Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - Review

Union Theatre, London


*****


Music by Jule Styne
Lyrics by Leo Robin
Book by Anita Loos and Joseph Fields

Abigayle Honeywill and company

Sasha Regan’s revival of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is one of the finest musical theatre productions in town. Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell gave the 1953 movie its diamond-encrusted panache, but it was the 1949 Broadway show that came first - and with songs penned by the genius of  Jule Styne and Leo Robin, its credentials are impeccable. The story is a confection of romantic whimsy and caricature, set in an era when sexual politics were a world apart from today’s identity driven issues, a contrast that makes Regan’s decision to stage the piece all the more bold and brave.

The strengths of the evening lie in the excellent song, dance and acting that are on display. Stepping into Monroe’s shoes is Abigayle Honeywill as Lorelei Lee, the titular blonde. Whip smart, Lorelei is a woman well aware of the siren-like power of her charms, with Honeywill channelling her remarkable talent and experience into the role. Her songs are riddled with a wry ironic comedy and she makes fine work of classics including Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend and I’m Just  A Little Girl From Little Rock.

As Lorelei’s chaperone Eleanor Lakin who plays Dorothy Shaw is every match for her charge. Lakin also possesses the voice of an angel that is at all times powerful, controlled and a wonderful medium for her acting. Opening the solo singing with It’s High Time, Lakin sets an equally high bar that is never bettered than in Keeping Cool With Coolidge in which her vocal work is simply sensational.

Styne and Robin’s libretto’s liberally sprinkled with Songbook gems and it says much for Regan’s cast that they all step up to the plate magnificently – capturing each number's rhythm and cadence, but also and this is critically important, unlocking the comedy in the lyrics and delivering the gags with pinpoint timing. Tom Murphy as the womanising Sir Francis Beekman plays a character who modern writers would baulk at creating. Murphy's turn however is a hilarious delight, with his take on It's Delightful Down In Chile proving a cracker. Similarly Virge Gilchrist as the alcoholic American aristocrat Ella Spofford is another delightful vignette.

Choreographer Zak Nemorin has drilled his cast with flair and precision, the dance numbers being ambitiously conceived and thrillingly delivered in the Union's compact space. Sat at a baby grand, Henry Brennan musically directs with his small band making fine work of some of the 20th century's most entertaining melodies.

This is a carefully crafted musical. Classy, sassy and perfectly performed.

Runs until 26th October

Photo credit: Mark Senior

Jane Robins talks about People Like Us

Jane Robins

As Brexit remains headline news across the country People Like Us, a new comedy from writers Julie Burchill and Jane Robins, examines how this polarisation of political opinion has cut a swathe through friendships and families. Opening next week at London's Union Theatre, the play is about the impact of Brexit upon the members of a suburban book group. 

I caught up with Jane Robins in the closing days of rehearsals for a brief conversation.

JB:    Jane, how much of the script is drawn from personal experience?

JR:    Some of it has happened to me – I was very publicly shamed on Facebook for instance when I posted some links to articles that were saying actually it wasn't really so bad, referencing job gains that were being reported in the City of London since the referendum.

I quickly found myself unfriended very publicly, there was a moralistic tone in the air and I learned (from other friends) that some people had formed the view: "we thought she was a nice person and now she turns out to be really bad".

In the view of some of my friends it was almost immoral to vote Leave and I've certainly experienced people wanting to keep me at arm’s length because of it.

Feeling a little sore, I was drawn to the first meeting of Leavers of London. I had seen on Twitter that a young woman, Lucy Harris, had posted something along the lines of: "Did you vote Leave and now feel a bit isolated? Come and meet up for a drink."

So I went along (it turned out I was the first to arrive that evening and I've since become great friends with Lucy) and lots of people turned up. Really bright, interesting people from all backgrounds, and on both the Left and the Right politically. A lot of them were (are) working in creative industries or in fields like teaching or in public services and commented how they just were unable to say at work that they voted Leave.

There were lots of stories, individual stories, that people told about how difficult it was for them -  and that's how the idea for the play began. I'd lived in London most of my life and had never thought that something like this could happen. I thought we took it for granted that we trusted our friends and that we didn't cut them off because of the way they had voted on something.

JB:    How did you and Julie Burchill find each other?

