Chicago - Review

Phoenix Theatre, London



****


Music, lyrics and book by John Kander & Fred Ebb
Directed by Walter Bobbie

Cuba Gooding Jnr.

Returning to London after some years, Chicago proves why it is one of the longest ever running revivals to still be playing on Broadway. Kander & Ebb’s genius lies in focusing on complex, troubling aspects of humanity and viewing them through the prism of satirical musical theatre. But where their other works (say Cabaret or The Scottsboro Boys) have an underlying horror that rightly pricks our consciences, Chicago's guilty pleasure is that much of its satire proves to be deliciously enjoyable.

The action mainly plays out in Illinois’ Cook County jail where female felon Velma Kelly (who had murdered her husband and his lover as they were caught in-flagrante) finds herself joined by new inmate Roxie Hart (who had shot her lover as he walked out on her). In their quest for liberty rather than the gallows, both women hire celebrity lawyer Billy Flynn to fight their case. Flynn in turn, much like a modern-day Mark Anthony (or should that be Max Clifford?) seeks to play to the public’s emotions and outcries by garnering as much press coverage as he can for his sensational clients in the hope of achieving their acquittal.

Over the years, and on both sides of the Atlantic, Chicago's producers have acquired a reputation for parachuting celebrities into leading roles, with little regard to their song or dance expertise, but rather with an eye on their ability to bring a different star quality to the show, as well as to get bums on seats. So it is here, with Hollywood leading man (and Oscar winner) Cuba Gooding Jnr making his West End debut as Billy Flynn. While Gooding Jnr may not have the finest voice, he delivers impact, presence and above all credibility to the smooth-talking shyster he portrays. The wicked twinkle that he brings to Flynn more than justifies the producers’ gamble in hiring him.

Elsewhere however there is musical theatre excellence as Josefina Gabrielle brings a sultry wisdom, alongside a vocal and physical athleticism to Velma. A veteran of the London show from the last time around (where she played Roxie), hers is an assured, delightful interpretation. Also back in the London show, Sarah Soetaert reprises her Roxie Hart in a solid performance that doesn’t disappoint.

The eye-opening casting, aside from Cuba Gooding Jnr., is Ruthie Henshall who completes a personal hat-trick with the show by playing jailer Mamma Morton. Seasons past have seen Henshall not only play Velma, but also be London's first ever Roxie when Chicago opened at the Adelphi Theatre in 1997. Henshall may not have quite the burlesque/statuesque presence that When You’re Good to Mamma demands, but her vocals are unsurpassed. She and Gabrielle make the duet Class, class.

There’s fun stuff too from Paul Rider as the ineptly cuckolded Amos Hart, jazz-handedly delivering Mister Cellophane to one of the evening’s loudest cheers.

Choreographed by Ann Reinking in the style of Bob Fosse, this staging which is now into its third decade, speaks of a world that is highly sexually charged. The costumes are provocative with both men and women (aside from the two male leads)scantily clad, in outfits outlining provocative sexuality. Recent months of course have seen sexual politics being radically re-evaluated, and against that backdrop it is interesting to consider Chicago's own distinct stance on the matter. Kelly, Hart and Flynn understand the power of sex, while the Cell Block Tango number is a celebration of women who (for the most part) have exacted righteous retribution on the disappointing or treacherous men in their life. It's a complex argument for sure but at least within its on-stage iteration, Chicago's women are victors rather than victims.  

Chicago remains fine Fosseian musical theatre. Strong story, stylish dance, and Kander & Ebb’s brilliant songs. Class, indeed.

Booking until 6th October

Photo credit: Tristram Kenton

Strictly Ballroom - Review

Piccadilly Theatre, London

***

Created by and book written by Baz Luhrmann

Book by Craig Pearce

Directed and choreographed by Drew McOnie

Jonny Labey and Zizi Strallen

Every now and then a great stage musical is translated onto the big screen in an evolution that can see vistas expanded and detail added to what might originally have been far more nuanced in the theatre. Done in reverse and it can all get a bit messy - as cinematic themes and styles are telescoped into the restrictive frame of a proscenium arch.

