief time, wasn't it? We worked out that they were probably working at the Follies for not much more than a year to 18 months before the war hit the USA, so we didn't get that long together, did we?

Janie:    It's trust, it's when you trust somebody. It's to do with trust, I guess. And forgiveness. But with Phyllis, I feel she's coming to the reunion party for a few reasons. Not only to get things clear, but also to try and move on somehow in one way or another. It's almost like she dares it all to happen, I don't know. I’m still trying to work it out!

JB:    Janie - How have you felt the show evolve from its first time around?

Janie:    Watching it this time? Well I've noticed that Dominic Cooke definitely has revisited his own production from last time and thought, "Hm, I'll change this and I'll change that - because the show could be better or more profound."

And the fact that we as the two main players are so different has shifted it into a slightly different place. You know, having enjoyed last year's production so much, it's hard to make comparisons and I don't want to make comparisons. But what I would say is that there's something about the relationship between Sally and Ben now that just feels more dangerous to Phyllis. And that's a big shift that's actually made it, I think, different for me as a performer, different for me as the character Phyllis. Our pairing has sort of shifted the show into darker territory.

Jo:    Quite astonishing, isn't it, that Dominic hasn't rested on his laurels? He had a five-star hit on his hands, so he could have just brought a couple of people back. "Yeah, you do your thing, walk it on." But he hasn't. The fact that he has gone where he's gone with it and he has decided to fiddle with a five-star show. That's brave.

Janie:    I said to him at the end of the last one, "Oh, I'm so sorry that we're finishing. I still haven't finished my work on this." And he said, "Good, 'cause I would like to try it again." And he knew then, and I think-

Jo:    Did you know then that you'd come back?

Janie:    I then knew that I wanted to come back, because I really didn't feel like I'd finished

JB:    Jo, your songs very much define Sally's vulnerability. What, over the years, do you think has seen Sally crumble - we know that she has attempted suicide at least once - while at the same time Phyllis has hardened?

Jo:    Oh. I guess a lot depends on personality in the first place. How one person copes with shit compared to another. I don't know. I think ... It was a different start out, wasn't it? I (Sally) was in love with someone who rejected me. Phyllis is in love with someone, believed that that person was in love with them, stayed with them, but then learned over the years, actually, he didn't love anyone, really, other than himself.

Janie:    Not even. Definitely not himself!

Jo:    No. Actually incapable of love. So I don't know why they've both turned out the way they've turned out. I can't answer that. If Mr. Sondheim was here....

Janie with Alexander Hanson as Ben in Follies, 2019

Janie:    I think working on our backstories has been great. I worked on my backstory with both of the women playing Young Phyllis (Christine Tucker in the 2019 revival) and we’ve got some nice stuff in, but there’s more this time.

Christine was new to it, and she’d gone mad on her backstory - some wonderful stuff that we had come over from Ireland to get to Philadelphia, and Phyllis’ father was killed.

So I'm not going to tell you, because that's my secret, but I now know why Phyllis is the way she is. Or at least I know why I think she's the way she is!

But the thing about theatre is that I don't think actors should ever tell the audience what they should think. Nor should writers for that matter!

One of the beautiful things about theatre is that you interpret it for yourself. So whatever you think was the reason that Sally crumbles and Phyllis stays strong, whatever that reason is, it is for you to work that out, not for us to tell you. That spoils it!

Jo:    I think that through Sally Sondheim does tell us a little clue, and that's when she's talking to Ben and she said, "You don't know how to feel things. I feel things. I feel things." And I think she is, she's a bleeder. And it all comes out. She's a very emotional creature, she's not reserved. And I think that, perhaps, could even be her undoing. I mean, it's good to get your feelings out, but I think to feel things so acutely that they become unbearable...

Janie:    I thought, "Ben’s trained Phyllis not to cry." I think he just has wanted the wife that he's got, and now he's got the wife that he's got, and he doesn't want her anymore, or he doesn't think he wants her anymore. But he actually trained her to be the person she is, and that's to push down the stuff. She's pushing down all the emotion. Whereas Sally has never been told, "Don't be who you are."

