White Christmas

Curve Theatre, Leicester



****

Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin

Book by David Ives and Paul Blake

Directed by Nikolai Foster

Emma Williams, Danny Mac, Dan Burton and Monique Young

There are few shows as comforting and traditional at this time of year as Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. It’s a corny old yarn for sure that sees Dan Burton and Danny Mac playing Phil Davis and Bob Wallace and two ex-trouper/troopers who team up with the Haynes Sisters (Emma Williams and Monique Young) to put on  a show in Vermont, and rescue the business of their former and much loved commanding officer General Waverly who since the end of World War 2, has been running an upstate Inn and making horrendous losses.

Strip away the seasonal feel, and the story crumbles under close scrutiny. But with Berlin’s classic numbers and in the gifted creative hands of director Foster and his choreographer Stephen Mear, the evening becomes a fabulous feel-good delight.

Foster has established form in coaxing excellence from Mac and Williams, but it is Mear who offers the lucky citizens of Leicester their biggest Xmas treat by taking Burton and Young away from his usual seasonal offering at Paris’ Theatre du Châtelet, to their native side of the English Channel and pairing them at the Curve. These two actors have seen recent years allow them to develop an intuitive connection in their dancework – they surely have to be the finest movers in the nation’s musical theatre corps, proving this again with their  phenomenal footwork in the show’s second half opener I Love A Piano.

Mear of course delivers excellence from across his ensemble, with strong performances from Garry Robson as Waverly and from Wendy Mae Brown as Martha Watson, the General’s much put upon, (but ultimate) sweetheart and, on press night, the cutest turn from Georgia Stewart as his young granddaughter Susan.

A seasonally busy Jason Carr has done beautiful work arranging the Songbook classics, while the seven piece band, under Neil Macdonald’s direction, take the packed Curve houses all the way back to the 1950s – heck, the snowblowers even deliver a venue-filling blizzard as the audience delight in a singalong of the title number.

White Christmas maybe as cheesy as a fine old stilton, but it’s still first-class festive fayre!

Runs until 13th January 2019

Photo credit: Catherine Ashmore

The Color Purple - Review

Cadogan Hall, London

****

Book by Marsha Norman

Music & lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray

The Company

The Color Purple’s book, movie and musical have all told the extraordinary story of a Celie, a brutally oppressed woman who against all odds, overcomes racism, abuse and misogyny to find her unique place in 20th century America. Not seen in London since the Menier’s sensational production in 2013, the musical returned to the capital this week for a one night only concert-staged fundraiser.

Taking time out from her West End debut as Dreamgirls’ alternate Effie White, Marisha Wallace shone as Celie. This site has already  raved about Wallace’s current work at the Savoy and yet again, her phenomenal voice and emotional, heart wrenching performance proved that she had been perfectly cast. Back at the Menier, Cynthia Erivo’s Celie (a role that was to win her Broadway's Tony 3 years later) had stopped the show nightly with I’m Here. This time around Wallace matched that moment, bringing the packed Cadogan Hall to a mid-act standing ovation as she gave her own interpretation to this most defining of the show’s numbers.

Two other power house women were Wendy Mae Brown as Sofia and Rachel John’s Shug, Celie’s closest friends. Rarely can there have been two more spirited or sassy woman on stage together at one time. John was a phenomenally assertive and sexually confidant presence on stage, embodying her flirtatious character with ease and outstanding vocals. To describe her take on Push The Button as vocal gymnastics would be an understatement.

Likewise, the audience’s instant support and love for Sofia was tangible. Brown’s guttural and soulful voice was delicious. It proved impossible however not to scream with laughter at her perfectly weighted, sarcasm-filled pauses that she used to judge the patriarchal and cluelessly domineering men surrounding her. 

Clueless in character maybe – but the guys on stage were amongst London’s finest. Cavin Cornwall’s malevolent, misogynist Mister proved classily contemptible, whilst Tyrone Huntley delivered ingenious ineptitude with his emotionally bungling Harpo.

Alongside the British Theatre Academy, producer Danielle Tarento had assembled an outstanding cast to deliver a truly powerful production, with James Taylor conducting (unbelievably, only) an 8 piece band and making the score soar too. Bravo to Tarento and her stellar company, The Color Purple was magnificent!

Reviewed  by Charlotte Darcy

Photo credit: Scott Rylander