So it is with Strictly Ballroom - in which Baz Luhrmann’s seminal 1992 picture (and one of the greatest Australian movies ever) has been condensed into something far more average, now playing at the Piccadilly Theatre.

The story is an unrelenting pastiche that is not only unpolished, it has in fact been relentlessly smothered in glitter. One senses that the show's core audience is likely to be middle aged women on a night out to hear Will Young singing the songs of their long-past youth.

Young’s Wally Strand is a role that sees an English actor, don an Australian accent and effectively play the role of a Greek chorus. His voice is mostly mellifluous, but few of that core audience are likely to care as he relentlessly turns memories into muzak, rendering classic rock and pop hits of the 80s into elevator fodder.

The book and songs here may be dire, but the entertainment shines through in Strictly Ballroom's dazzling dance. Drew McOnie choreographs the piece (he also directs, though thankfully with a book this shallow it is hard to blame him too much for the show’s cheesy tedium) and works his usual magic. McOnie is blessed in his task by having an outstanding company to work with. Zizi Strallen and Jonny Lacey are outstanding in their leading roles of star-crossed unlikely lovers - and they are wonderfully supported by (amongst others) the stand out work of Lauren Stroud and Fernando Mira - a man who makes his Cuban heels simply blaze.

Ben Atkinson’s 10-piece on-stage band also make fine and impressive work of the score, notwithstanding some of the overpowering arrangements.

But it’s Strallen and Labey that are what this show is all about. If you enjoy their fabulously fancy footwork (or, of course, the sight and sound of Will Young squeezed into glitzy leather) then you won’t be disappointed.

Booking until 20th October

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Emma Kingston - Review

Live at Zedel, London

****

Emma Kingston

The early evening Saturday slot at Live At Zedel saw a full house enjoy Emma Kingston’s solo cabaret debut. Known within the industry and to her growing fan base as a powerhouse performer with a stunning voice, Kingston delighted for a non-stop hour in a set list that spanned the decades.

Accompanied by MD Freddie Tapner on piano, the song choices drew mainly from Kingston’s personal favourites rather than her career and not surprisingly the anecdotes with which she confidently peppered her routine were drawn mostly from loving family experience. Her brief tale however of being asked, at a moment’s notice, to provide emergency cover to In The Heights, nearly two years after she’d last played the show, hinted at this talented woman’s already impressive career.

There was an evident love for Streisand with the famous singer’s work popping up several times in the hour. Funny Girl’s People was gorgeous, while for an encore the audience were offered Piece Of Sky from Yentl, with Kingston making the number a glorious finale. 

Vocally magnificent throughout. Kingston’s is a voice of amazing power combined with her pitch perfect ability to hold a note forever. But majestic strength does not always equal dramatic presence. As she offered up a beautifully sung take on The Man That Got Away, perhaps one of the most poignant torch songs ever, it was noticeable that for that song to really work it needs to be sung (much) later than 7pm, and ideally by a weathered chanteuse with perhaps a few more miles on the clock than the disarmingly youthful Kingston. In an enchanting nod to her age and heritage however, Kingston (along with the talented Tapner) had put together a well woven medley of Disney numbers that, amongst others, saw Ariel segue into Pocahontas segue into Elsa.

One of the gig’s sweetest spots was hearing a perfectly nuanced She Used To Be Mine from Waitress. Kingston’s take on Sara Bareilles’ ballad was flawless and casting directors should be taking note of this contender for the role of Jenna, should the show ever cross the pond.

Notably absent from the evening were anything from Fiddler (where Kingston had played an exceptional Hodel at Chichester last year) nor from Les Miserables, where she had served an lengthy stint. Next time perhaps....

Emma Kingston’s career has been outstanding to date - and as this review is published she has already arrived in Taiwan, returning to the role of Eva Peron (a casting personally approved by Andrew Lloyd Webber) in an international tour of Evita. Singing only one song from that show Kingston treated us to You Must Love Me. Hers was a powerful, beautiful interpretation proving why she is one of the finest performers of her generation.