And I don't know, it's interesting that we don't know what happens after the end of this. The end is not the end, is it? Nobody dies. It's not the end. It's ... You don't know, you make up your own mind.

JB:    I picked up on your use of the word forgiveness, earlier on in this conversation, which is not a word that I've often associated with Follies’ message. Can you expand on that?

Janie:    I'm not saying that forgiveness actually happens, but I am saying that it's up for grabs. You know, it's a good take on humanity, actually, in a world that is crumbling around us, and how we are trying to hold on to some kind of value somewhere which we might want to call love.

But maybe love is not it. Maybe respect is more it, or something. I don't know, it's asking lots of questions, but I wonder if love is the answer? Because love ... If you look at what happens to most relationships that start with love, it takes a very special pair of people to keep that love alive for ever and ever and ever and not let it divert into boredom or hate or the worst, indifference.

JB:    Between you, aside from Follies, you've played many of Sondheim's great female characters. Desiree, Anne, Countess Charlotte Malcolm. What are your thoughts on how Sondheim writes for women?

Janie:    Not unlike Shakespeare, he seems to understand profoundly what it is to be a woman. The pain of a woman and the joy and the sexuality. And how does he know? I understand that he had a difficult relationship with his mother.

Jo:    I think perhaps, he doesn't necessarily understand women, per se. I think he understand what it is to be the kind of person that has been oppressed and repressed over the decades, over the centuries. I think he understands that. I think he understands the battle to be heard, to be seen, to survive against the odds. Maybe he understands that, which happens to be part of a woman's story, but not exclusively. And I think maybe that's it.

JB:    Jo - with  Every Day a Little Death in A Little Night Music and Follies’ Losing My Mind, you have sung two of Sondheim’s most painfully poignant numbers. How perceptive is he as a writer?

Jo:    Well again and again, he nails it, doesn't he? He tears into your soul. I don't know how he does it. I don't know how he manages to get the knob of something and turn it into song. I wish I did. I am just the conveyor of his material. I'm the medium. All I can do is interpret it the best way I can do that by finding little dark corners in me and interpreting the best I can. But I find him incredibly perceptive.

But again, it's very subjective, isn't it? There are those that don't like Sondheim, that don't get Sondheim, my mother included. And for her, that's not what musical theatre ought to be. It's too dark, it's too complex. It's ... I think it takes her somewhere she doesn't want to be taken to in a musical.

Janie:    Jo, do you remember? Sondheim came to see us in Carousel and the reason he came to see us in Carousel was partly because he probably wanted to see it and he was here, but also because he was sort of brought up with Richard Rodgers, who was almost like the godfather or something of his talent. So he had Rodgers and Hammerstein, I believe, bringing him up, and others.

And Bernstein who he worked with on West Side Story. He had these greats kind of running alongside him, and whilst he was picking up some of their talent or influence or musicality, he was bringing himself up as well.

But I think when he came to see us, he really loved Carousel, and I'd love him to see this with us again. I think he'd be really happy. 

Jo:    I wonder if even he knows why he's so perceptive and why he can write like he can write. I just find often, incredibly talented people, just the way they can put something down on paper, whether it's music or it's words or what have you. They just have this gift for getting to the knob and turning a screw on something. I don't even think they know how they do it.

JB:    I had never described Sondheim as Shakespearean, prior to this 2019 review of Follies.

Janie:    Did you? Because Dominic Cooke has described Follies as a bit Shakespearean.

Jo in Follies, 2019

At this point the wind turned breezy and we moved back into the National Theatre itself. The blustery weather reminded Jo of the National's 1998 touring production of Oh! What A Lovely War that had been staged in a tent. 

Jo:    Fiona Laird was the director - who had been one of the staff directors here during Carousel and I had one of the most incredible moments I've ever had on a stage in that show.

It's a phenomenal piece, anyways,  course, we're talking back in the 1990s, and there were still some First World War veterans who could come to the show - and often they would be seated at the front of the apron. And I'd play this character, where I had to come right to the front of the apron in a sort of a nurses outfit and sing Keep the Home Fires Burning.