JR:    We first met on Facebook through a mutual friend and a posted article that both Julie and I had “liked”. From there, we became Facebook friends. When the idea came to me to write this play. I thought I could do it but that it would take me at least a couple of years and I just don't have the time for that with my day job as a novelist. I've always admired Julie's writing and her exuberance, the way that she provokes and challenges amaze me.

So I said to her “I'm thinking of writing a play, can I come down to Brighton and talk to you about it?” She then invited me along to a lunch she was having with friends and as I walked into the bar of the Hotel Du Vin I think within 30 seconds I had asked her to be my co-author! She called for the champagne menu and it was the start, as they say, of a beautiful friendship.

I live in London, she lives in Brighton and over about 18 months we have worked very professionally – we didn't see each other at all during the whole writing of the play. I'd already got everything mapped out in terms of the characters and the structure of the play and how I saw it. That's the sort of stuff, especially structure, that Julie doesn't enjoy. What she loves to do is dialogue.

And so I would write each scene in a rough way, doing some of the dialogue and basic mapping and then send it off to Julie and she would just wave her magic wand all over it, bring it to life and send it back to me for editing.

JB:    What do you expect the reaction to the play to be when it opens in London next month?

JR:    I genuinely have no idea at all. I think that Remainers could come to the play and really like it and think it's very funny. Or there might be completely the opposite reaction because a lot of the jokes are about “people who go to the theatre”. We could've dug our own grave with that, I just don't know.

Many scripts make fun of the chattering classes. We've done it because everything's so deeply personal at the minute and I don't know whether people are going to take it benignly and enjoy it, or get bristly.

Part of me thinks that the hard core “Remain community” are very touchy but it’s not that way and, to be fair, it's not most people either. My sister voted Remain, as did my brother-in-law and half my family and they’ve enjoyed the play. I think it's only a sliver of society who have become sort of hysterical, but it's very hard now to know.

Above all, the play is about friendship. We’ve not gone into all those sort of, pros and cons of Brexit at great lengths. We could have done, but I think the pacing is all about democracy. And I believe that's what a lot of Leavers think and a lot of Remainers just can't see. There's a blindness there and they don't see why leaving the EU is important to so many people.

JB:    Do you feel there's a timeliness to the play with all that's going on right now, as the Chequers furore leads into the parties' conference season?

JR:    Definitely! All the time in the process of writing the play and getting it put on, it felt enormously timely and you might think that you could have written something about Brexit and a year and two year after the boat it would no longer be that relevant but I think it's more relevant than ever. Things haven't died down at all, they're still raging.

JB:    Has it been a challenge to stage the play in London?

JB:    Sasha Regan at the Union Theatre has been great, as has Ben de Wynter who is also directing. And the cast and creatives too, irrespective of their own personal views, are really putting their hearts into the production. It's extraordinarily exciting!

JB:    What do you hope the play will achieve?

JR:    A good night out. I think the number one duty is for people to come and have a great time and to laugh.

People Like Us runs at the Union Theatre from October 2nd to the 20th. For tickets, book here.

Iolanthe - Review

Greenwich Theatre, London



****


Music by Arthur Sullivan
Libretto by W.S. Gilbert
Directed by Sasha Regan

The all male company of Iolanthe

Greenwich Theatre may have seen its first night of Sasha Regan’s All Male Iolanthe this week, but this wonderful production is now entering the final leg of its UK tour. As such, the cast – who, reviews have suggested, were excellent to begin with judging by earlier reviews - have now matured into a perfect company, enchanting in both voice and movement.

Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta has that everyday backstory of Lord meets Fairy and they have a child (half sprite / half mortal). 25 years pass and we join the story as it offers up a string of romances and dalliances, peers mingling with fairies, mortality taken to its very limits and everything being wrapped up into a deliriously happy ending.

The genius of taking yet another of Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic scores and playing it men-only, lies in exploiting the wit of Gilbert’s libretto. The verve and cheek of his rhymes lend themselves to camp-ness at the best of times. Here however, a company of men taking to the stage as a chorus of perfectly drilled fairies creates sets a new altitude record for high-camp. If it wasn’t so damn good it would be downright ridiculous.

But Regan (in this, the third revival of her interpretation) directs acutely. She teases out the timeless genius of the songs, while Mark Smith choreographs with a meticulous imaginative detail that is as witty as it is inspired. The company of 16 are all, to a man, excellent – memorable moments of sharpened satire coming from Duncan Sandilands and Alastair Hill. In a show that will have lent itself well to a road trip (Kingsley Hall’s design work being minimal in extremis), Musical Director Richard Baker, provides the sole musical support on piano, puts in a heroic and faultless shift leading his cast and entertaining the audience through the classic melodies.

