Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York) - Review

Criterion Theatre, London

****

Written by Jim Barne & Kit Buchan

Directed & choreographed by Tim Jackson

Sam Tutty and Dujonna Gift

Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York) is inspirational new musical theatre. Jim Barne & Kit Buchan’s two-hander takes the wildly inventive plot of a young Brit, Dougal (played by Sam Tutty), flying in to New York’s JFK to attend the wedding of his father who he’s never met and being met at the airport by Robin (Dujonna Gift), the sister of his father’s fiancée. 

This bold rom-com requires a steely narrative to sustain two acts and sixteen songs, but Barne and Buchan pull it off with an ingenious story that exposes both characters’ vulnerabilities and dreams, revealing credible plot twists and turns that are as surprising as they are both witty, shocking and ultimately moving.

Tutty and Gift are perfectly cast. He as the gauche young Englishman and her as the brash New Yorker, with both singing to perfection and giving immaculately nuanced interpretations of their respective complex characters.

Soutra Gilmour’s set is cleverly built around suitcases - some deliciously oversized - on two concentric revolves that define the brief transitory nature of the friendship that evolves between the pair. Tamara Saringer with only a 4-piece band under her baton makes fine work of the writers’ compositions.

A fine romance with today's zeitgeist baked-in!

Runs until 31st August

Photo credit: Tristram Kenton

Oliver! - Review

Watermill Theatre, Newbury

****

Music, lyrics and book by Lionel Bart

Directed by Luke Sheppard

Thomas Kerry

It is a rare treat to visit Newbury’s charmingly situated Watermill Theatre and Luke Sheppard's Oliver! more than makes the journey worthwhile. On arrival and in one of the most innovative mise-en-scenes, as the audience mingle on the lawn outside sipping Pimms and G&Ts, the cast’s ragamuffin kids dart about, not picking pockets but offering to shine shoes for a sixpence. It’s a charming touch.

As is the way at The Watermill, the production is actor-muso, with the adult cast playing their instruments during moments that don’t involve them in the show’s action. Bart’s striking overture proves an initial treat and it sets the standard for the evening’s music.

The production’s kids are an appropriately cute and talented bunch and on the night of this review the team of youngsters was headed by Thomas Kerry in the title role, with Archie Fisher as the Artful Dodger. Any production of Oliver! however will always be defined by its Fagin and Nancy and with Cameron Blakely and Alice Fearn, this show is in capable hands. If Blakely, the only actor who does not play an instrument, is initially a little too driven by stereotype he settles into the role well. Fagin should never be a truly sympathetic character, yet by the time he gets around to his wonderful Reviewing The Situation, the audience are laughing with him, not at him.

Fearn’s Nancy is simply as good as it gets. Aside from her piano and recorder playing duties she looks and sounds every inch the protagonist of one of the most complex love stories in the canon, with a voice that is just sensational. Fearn simply smashes It’s A Fine Life, whilst her As Long As He Needs Me both thrills and inspires, vocally soaring through her inexplicable devotion to Bill Sikes.

It is a stroke of genius that sees Sheppard set Nancy’s act two opener Oom-Pah-Pah, traditionally staged in an East End pub, back on the theatre’s lawn as the audience are finishing off their interval libations. Fearn’s delivery is bawdy, raucous and with a singalong encouraged if it wasn’t for the downright prosperity of surrounding Berkshire, close your eyes and you could almost be back in Whitechapel! 

Choreographer Tim Jackson also makes fine use of his cast within the compact space. The ensemble numbers are thrilling and Jackson’s work is Who Will Buy? is just a delight as the stage gradually fills to a rousing street scene.

Kit Orton (strings and percussion) puts in a fine turn as Bill Sikes, bringing a detached menace that convinces us of the evil lying at his villain’s core, whilst Steve Watts’ Mr Brownlow is the most compassionate of patricians who also proves a rather dab hand on the trumpet. Susannah van den Berg, always a treat to see perform, cuts a matronly figure as the hard-hearted Widow Corney and  also impresses with a wonderful voice and a talent for remarkable range of instruments.

Perhaps the most impressive musical moment of the night comes from Deborah Hewitt, who when she’s not playing Charlotte, is either tucked away on her drum kit or even more impressively, roaming the stage in a masterclass of syncopation, strapped to her one-(wo)man-band contraption. A nod too to the comic crafts of Tomm Coles’ (wind) Mr Sowerberry and Graham Lappin’s (piano and trombone) definition of vacuous pomposity, Mr Bumble.  

The show’s programme contains some well researched background material, but annoyingly does not give the actors any (deserved) credit for the instruments that they play. So to complete the record, also putting in a first class shift were Joey Hickman on piano and trombone, Rachel Dawson on strings and the marvellous Rhona McGregor on Piano, strings and sax

Given the impoverished backdrop to Oliver!, the economy of doing away with a separate orchestra works well and amidst Tom Rogers' striking multi-level set design and Howard Hudson’s trademark stunning lighting, the time and place of a grim Victorian London is thrillingly captured. If Lionel Bart is looking down upon the Watermill’s production, he’s surely smiling.