And there was this little old man, and he looked about 204, and he was curled up. We thought he was asleep, we were sort of joking that he'd gone to sleep right at the beginning of the show, and we just thought just like this throughout the whole show. Except at that moment, he lifted up his head, and he sang the entire song with me. I don't know how I held it together. Every word, perfect. Sang it with me. Gorgeous, gorgeous.

Where that must have taken him and what it must have meant to him in that moment?

Janie:    How did you cope? How did you keep singing?

Jo:    Well, it's the hardest thing to sing with a lump in your throat, isn't it? But you have to. You think, "It'd be so easy for me just to go now, but I've got a job to do. And I'm just gonna steel myself. I'm gonna sing it. I'm gonna sing it. I'm gonna sing it. I'm gonna sing it." And then as soon as I sat down, I was in a flood. You kind of hold it in, don't you? Because if you lose it, the moment's gone.

Janie and Jo in Carousel (1992)

JB:    Returning to Carousel, and powerful moments on stage, the first time that I saw Gemma Sutton (currently playing Young Sally in Follies) on stage was at the Arcola five years ago in Carousel where she was an outstanding Julie Jordan. Since then London has seen the Coliseum production in 2017 and then last year there was a Broadway revival with Jessie Mueller and Joshua Henry as Julie Jordan and Billy Bigelow. I recall discussing that Broadway show with the other Baz (Bamigboye), we both agreeing that it was the first Carousel since 1993 that had come close to replicating the magic you two had created at the Lyttelton.

Jo:    My dad was such a mess when he came to see Carousel. He said it broke his heart to see his girl, his little girl so old and so sad. He said, "I don't ever want to see it." He couldn't separate the two, bless him. I'm not from a theatrical background, and Mum and Dad at that point really hadn't seen very much theatre at all, so I think when they did see stuff like that it affected them so profoundly.

Janie with Clive Rowe as Mr Snow - Carousel, 1992

Janie:    Yeah, my dad was like that because of you. We all were. I used to stand on the side of the stage and watch Jo every night when she felt Billy Bigelow. It's awful in the thing, 'cause he hits her and she says to her little girl-

Jo:    "It is possible for a man to hit you hard and it not hurt at all."

Janie:    That's right.

Jo:    What a line to have to say. But I had to find a truth in it. And actually, it comes from that dark side of Julie, I think. There's a dark side to Julie who was drawn to the dark side in Billy, and there is an element of the fact that, "He can hit me and I can still love him because the idea of being without him is darker and bleaker than being with him. I cam come to terms with that. I can ..." It's a question of self esteem, isn't it? I mean, you could talk about battered wives of course, but there's something steelier in Julie.

Janie:    I think also it's an understanding of where the abusive person has been as a child. You know, this isn't to say it's condoning any kind of abuse, absolutely not. But it seemed to me that Julie was profoundly at one with Billy. They really found each other in that. And he did really love Julie, and he didn't mean to hit her, that's the point. His anger was something ... It was his problem. His anger management was bad, and why it was bad, you can only guess at. And only the actor will know what his backstory will be for that. But the guess is that he's been hit around when he was a little boy, right?

Jo:    So there's an understanding, and there's, I guess, a forgiveness from that coming from her because there is that understanding, and acceptance of him and everything. That she knew what she was taking on. She knew. And loved every part of it, the bad and the good, which is real love, isn't it?

Janie:    But never the less, you would still get gasps from the audience with that line from time to time. As if to say "How can you even say such a line?"

Jo:    I know, I know. But you as the actor, you can't be thinking that. You have to find justification for it. In you, you have to find a reason where it's acceptable to say that. You have to get underneath something in that character that makes it a truth for her. And that's the best you can do, isn't it?

Follies plays in repertory at the Olivier Theatre until May 11th

Carousel plays for one night only at the Cadogan Hall on May 19th

Photo credits:
Carousel 1992 - Clive Barda
Follies 2019 - Johan Perssson
South Bank 2019 - Michael Curtis 

Shuler Hensley - An Outstanding Actor Who Brings Humanity To Dysfunctionality

Shuler Hensley in The Whale

Shuler Hensley is an American actor who, outside of the theatre world and especially the musical theatre world, is little known in the UK. 