It’s not all dancing around fairy rings though. Gilbert and Sullivan’s verses poked merciless fun at parliament and the judiciary and remember too that the show was written way back in the pre-EU days of the last century. A time when parliament, then still sovereign as opposed to its shambolic present, merited affectionate mockery.

As London swelters gloriously, its hard to justify an evening in a hazy and (for the second half at least) hot auditorium. But Iolanthe is simply marvellous theatre, and well worth a trip to Greenwich.

Runs until 28th July

Photo credit: Harriet Buckingham

Blondel - Review

Union Theatre, London

***

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Oliver & Tim Rice

Book by Tom Williams & Tim Rice

Directed by Sasha Regan

Michael Burgen and Connor Arnold

Tim Rice’s ‘Blondel’ is given a new and updated life at the Union Theatre, delivering a light hearted and uplifting production that borders on the bizarre, but which still leaves audiences laughing.

Set in the 1180’s, King Richard the Lionheart  (played by Neil Moors) proclaims he will set off on a Crusade, and go to war with Saladin in the Middle East, leaving the county in the hands of the maniacal Prince John (James Thackeray). On this passionate adventure he drags along laundress, Fiona (Jessie May) , the fiancée of a struggling court Musician named ‘Blondel. After the king is kidnapped, Blondel (played by Connor Arnold) sets out on a mission to perform outside every single castle in the world, hoping that the king will hear his song, return his beloved and rescue the country from his despicable brother. 

The writing of the show is clearly intelligent. The humour, though incredibly dry at points and entirely absurd, is elevating, delivering an entertaining 2 hour performance, though one occasionally wonders why the hell some actions on stage are actually happening!

The highlight of the evening is Michael Burgen’s performance as an Assassin hired by Prince John to eliminate King Richard, who despite loathing Blondel’s work, ends up traipsing around Europe after him, slowly going insane. Burgen is fantastic, he completely draws you in, delivering a standard to which the other performers need to match. His comic timing is superb and the energy with which he throws himself around the stage does genuinely have you clutching your sides.

Blondel is an entertaining production and the show itself is wholly reminiscent of Spamalot, (Editor's note: Remember though that back in the day Blondel predated Spamalot, even if movie Monty Python And The Holy Grail was the daddy of the genre). The challenge to set yourself is see just how many references to Rice’s other works you can spot in the lyrics or musical motifs.

Runs until 15th July

Reviewed by Charlotte Darcy

Photo credit: Scott Rylander

The Fix - Review

Union Theatre, London

****

Music by Dana P. Rowe

Book & lyrics by John Dempsey

Directed & choreographed by Michael Strassen

Lucy Williamson

The timing could hardly be better as Michael Strassen reprises his take on The Fix. With the United States hurtling towards what is likely to be the most fiercely contested Presidential election in decades, John Dempsey and Dana P. Rowe's satirical expose of the American political machine is apposite to say the least.

Fra Fee is the naive Cal Chandler - who when his Senator father dies in his mistress' bed is ruthlessly thrust into the race for political power by his scheming mother Violet. While Violet may be the power behind the Chandler throne, pulling the strings is her late husband's brother Grahame, crippled by polio and with an eye on a seat in the judiciary. Oh, and there's been a romantic liaison between Violet and Grahame too - think of Hamlet, Macbeth and The West Wing all hurled into a blender and you start to get close to the Machiavellian machinations of the aspirational Chandler administration.

The acting is fine throughout - and Fee marks the emergent Chandler well, convincing us of the young man's reluctance to have been dragged from his privileged but youthful primrose path, into the glaring scrutiny of public life and politics. There's charming supporting work too from the talented Madalena Alberto as Tina McCoy, a stripper who wins Cal's love, tempting him away from his loveless marriage of convenience. 

The show however is driven by the astonishing performances of Lucy Williamson as Violet and Ken Christiansen's Grahame. Williamson's performance is a powerhouse. In a show that is un-mic'd (see below) her performance is one of the few that offers vocal magnificence, with passion and nuance elicited from every syllable. 

Christiansen, who only last month was wowing the Union's audiences in Little Voice, yet again nails his character's manipulative duplicity. Flawless in both voice and presence, alongside Williamson, the pair steal every scene they're in.