Sweeney Todd - Review

Barrow Street Theatre, New York


****


Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Adaptation by Christopher Bond
Directed by Bill Buckhurst

Sally Ann Triplett and Thom Sesma

Visiting New York offers a chance to catch up with the trans-Atlantic transfer of Bill Buckhurst’s ingenious take on Sweeney Todd, sited in a replica of Harrington’s eponymous Tooting pie shop.

In the current iteration Thom Sesma plays the barbarous barber, while Sally-Ann Triplett picks up the rolling pin as Mrs Lovett. There’s a callow, haunted presence to Sesma whose Todd evidently serves “a dark and vengeful god”. One senses Sweeney’s murderous power and potential from the outset, Sesma’s opening exchanges with Anthony (Billy Harrigan Tighe) heavy with understated menace. The production however has its actors un-amplified, and annoyingly there are moments when lyrics are lost.

Triplett is, as the role demands, far more floury than flowery. Indeed, while recent years have seen numerous talented women play Mrs Lovett, Triplett unlocks something special in the deep love that she’s evidently borne for Sweeney for many years. As she gives him back his knives, tools that she has evidently treasured, on his return to Fleet Street there is a moment of passion and pathos in her action that is a rare treat.

There’s only one Brit in the cast (Triplett) and credit to all the American players for their English accents. There’s not a weak link amongst them either, with classy vocals and acting coming from Delaney Westfall and Stacie Bono as Joanna and the Beggar Woman respectively. Michael James Leslie captures the plummy patrician in Judge Turpin, though perhaps a little more could be made of his contribution to the show’s sexualised horror in his own reprise of Johanna. And moving from horror to comedy, the first half’s closing number of A Little Priest needs its vocals honed and timed just a little tighter to enable Sondheim’s razor-sharp wit to be fully savoured.

With just a three piece band, musical director Adrian Ries makes fine work of Sondheim's complex melodies.

As Sara Bareilles’ Waitress plays on Broadway and this show runs in Greenwich Village, the power of the pie to pack in New York audiences has never been stronger. Of course, the pie-shop Sweeney famously goes one step further, allowing folk to pre-order a meat filled delicacy (veggie option available too) that arrives swimming in liquor (or, as the Harrington’s sign states, a little lasciviously, “Licker”). On the night of this review, the Beef Wellington pie was delicious, even if the portion of mash could have been a tad more generous.

Harrington’s at the Barrow Street Theatre was packed. It’s clear that this Sweeney Todd remains fine off-Broadway fare!

Now booking until September 2018

Hello, Dolly! - Review

Shubert Theatre, New York


*****


Book by Michael Stewart
Music & lyrics by Jerry Herman
Directed by Jerry Zaks

Bernadette Peters

Catching up with Hello,Dolly! offers a chance to enjoy Broadway at its glorious, golden best. Bernadette Peters is now playing the titular Dolly Levi, wise, wonderful, but yet weary of her widowhood, the famed fable is all about how Dolly works her way into the life, and ultimately the heart, of local Yonkers merchant, curmudgeonly widower Horace Vandergelder.

The story maybe froth and frolics, but underneath the razzle-dazzle of Jerry Herman’s songs and Michael Stewart’s book, there beats a heart-warming tale of simple humanity, which Peters portrays exquisitely. In Gene Kelly's 1969 Oscar-winning movie, Barbara Streisand, at 27, was a youthful widowed Dolly. Peters today is some years senior in the role, and the life that her Dolly will have experienced adds a beautifully nuanced depth to the story.

Victor Garber captures the Scrooge-like qualities of Vandergelder to a tee and the smiles at his ultimate redemption, in finding love with Levi, is quite simply delightful. Then of course there is the sub-plot love story between Cornelius Hackl, Vandergelder’s clerk and society milliner Irene Molloy, while further japes come courtesy of Hackl’s sidekick, Barnaby Tucker.

Santino Fontana and Kate Baldwin turn in assured work as Hackle and Molloy, but for this review, that brings a British eye to New York, it is a delight to see Charlie Stemp make an outstanding Broadway debut as Tucker. In the 1969 movie Michael Crawford was a memorable Huckl and while Stemp may be playing a different character, there is an aura of Crawford’s excellence that permeates his work, manifest in his comedy alongside flawless dance and physical presence.