Currently he can currently be found in the Theatre Royal Bath’s Ustinov Studio in the modern tragedy The Whale, in which he plays the morbidly obese Charlie, an Idaho man who is close to death. Critics have raved about the play (my own review is here), but The Whale is only the most recent of Hensley’s achievements on these shores. 

Twenty years ago (and the only American playing in that South Bank cast) he won the Best Supporting Actor Olivier Award for his portrayal of Jud in Trevor Nunn’s Oklahoma! at the National Theatre. That production was one of the few American shows ever to have enjoyed a fresh UK revival that itself was then shipped back across the Atlantic to become a hit in New York too. On Broadway in 2002, reprising the National Theatre production, Hensley’s Jud earned him not only that year’s Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics’ Award, he scooped the Tony too! For those of us lucky enough to have seen the show (I was one) Hensley’s work was unforgettable. 

Nunn's Oklahoma! was choreographed by Susan Stroman – who went on to work closely with Mel Brooks in transferring his Young Frankenstein from a hit comedy movie onto the stage. Stroman didn’t hesitate in proposing Hensley to create The Monster when the show opened on Broadway in 2007. Ten years later Brooks and Stroman brought the show to London, where Hensley was again the only American actor employed, going on to magnificently (and far from monstrously) recreate his Monster for the West End. 

After The Whale's opening night in Bath last week I caught up with Hensley to learn a little more about him and his career.

JB:    Jud, The Monster, and now Charlie. What draws you to playing such dysfunctional individuals? 

Shuler:    That's a very interesting question. I think as a character/actor, I guess I'm just drawn to characters who we (by which I mean the general public or society) think we know based on our initial impression. Usually it's a visual impression. He's the dirty farm hand. Or he's the morbidly obese guy who can't get out of his apartment. It could be anything. Then , understanding that, and sort of as an actor, just trying to figure it all out. People don't go into life wanting to be labelled. I think we want to fit in. We want to be a part of everyone else's journey.  

That's the interesting thing about these characters - finding something that I think we all can recognise in a person, and then sort of flip it and say, "Well, wait a minute. Actually, I can relate to that." 

And once you're able to do that with an audience, and you're able to take a stereotypical character and make people start questioning that, then I think it's really powerful and interesting for the viewer to say, "Wow. Maybe there is some worthiness to these people."  

I mean, I play a lot of villains. I play a lot of darker characters. But with my research and with my knowledge of these people, in reality I have found that these dark souls don’t thinks of themselves as psychopaths or a villains. They often think, "Well, I'm right and everyone else is wrong, so it's not like I'm evil." And once you can figure that out then you can really portray someone who is deeply believing in what they're saying. Does that make sense? 

JB:    It makes perfect sense. In The Whale, where you have to endure a particularly spiteful daughter – there is a moment when you, her scorned and obese father, realise the good that lies within her. It’s a heartbreaking, powerful moment that you perform beautifully.  

Moving on, what sympathy do you think we can or should feel for Jud in Oklahoma!? 

Shuler Hensley's Jud Fry

Shuler:    Well, Jud's an interesting character. When Oklahoma! first came out especially the film, I think there was a necessity to draw a line between who's good and who's bad. But what I find fascinating about Rodgers and Hammerstein is that actually they don't write that way. 

If you look at things like South Pacific and you look at Oklahoma!, there's a lot of good and bad in everyone. And Curly, although he may be all fluffed up in the movie, he's got a dark side. He's got a very vengeful side. In the song Lonely Room for Jud, which incredibly was cut from the movie, that's a vitally important moment to get inside Jud’s head.  

Listen to the lyrics of Lonely Room - it's a love poem. It's a wanting to belong. It's a wanting to get a bride and fit in, and be loved, and to love someone. I mean, we all can relate to that, but what's interesting about Richard Rodgers' music is that underneath that love poem is dissonance. 

I talked to Mary Rodgers about this, his daughter before she passed, and she said that he considered Lonely Room to be one of his greatest compositions ever because it so well contained the emotion in what's happening within the song. Jud is a perfect example of somebody who doesn't think of themselves as being a villain, but for whatever reason has been put into that situation and is defensive. 

Think of “Poor Jud Is Daid”. If you take that out of being a comedic duet and saw what Curly was doing, he’s being horrible to Jud. 