There is magnificent supporting work too from Peter Saul Blewden and Alastair Hill who between them offer up a range of incidental characters, all crucial to the narrative.

This is the first production at The Union Theatre's new space across the road. The building is a beautiful improvement and Sasha Regan should feel justly proud of what she has achieved. But, the acoustics of the new place need a lot of careful thought as sat in the third row, too much of the show's lyrics proved inaudible. Likewise, when action was played out low down on the Union's floor, it becomes invisible to those of us further back. These are very early teething days for the new venue of course, but in the old place, audiences were barely raked and there was little need for mics. The new space offers much gorgeous opportunity for sure, but it also presents challenges that future producers and directors must learn to overcome.

For the most part, Strassen's direction and choreography are a thrilling fusion of sound and vision, enhanced by Josh Sood’s 4 piece band. Simply staged and with an occasional use of the American flag Strassen cleverly evokes the darker side of USA politics. Viewed from Britain, the 2016 Presidential race sees Donald Trump frequently held out as an almost pantomime villain. The closing scene of The Fix however argues otherwise. There's a strong suggestion, as Strassen places the sensational Williamson behind a lectern, maniacal and eyes-blazing, that Hillary Clinton is the more devious contender.

Runs until 6th August

Photo credit: Darren Bell

Whistle down the Wind - Review

Union Theatre, London

****

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

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

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

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

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

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

Runs until 21st February 2015 

Love Story - Review

Union Theatre, London

***

Music and additional lyrics by Howard Goodall

Book and lyrics by Stephen Clark

Directed by Sasha Regan

David Albury and Victoria Serra

Following on from the extremely successful run of The Dreaming and with Girlfriends in hot pursuit, Love Story is the second in the Union's three part Howard Goodall season. Whilst it is always refreshing to see venues supporting British writing and despite its nomination for an Olivier back in 2010, one cannot help but feel that there are still some holes in this classically cheesy plot that are holding the production back.

An adult fairy tale from the 1970’s, Erich Segal’s novel, famously filmed starring Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw and helped in no small way by Francis Lai’s Oscar winning theme, imprinted itself upon the baby-boomer generation and in the show Stephen Clark’s book makes a grand attempt to capture the dreamy yet doomed relationship between Victoria Serra’s working class Jenny and the more patrician Oliver.

Serra’s performance is executed well, flitting effortlessly from “feisty with attitude” to the slightly more delicate young innocent, swept up in the passion of an exciting romance. She demonstrates her vocal versatility and strong stage presence almost instantly in Jenny’s Piano Song, later showing an equally impressive but far more tender side in Nocturnes, a scene that is stunningly complemented by Iain Dennis’ lighting.

In slightly awkward contrast, David Albury brings an uncomfortable harshness to Oliver. There is no doubt that both Albury's chiselled looks and singing voice are wonderful, but at times one feels that a greater sense of anger, or even heartbreak is required to truly reflect not only the story's tragic ending, but also the difficult relationship, universally recognisable, that he has with his parents.

Regan directs well. She knows her beloved space intimately, ensuring that every inch of stage is used to great effect, never more so than in the opening and closing number What Can You Say? where the full company create a splendid ensemble sound, even if there seems to be just a hint of Blackrock from Goodall’s The Hired Man creeping in to the melody.

Special mention also to the female ensemble of Tanya Truman, Grace Osborn and Ellie Ann Lowe. Their voices combine beautifully as they watch the lovers’ romance develop, providing an almost Chorus like narrative, backed delightfully throughout by Inga Davis-Rutter’s exquisite musical direction.

Bring tissues and a significant other, a visit to the Union’s Love Story makes for a great date!

Runs until 25th October 2014

Picture by Darren Bell

Lear

Union Theatre, London

***

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Phil Willmott

Richard Derrington as the eyeless Gloucester

‘Tis the the season to re-interpret the bard. As a trimmed down Hamlet plays out in Hammersmith, so Phil Willmott’s Lear, precociously billed as “by William Shakespeare”, opens at the Union Theatre. This should be an innovative production as Willmott has deliberately removed “King” from the play’s title - his ageing monarch is a woman and if he had sought to leave it at that, then Ursula Mohan’s performance in the title role might just have given the show the strength it needed. But while Willmott's bow is bent and drawn, his Lear falls far short of the mark. The director’s treatment of the text will not only appal scholars, it may also baffle newcomers. Even knowing the play well, the hashed denouements of Willmott's truncation of Act 5 are a ghastly confusion in this production.