The songs of course are immortal and Peters commands an adoring house with not only the title number but also a heart-rendingly stirring Before The Parade Passes By, a song that has to be up there as one of the finest Act One closing numbers ever, and yet here, afforded a rarely glimpsed hint of of underlying poignant personal aspirations too. Warren Carlyle's choreography brings a lavish flair, never finer than in the precise execution of The Waiters Gallop.

It speaks volumes for the warm, inclusive genre of musical theatre that right now, with both Hello, Dolly! on Broadway and the Lulu-led 42nd Street at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane, that there are shows playing to full houses and offering spectacular production values, that are both headlined by mature women with world-famous careers behind them. Brava!

Now booking to July 2018

The Last Ship - Review

Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool


****


Music and lyrics by Sting
Original book by John Logan and Brian Yorkey
Direction and book by Lorne Campbell

Joe McGann and Charlie Hardwick

For the most part, Sting’s The Last Ship is a thing of beauty. The Geordie songwriter / pop megastar has penned a well-crafted salute to the shipbuilders of his native Newcastle Upon Tyne and their industry that has long vanished.

Sting’s roots shine proudly throughout the show. The language is frequently and gloriously in the north eastern vernacular while the melodies, be they balladry or the more rousing ensemble numbers,  are anchored firmly in English folk heritage. Think of The Hired Man, fused with Blood Brothers alongside a hint of Auf Weidersehn Pet and you start to get close to the show’s heartbeat. 

It’s hard (nigh, impossible) to write of the plot and remain spoiler-free. Suffice to say, not only is there a solid industrial foundation to the narrative, there is also a cleverly crafted human interest too. Themes of love, ambition along with both a respect for and a challenge to the importance of family and tradition, are well woven into the narrative.

Joe McGann and Charlie Hardwick lead the cast as Jackie and Peggy White, shipyard foreman and nurse respectively and both could not be more perfectly cast. Their singing voices may not be the finest, but McGann has a beautifully powerful presence that’s hewn from riveted granite. As he leads his workers in act one’s stirring Shipyard number, there is a believable wryness to his delivery that defines him, not only as a leader of men, but also as a shipbuilder with a deeply held a pride in his craft. Peggy is made of the same steel as her husband, but with the additional thread of a perceptively drawn woman’s compassion. We see her not only leading, but caring too. 

The story’s romantic theme derives from the school-love that blossomed between Gideon Fletcher and Med Dawson (Richard Fleeshman and Frances McNamee) and who we meet some 17 years later. Both actors are gifted with some of the show’s more heart-rending numbers, though McNamee leads the women in a gloriously tango-infused routine If You Ever See Me Talking To A Sailor.

The portrayal of the industry’s decline is as heartbreaking as it is recognisable. This review was written as the touring production played in Liverpool and there was a resonance to its message that was almost tangible sitting amongst the packed matinee audience in the Playhouse Theatre. Merseyside too has seen its docks and shipyards decimated.

But Sting and Lorne Campbell have pulled their punches with the villain of this piece. Mr Newlands (played by Sean Kearns) is the shipyard owner who, as his business crumbles, resorts to having to call in the police to clear the picketing workers, defiantly attempting to hold on to their livelihoods. He’s clearly the bad guy here, but the real "bad guy" was a far more complex machine of global and local politics and policies that crushed the shipyards along with many other of Britain’s heavy industries. Similarly, in a litany of current “issues” recited before the final bow, its hard to reconcile a reference to gun control in the USA, however fashionable that debate may currently be, with Newcastle shipbuilders stripped of their industrial pride and dignity. 

Creatively, the show is cutting-edge in its conception. 59 Productions’ set design makes for an ingenious use of simple girders and clever projections to create illusions that switch seamlessly from present day to backdrop to spiritualised suggestiveness. Lucy Hind has crafted clever and authentic dance work, while in the pit Richard John’s six-piece band makes Sting’s songs soar.

Whether the show will carry its charm into the metropolitan bubble of the M25 is hard to discern, with today's bloated Londoners being a world away from the harsh industrial axe that fell upon the North. Until then, the tour plays until July and it is well worth catching. 

The show tours until 7th July. Venues and dates can be found here.

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