JB:    It's horrendous bullying. 

Shuler:    Quite. People laugh and scoff in that song, but if you can create moments where the audience - and I mean Oklahoma! is the quintessential American musical – if you can get them to hear a song for the first time in a way that makes them start to question their judgement, THAT is what live theatre is all about. 

I've worked with Hugh Jackman (who played Curly in the Nunn production). That was his first thing here. I've worked on films and movies and people like Hugh and a lot of these guys like Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart who've made success in movies and TV come back to theatre. 

And the reason is that you can't re-create a live audience or a live experience because you're in it with the audience. And so when you create a touching moment for a villain like Jud or a touching moment for a morbidly obese gay man like Charlie, there's a palpable connection with the audience in a live environment that can't be re-created. 

JB:    You just mentioned Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. You recently played alongside them in the Broadway production of No Man's Land. Tell me about working with those two theatrical knights, on Pinter.   

Shuler:    It reminds me of like a Sunday Times crossword puzzle. It's very cerebral on the surface, but if you go along with that then you realise that there's a lot of stuff going on that's beyond the words or underneath the words, or between the lines. And that's what was so fascinating with it. We actually worked with the neurologist Oliver Sacks who Patrick invited into to our rehearsal process.  

He helped us with the fascinating aspect of the whole play being about false memory. I think we all have it. I mean, if you have a sibling, you can both remember in great detail sometimes different versions of the same event. Both versions cannot be true because they don't line up. It's just a fascinating journey in false memory with Pinter dialogue. 

JB:    Let's move on to Mel Brooks and Young Frankenstein.

Hensley as The Monster

Shuler:    Well, where to begin? I consider Mel Brooks to be a dear friend of mine. I talk to him on a regular basis. He's nearly 92 and he couldn't be a younger soul. I think it's the throwback to when he started as a comedy writer to Sid Caesar's show of shows. I believe that's what it's called. In the writing room was Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, a very young Woody Allen. Those types of guys who had to come up with a weekly comedy line – No, I think Mel said there were about 70 shows a year. 

The idea of coming up with something funny and throwing it like a spaghetti, throwing it against the wall and seeing if it sticks. That's Mel's mentality with everything. He didn't want to re-create the movie. He wanted it the musical of Young Frankenstein to be an original experience even though everyone can relate to the lines and the scenes that everyone remembers from the film.  

Having him say that from the beginning was such a relief because I didn't want to try to create or re-create the version of The Monster from the film because there's just no way to do that. 

We had the Broadway run and then I did it on tour because I wanted to experience what that was like for the American audience, which was amazing because everyone loves Mel Brooks.

So after 10 years probably Mel just called me up. I talked to him occasionally within that gap, and he kept saying, "Shuler, I'm getting this to London. I'm telling you. It's going to go to London." And Susan Stroman and I would laugh about it because I've worked with Susan Stroman on a number of projects and we do readings. I'd say to Susan, "Have you heard from Mel?" And she's like, "Oh yeah." And lo and behold, he got it here.  

I said, "I'm going to do it. I'll do whatever you want me to do."

And then when we got here, he came in and completely re-designed it, re-thought it, let a lot of the leads and people experiment with lines. He was here for five, six weeks. I mean, he's very hands on, and super energised. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing that man is, and he's constantly thinking. 

JB:    The Whale – tell me about your journey with this astonishing piece.

Shuler Hensley and Ruth Gemmell in The Whale

Shuler:    It started six years ago. They had a reading of this play called The Whale and they said, "We'd be interested in Shuler reading this." So, they sent me a copy of it, and when I read it my jaw dropped. I just felt such a connection to not only the characters, but the style of writing and the rhythm of the writing, and the use of pauses and things not said that should be. It was all contained within the script. That was just reading it. 

And then you get to the actual table read. A lot of times the things you think are going to happen just don't, but pretty much everything that I was hoping for just naturally happened within the table read. I think we all went away from that thinking, "This is something really amazing to be a part of." 