Runs until 19th September

Photo credit: Philip Tull

The Beautiful Game

Union Theatre, London

***

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Book & lyrics by Ben Elton

Niamh Perry

The main focus of The Beautiful Game is Northern Ireland’s Troubles; more crucially though and through the generic tale of an amateur football team making it big, this musical actually speaks to us about the broader human values of loyalty, intimacy and trust.

In the first UK revival since the musical’s West End premier in 2000, it’s easy to see why the show hasn’t garnered more frequent outings. While there are a number of touching portraits as a generation of players and their female admirers take their final steps into adulthood, rhymes such as ‘life/wife’ seem sinfully obvious and lyrically, 'Clean the Kit' is a particularly irksome number. The cast however respond appropriately, through a tapestry of gently nuanced gestures. The occasional convincing stare, or off-beat ‘tut’ and a whole-hearted cheer, bring a refreshing truth to an otherwise often cheesy and sometimes rather over-earnest show.

Although some important moments are shielded behind pillars, Lotte Wakeham's production generally uses the Union's compact space with flair. Presented in a traverse staging, with both back rows reserved for jeering ensemble members, the audience are pitched into "opposing stands", adding a modest flavour of football rivalry to the evening.

At times ensemble members hold up washing lines, suggesting a thrifty domesticity at play and reminding us how much the central characters are a product of their society and throughout, David Shields’ designs work well. Ladies in authentic leather panel skirts and sleeveless jumpers, with the protagonist football team kitted out in patterned shirts that simply scream “peace and love”.

The production itself may be made of less intriguing material, but Niamh Perry and Ben Kerr bring a zeal to the relationship between Mary and John. Married, John drifts from playing field to incarceration as Mary drifts from the sidelines to motherhood. Backed by a strong ensemble, both actors give standout performances, furnishing the maturing relationship with their own language of physical intimacy.

The man of the match award for this production however goes to Tim Jackson. Taking a very literal approach to the sport, Jackson choreographs a scene that cements the excitement and passion of football and the energy and dedication of its players. Dramatic red lights are punctuated by stark drum beats as two teams tumble around the stage. At moments, it’s graceful - the sweetest goal is scored; seconds later, as the teams clash, there’s bloodthirsty passion in their movements. Truly an exercise in coordination and teamwork and a beautiful interpretation of the beautiful game.

Runs to 3rd May 2014


Guest reviewer: Amelia Forsbrook

Floyd Collins - Review

Southwark Playhouse , London

****

March 18 2012

Music and Lyrics: Adam Guettel

Book: Tina Landau

Director: Derek Bond

Deep below platform 1 of London Bridge Station, the Vault at the Southwark Playhouse, has again yawned open to reveal a theatrical gem. Floyd Collins tells the fascinating tale from 1925 of the caver of that name. Trapped underground following a rockfall, Collins could still be reached and contacted by those who climbed down to attempt his rescue. That connection provided a conduit for the caver’s hopes and fears to be brought to the surface, and as the days of his entrapment passed, so the media interest in him grew. Collins’ father's farm in Edmonson County , Kentucky, became the first ever site for a media “circus” as radio, press, and newsreel cameramen sought to broadcast the sensational events playing out deep underground. Such was the interest in Collins’ plight that President Coolidge himself was kept informed.

Tina Landau and Adam Guettel have set this slice of American history to music, where it was first performed off-Broadway in 1996. De-constructing the legendary tale of Collins, their musical is structured around a close observation of the people whose lives were caught up in these events.

As Collins, Glenn Carter clearly  has the physique and vigour of a man who earns his living exploring caves.  By simply climbing over, and  wriggling through and around, the simplest of ladders and boxes , he  transports us to the “Indiana Jones” type world, deep underground, that he loves. When the rock-fall occurs, staged by the use of sound and the clever movement of fellow cast members, it is quite simply Carter's exceptional acting that screams at us terrifyingly that here is a man, trapped,  quite possibly for life. Carter’s voice is also a delight, and his transition from youthful gusty optimism and vigour, to troubled fear and grim realisation, is beautifully performed.

Robyn North plays Nellie,  Floyd’s sister. A character that is complex and fragile, recently having been discharged from an asylum and whose love for her brother is clearly deep, possibly too deep. North’s performance is enchanting, and her performance of Through The Mountain is both moving and passionate. Her failure to comprehend the cynical media razzmatazz, when all that she simply wishes is her brother’s safe return, is touchingly performed.

Ryan Sampson also delivers a great performance. As Skeets Miller a local cub reporter, whose diminutive physique enables him to squeeze through the cave to bring succour and comfort to Collins, his reporting of the events were to win him a Pulitzer Prize. Sampson’s journey from intrusive hack to hero is well brought to life.

The show’s design by James Perkins fully exploits the depth and architecture of the Vault, the ancient railway arches almost naturally evoking the Kentucky catacombs.

The 8 piece band are excellent under Tim Jackson’s direction, with banjo and harmonica lending a subtle air of authenticity. A minor fault, but three weeks into the run and with the benefit of microphones and clever modern technology, the sound balance should by now be excellent. It was therefore frustrating that solo male voices were often inaudible above the music.

The show is unquestionably a triumph, and should be seen. A moving piece of theatre in which director Derek Bond has coaxed excellence from every member of his talented company. Oh, and in the opinion of the wives in our party, Glenn Carter is gorgeous!

Plays untlil March 31st