Staged in three sections, the first two being promenade and the final seated, the audience enter to the opening scene being an elegant modern day soiree, during which Lear divides her kingdom. The promenade concept (on press night at least) stuttered and rather than stroll and mingle around the confines of the Union space, most of the audience clung to the walls, some nervously clutching drinks, portentously suggesting the air of a party that has yet to get going. It didn’t really work, though Lear’s addressing a promenader with “cry you mercy, I took you for a joint stool”, in the trial scene did make for an unexpected chuckle.

Mohan’s monarch is a creditable effort though she never truly reaches that air of tragic majesty that a good Lear should inspire. Her Fool (neat work from Joseph Taylor) is portrayed as an NHS carer/nurse and hence there is a suggestion that from the outset her mind has long been flawed, which detracts from the impact of her early rages and at the close, rarely has Lear’s “Howl, howl, howl” at Cordelia’s death been so unmoving. To those who know the play, when Lear typically mourns his daughter with “Her voice was ever soft,” that Willmott has then cut the following line “Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman” smacks of a conveniently sexist expediency in his editing. 

The post-modern touches are everywhere. From an act one “selfie” of Lear with her daughters, to Edgar shooting up with heroin after Edmund manipulatively tells him to flee, to Stephen Harakis' Cornwall chopping a line of cocaine before the (rather gloriously bloody) gouging of Gloucester's eyes. Snorts of charlie notwithstanding, Willmott chops too vigorously and rather than Kent being banished, in this version the trusted courtier is axed completely. This is a cut too far, for Kent’s noble devotion to the King should present a thread of reasoned morality in a world gone crazy.

Undoubtedly flawed, Lear is nonetheless still worth seeing. Not just for other directors to observe how not to stage a promenade piece, but for some fine acting too. Richard Derrington’s officious Gloucester nails the bumbling yet brave nobility of the adulterous Earl, whilst Rikki Lawton’s illegitimate Edmund is a plausible bastard of a bastard. There is a tad too much pantomime in all three sisters’ performances but if Willmott can temper that into the run, it will be to the show’s advantage.

Off-West End productions continue to represent a pulsing heart of the capital’s theatre scene and bravo to Willmott and co and to the Union’s Sasha Regan for having the guts to mount this version. Wear comfortable shoes and be pro-active in moving around. Gloucester may have stumbled when he saw but you won’t, it’s worth the walk.

Runs until 28th June

HMS Pinafore

Union Theatre, London

****

By W.S.Gilbert and A.S.Sullivan

Directed by Sasha Regan

Benjamin Vivian-Jones

As Sasha Regan notes in the programme, it is her memories of single-sex school day shows, that fuelled her desire to bring all-male productions back to the Union. Regan is a canny director who exploits the confines of the Union well. Her company of 16 are beautifully voiced and the ensemble numbers are thrilling on the ear. The wit of Gilbert and Sullivan whilst belonging to a bygione era, brings a delicious sense of British understated irony to affairs of the heart. Not even as remotely saucy as a seaside postcard, the Victorian writers’ libretti still make us chuckle at their faux-innocent doe-eyed wordplay.

A few notables amongst the cast. Benjamin Vivian-Jones is a delightfully clipped captain. On his toes with whistle around his neck, he is a leader of men whose stature visibly shrivels when his true lowly status is revealed. Newcomer Lee Van Geleen as the beautifully baritoned cynical shipmate Dick Deadeye puts in a masterful comic turn, whilst David McKechnie’s gartered Sir Joseph Porter KCB (a truly plausible ruler of the Queen’s Navy) stole every scene with his gloriously hammed up Whitehall mandarin. Amongst the “ladies”, a veritable assembly of sisters, cousins and aunts, Bex Roberts provides a sweetly sounding Josephine.