And then the writer, Sam Hunter, is just one of those people that's just an old soul and a wonderful human being. He sets all his plays in Idaho, which is where he's from. And it's sort of autobiographical in some aspects, but in others it's hints of people he knows and has entered his life. The storyline of Mormonism reflects how prolific that creed is that part of the country.  

Idaho’s up in the north west corner. It's sort of a No Man's Land (not to bring another play into it of course!) but it really is. I mean, if you ask a typical American about what would a normal person from Idaho be like? They'd have no clue. No clue. 

JB:    And in the politics of modern America, Where would you say Idaho sits? 

Shuler:    I don't know. I think it's a mystery. It's just like a frontier. I have been to Moscow, Idaho once. I drove down from Seattle, Washington because there was a wedding that I was a part of. The bachelor party was in Moscow, Idaho. It feels like you're in the middle of outer space because there were no street lights at the time, so you're driving through these massive national parks in the dark. You can just see as far as your headlights are, and then all of a sudden there's this town. It's a big town but it's sort of surrounded by wilderness, so very isolated. It's just a really interesting area. I wouldn't know what the politics are because it's its own world. 

JB:    Is there a hope that The Whale may come into London? 

Shuler:    That is our hope! 

Whenever there's something I'm doing in the States that I really believe in, I always think of how we can get it to England because I think the theatre community here is very knowledgeable. The British are very supportive of theatre and I've just loved working here.


The Whale plays at the Ustinov Studio until 2nd June
Photo credits for The Whale images: Simon Annand

Carousel - Review

Imperial Theatre, New York



*****

Jessie Mueller and Joshua Henry

Music by Richard Rodgers 
Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Based on Ferenc Molnar's play Liliom as adapted by Benjamin F Glazer
Directed by Jack O'Brien

There is a gloriously challenging intensity to Jack O’Brien’s Carousel that creeps up on one throughout the evening and draws us into this glimpse of humanity’s cruel underbelly. Supported by Justin Peck’s balletic choreography (and dance is a strong feature of this production), O’Brien has stripped away what little froth Rodgers and Hammerstein’s original might have once contained.

The nuclear reactor at the core of this show is the chemistry between Jessie Mueller’s Julie Jordan and Joshua Henry as fairground barker Billy Bigelow. Henry defines Bigelow’s tragedy in a way that has not been seen, on either side of the Atlantic, for decades. He exudes an irresistible masculinity that would have acted as a honeypot for the girls who swarmed over Mrs Mullin’s carousel. But more than that, he captures a blustering vulnerability. His Billy is not a bad man, but rather a good man who has done bad things. And rarely is that human characteristic so profoundly displayed as it is here. Vocally of course Henry is a dream. His reprise of If I Loved You is but a warm up for his masterful Soliloquy.

Jessie Mueller likewise is an outstanding Julie Jordan. Mueller’s interpretation of this complex, grounded woman is piercingly profound. Through this performance we can understand how Julie can walk away from the security of her life at the mill, how she can still love Billy even after he hits her. The precision of Mueller’s work is devastating. In the penultimate scene, as she realises in a moment that the star that her daughter has shown her has come from Billy, Mueller rips our hearts open with her craft. And of course, she too is magnificent in full song. If I Loved You is exquisite but when, with Nettie, she sings the portentous What’s the Use of Wond’rin?, she has our heartstrings firmly in her grasp.

Onstage excellence surrounds Mueller and Henry. Renee Fleming’s Nettie is a masterclass in compassion and understanding, her You’ll Never Walk Alone spine-tingling as she supports Julie in her grief. Likewise Lindsay Mendez offers a convincing and beautifully fleshed out friendly foil as Julie’s best friend Carrie Pipperidge. 

O'Brien has cut the comic lift of Enoch Snow’s Geraniums in the Winder, along with Jigger Craigin’s There's Nothin' So Bad for a Woman, making it clear that this interpretation of the musical, albeit with its uplifting finale, is unrelenting in pursuing the story’s underlying tragedy. Both Amar Ramasar and Alexander Gemignani make fine work of Jigger and Craigin respectively notwithstanding that their roles have been trimmed by O’Brien’s scalpel. Setting the tone for the show, a neat touch from O'Brien sees The Starkeeper (John Douglas Thompson) is given a role of fundamental importance right from the get-go.