But in a week that has seen the equality/diversity arguments thrust into the spotlight, with the National Theatre (NT) criticised by some for a paucity of female playwrights, is it right that a show in London in 2013 should eschew female actors, celebrating the dressing up of men as girls, complete with corsetry and fascinators? Modern casting is increasingly moving away from being gender and race specific and at its 50th anniversary gala, the NT had Anna Maxwell-Martin play Horatio, whilst at the same event acknowledged on film Olivier’s 1963 “blackface” Othello, a makeup that would be abhorrent today. So if it is, rightly, not acceptable to paint a white person in a black skin and pretend that he is black, why is it acceptable to dress a man as a woman and have him pretend to be a show’s female lead? Is this diversity from modern theatre and its audiences, or is it hypocrisy? Stephen Schwartz was spot on when he wrote Wicked’s Wonderful. “It's all in which label, is able to persist”

At the Union Lizzi Gee’s choreography entertains with occasional moments of sparkling innovation, whilst Chris Mundy’s piano work is flawless to the point of almost suggesting a mini-orchestra is in the room. If you like your theatre well-sung and as camp as Christmas, then set sail for SE1 and HMS Pinafore where you’ll find the festive season has arrived two months early!

Runs until 30th November 2013

Pipe Dream

Union Theatre, London

****

Music by Richard Rodgers

Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

Based on the books Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck

Kieran Brown and Charlotte Scott

In a rare move at her Union Theatre, Sasha Regan steps up from producing to directing Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Pipe Dream and as it turns out, she's actually rather good. It's a quirky show, never before seen on this side of the Atlantic and with the talented writing duo having focused on the USA's eastern seaboard with Carousel and then the Dust Bowl with Oklahoma!, Pipe Dream sees their creative gaze move westward to California's Monterey on the Pacific coast.

The show's story is set amongst a glorious ensemble of bums and whores and it achieves what R&H do best, telling of a slice of American life that celebrates the emergence of an unlikely love between Doc and Suzy. Kieran Brown is Doc, an academic marine biologist whose passion is studying the sea creatures washed up in the city's coastal tide-pools. Charlotte Scott plays Suzy, a girl who arrives in town penniless and homeless but who nonetheless elects to preserve her dignity by dwelling in a drain pipe, rather than accept the offer of a roof over her head in exchange for punters in her bed at the town's brothel. Both Brown and Scott are accomplished West End performers who bring talent and depth to their roles but both of them also need to remember that the Union is unmic'd. They need to give just a little more pizazz to their performances to truly sizzle as the shows leads.

Steaming sultrily as the brothel's Madam, (curiously named Fauna) is Virge Gilchrist. It’s an all too rare appearance from this wonderfully voiced actress who knows just how to spice up her sleazy position without once becoming sordid. Her number accompanied by her girls, The Happiest House On The Block, is as witty and as entertaining as Les Mis' Lovely Ladies but happily without that song's sad conclusion. 

Virge Gilchrist and her girls

David Haydn as the senior bum of the piece, Mac, gives his all in a spicy performance that drips with gusto. When, as a bus-driver, he leads his band of reprobates in The Lopsided Bus, there could almost be a glint of a wild eyed Freddy Kruger in the way he grips his imaginary steering wheel. Lovely work too from Nick Martland as gentle giant Hazel, a guy with learning difficulties who is played with clever and witty sensitivity rather than for cheap laughs and a final nod to Christopher Connor, Rebecca Fennelly and Georgie Burdett whose lovely ballet work and eye-watering splits are a further reminder of just how good the talent is that can be found in London's fringe theatre.

Lizzi Gee's choreography is imaginative and uses the Union space with flair. Her big numbers are incredibly ambitious, though a little more polished drilling of her company would not go amiss. The Party That We're Gonna Have Tomorrow Night in particular has distinct echoes of Oklahoma!'s wonderful Kansas City, pulsing with wit, rhythm and tempo. Credit also to Christopher Peake's band who take these virtually unknown numbers and give them a beautiful musical life.

The simply designed set captures the poverty of Steinbeck's Cannery Row. A lot is left to our imagination, but Elle Rose-Hughes has used light, shadow and slatted timber brilliantly, to create a fabulous effect on a low budget.

This is not one of Broadway's grander shows. No family of seven cute kids to be found on this stage, nor songs that we know inside out. Rather this is a fine and (for London at least) freshly innovative piece of musical theatre. Gimmick free and bursting with talent, it's the most imaginative Rodgers and Hammerstein show in town.

Runs until 31st August

Chess - Review

Union Theatre, London

***

Music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus
Lyrics by Tim Rice
Co directed by Christopher Howell and Steven Harris

Sarah Galbraith

The Union Theatre production of  Chess marks a welcome return to London for this 1980s hallmarked show,  dreamed up and written by Tim Rice (who endorses this revival) with musical life breathed into it by the ABBA men, Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus.  Set against a frosty Cold War backdrop, the politics of the piece now seem as dated as the 1956 Hungarian collapse was to the show's creators, yet as well as proving to be a complicated history lesson with a plot line that holds more twists than a Le Carre novel, Chess was always an exciting piece of theatre with some hauntingly passionate melodies.

 

If all had gone to plan for this show  it would be garnering five stars, simply because when it's good, it's bloody brilliant. The ensemble voice work in particular is inspiring and beautifully co-ordinated. When the evening is not at its five star best though, it smacks of mediocrity. Craig Rhys Barlow's Arbiter could act but barely sustain a note, whilst Nadim Naaman as the Soviet champion Anatoly Sergievsky, disappointed too. Granted, his is a tough role to play requiring a combination of majestic presence and cold Russian inscrutability, but Naaman fails to get the mix right. Anthem, arguably one of the best act one closers ever, should leave one rushing for the bar desperate for a drink to calm the nerves that ought to have been reduced to quivers of emotion. Not so in this version, but with a month or so left on the run it should still be possible for the actor to step up through the gears in this song, as its a number that demands to be one of the musical’s high spots.  As the American player Frederick Trumper, Tim Oxbrow also has a torrid first half. Notwithstanding his electric acting, his voice initially just doesn’t match the role. To Oxbrow’s credit he redeems himself after the break, warming up with a fun One Night In Bangkok and giving a truly blistering rendition of Pity The Child.

So, what was outstanding about this show? Two words - Sarah Galbraith. This talented Jersey Girl has settled in London and our gain is the Garden State's loss. As Florence Vassy, a Hungarian child émigré from 1956, her character is complex and through the course of the show she is destined to love both of the opposing chess masters. Galbraith never falters, going on to perfectly capture the emotional fragility of her character’s torment in the final act at the uncertainty that surrounds the fate of her father. The actress' poise is perfect and her voice has the most measured yet proportionate strength to be found off West End. The cast are not mic’d for this show, yet Galbraith’s power combined with her impeccable diction (is she really an American?) seemed to have an amplification of her own.  Her Heaven Help My Heart was magnificent whilst her Nobody’s Side bore an exquisite delicacy. Natasha J Barnes who plays Svetlana Sergievskaya, Anatoly’s betrayed wife, is also blessed with a wonderful tone, most notable in Someone Else’s Story, but in what was actually a beautifully sung duet with Galbraith, the signature melody I Know Him So Well, the American actress’ vocal perfection and power proved almost unfair competition for the Briton and it is Galbraith’s reclamation of Anthem at the show’s conclusion that restores that number’s power and ensures one leaves the theatre with spine still re-assuringly tingling.

Gillian Kirkpatrick is Alexandra Molokova, a nasty KGB stooge that interestingly is usually a man's role. Kirkpatrick’s performance was a masterclass in playing a key supporting character that draws from her recent terrific Beggarwoman in the Chichester Festival Sweeney Todd. Her manipulative malevolence never falters throughout, rising superbly to have the audience in the palm of her hand for her big number, The Soviet Machine. Also consistently excellent is Natalie McQueen’s preening US TV presenter Angela St Angelo, with accent, poise and gleaming teeth perfectly honed for the part. Neil Stewart’s Walter de Courcey, Molokova’s opposite number from the USA is another fine example of a supporting role wonderfully delivered, whilst the brief tap dancing comic interlude of Wayne Rogers and Katie Bradley provides a witty take on the stereotyped British civil servant.

Ben Roger’s lighting, notwithstanding its clever ( if rather noisy) technology could have been better plotted. During act one’s Merano, Natalie McQueen is given to singing some solo lines, centre stage, in virtual darkness and this requires urgent attention.  Sioned Jones does some sterling work with the company’s accents and Simon Lambert directs his 8 piece band with panache, effectively bringing out the richness of the music from a score that was written for a much larger orchestra. Some of the melodies, in particular Chess Game #1, have an ethereal quality that Lambert cleverly extracts from the Swedes’ compositions.

Sasha Regan has produced an entertaining and at times thrilling night out. Whilst any show can be no more than the sum of its components, this production’s strengths dazzle and do outweigh its flaws. See it, to understand the flavour of an era past and the excellence of some wonderful performances and some fabulous tunes.

Runs to March 16th