This is a heartbreakingly beautiful interpretation of probably the darkest musical to have emerged from Broadway’s Golden Years but, and not unlike The Starkeeper himself, Jack O’Brien has firmly fixed his Carousel in the firmament of 21st century musical theatre.


Booking until September 2018

Josefina Gabrielle talks about Chicago

Sarah Soetaert and Josefina Gabrielle

As Chicago returns to London, I spoke with Josefina Gabrielle who as Velma is sharing the show’s leading credits, about the piece and her career.

Josefina:    Well, it's the longest running American musical. It's been running for 21 years on Broadway and it is wonderful to have it back in the West End. Chicago holds a very dear place in my heart, because I've had so many wonderful experiences with it. And I also have to admit an obsession with it too! Before I’d even saw the show, the original cast album had been a favourite of mine. I love to watch it and I love being in it.

It also has a real international appeal. Not only do theatre lovers come to see the show, but it brings other audiences too. It makes me feel very proud, and Cuba Gooding Jr., by the way, is a diamond. We love him, an absolute superstar. He's a true star - a lovely, warm, funny man and an excellent company leader too. And of course, to work with Ruthie Henshall is a privilege and a dream. I've followed her for years and admired her and we've meet socially on occasions too, but to finally get to work together, and to sing Class with such a classy lady, is a thrill.

JB:    You’re playing Velma but when Chicago was last in town you played Roxie. Tell me about that contrast.

Josefina:    It is terribly interesting, because I played Roxie for the first time, 18 years ago. I went in and out of Chicago on various occasions during its run. I think the last time I was involved as 10 years ago. So now I am Velma watching Roxie, having been Roxie watching Velma.

I suppose, maybe because of who I am now, 18 years later, my Velma certainly feels very grown up. Looking back at Roxie, I felt more sort of twinkly and girlie then. Now I feel more calculating, more of a planner, whereas Roxie didn't really think about consequences. She sort of turns on a six pence and just cleans up as she goes along, whereas Velma is more calculating. 

JB:    You’ve played a number of phenomenal roles in recent years. What have you brought from your experience to date, to add to your take on Velma?

Josefina:    Interestingly and thinking of Merrily We Roll Along from four years ago, I've tapped into Gussie quite a few times. 

JB:    The sexual politics of Chicago take on a different hue post-Weinstein. This production’s publicity shots follow the tradition of presenting Roxie, Velma and here, Mama Morton too, clad in underwear, while Billy Flynn (and Amos) remain fully clothed. How can that styling be explained, today?

Josefina:    I feel that the entire company, men and women, with the exception of Billy and Amos maybe, are owning their life with sexuality and physicality. Fosse is such a very strong, wonderful style of choreography, and we are wearing outfits and costumes that represent that style of the show and its dance.

If you think of any ballet company, any dance company, it's no different. It is a dance and singing and acting show, so you're covering everything, really. I don't feel anyone is being exploited or feeling weak, because of what they're wearing. 

JB:    Tell me your thoughts on performing Kander and Ebb's work. 

Josefina:    My experience with Kander and Ebb and also Rodgers and Hammerstein are that the subjects that they pick are so fascinating and very often ahead of their times. How they portray those subjects, the structure of the shows and the music is just so wonderful, such brilliant numbers, that is it pure, pure entertainment that really sort of picks you up and makes you soar, soar as in fly to the sky.

But when you really think about the message that you're putting across, it is wonderful food for thought of the whole sensationalising criminal behaviour in Chicago. Cabaret with the rise of the Nazis in Berlin. They touch on such fascinating subjects, moving you. And then, when you explore what you've celebrated, it opens your eyes. It's wonderful. 

JB:    I'm glad that you touched upon Rodgers and Hammerstein because the first time that I came across your work was at the National Theatre 20 years ago in Trevor Nunn’s remarkable Oklahoma! What do you mean by those composers being "ahead of their time"?

Josefina:    Well I've done three Rodgers and Hammersteins now. Oklahoma!, Carousel and The King and I and every time it's an education. It's the birth of a nation in Oklahoma! as that state was just coming into existence. The musical is about the land rush, starting from scratch and setting up communities. That's an entire education on the history of the birth of a state.

The King and I is all about cultural differences. Where you believe yourself to be superior, because you think you know better, but then another culture opens your eyes to your ignorance and you learn from each other. It's always been a wonderful education, and a sort of sense of coming home to, every time I've done a Rodgers and Hammerstein – the material is just so rich. 

JB:    And of course you are one of the few West End leading ladies to have played opposite Hugh Jackman!

Josefina:    Yes. I mean on stage, it's just me, isn't it?

JB:    And now, together with Ruthie Henshall and Sarah Soetaert, you can add Cuba Gooding Jnr to that tally too!

Chicago plays at the Phoenix Theatre and is booking until 6th October.

Photo credit: Tristram Kenton

Carousel - Review

Coliseum, London

****

Music by Richard Rodgers

Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

Based on Ferenc Molnar's play Liliom as adapted by Benjamin F Glazer

Directed by Lonny Price

Alfie Boe, Katherine Jenkins Gavin Spokes, Alex Young and Brenda Edwards

Rodgers and Hammerstein considered Carousel to be their finest work. The show is this year's semi-staged Coliseum offering from Michaels Grade and Linnit and they have laid on a sumptuously sized cast and orchestra that bring a rarely encountered richness to the famed musical.

The story based on the Molnar's original Hungarian fable is a latter-day fairytale, suggesting that true love can conquer all and that within even the darkest most damaged souls, there is the capacity to love and to be loved in return. It's a sound and wholesome precept for sure, but this ain’t Beauty And The Beast. The argument at the core of Carousel suggests that domestic violence whilst frowned upon is not only acceptable, but can also be bearable so long as the woman truly loves her abusive partner. It is truly a dated yarn, from an era of ghastly sexual politics.

Putting issues aside, the songs are magnificent - though the show's casting, even if commercially platinum-plated, is artistically curious. The star-crossed leading characters of Julie Jordan and Billy Bigelow are played by uber-diva Katherine Jenkins and the megastar of musical theatre that is Alfie Boe. The pair's vocal excellence is beyond comparison – but the chemistry between them lacks sparkle. Jenkins too often seems to forget that this Coliseum gig is live musical theatre rather than an opera or a recording studio. Her flawless voice is not matched by an ability to act through song and she fails to make us truly believe in her journey.

Thankfully, the show’s supporting roles are marvellous. Alex Young - who must surely rank alongside the most gifted performers of her generation - gives a perfectly pitched Carrie Pipperidge, with immaculate timing, voice and presence. Her take on Mister Snow is a treat, while alongside her, as the eponymous hard-working Enoch Snow, Gavin Spokes is another comic gem. Geraniums In The Winder has rarely sounded so deliciously, puritanically hypocritical as it does here.

Derek Hagen's Jigger Craigin is a seedy menace - again performed with wit and conviction, Brenda Edwards breaks the Coliseum's hearts with a stirring You'll Never Walk Alone and even the modest character of Mrs Mullin, the carousel owner who offers a sensitively nuanced shading to Billy's complexities, is wonderfully played by Susan Kyd.

A mention too for Amy Everett as the teenaged Louise Bigelow, whose second act Ballet is beautifully delivered.

As if Boe and Jenkins wasn't enough for the coach parties, Nicholas Lyndhurst has been hauled back to the West End for a turn as the heavenly Starkeeper. Of course his performance is divine, he'll get a few more bums on seats and thankfully Lyndhurst is not really required to sing.

However – what truly sets this production of Carousel apart is the visual (and aural) prominence afforded to the full ENO Orchestra, sat in their raised pit. The melodies are the finest in the canon and under David Charles Abell's baton, as the timeless Carousel Waltz plays out it is entirely possible to consider that this may be the classic score's most glorious realisation on this side of the Atlantic, if not ever.

Lonny Price assembles a strong creative team to enhance the show's imagery. Mark Henderson's lighting serves well amidst the economically designed set - with James Noone's projections effectively creating the New England coastline as Josh Rhodes' dance routines also serve to drive the narrative.

A pricey ticket maybe, but there's much to enjoy in riding this Carousel.

Runs to 13th May

Photo credit: Tristram Kenton