THE SOUND OF MUSIC

THE SOUND OF MUSIC

Springers at the Civic Theatre, Chelmsford

13.06.13

Rodgers and Hammerstein's late great musical comes back to the Civic, in a lively and stylish production directed by Pam Corrie.

The opening sets the standard for the chorus work – all those nuns – and for the design – slightly surreal cabinets full of candles.

Chief ornament of the show is Kayleigh McEvoy's marvellous Maria. Beautifully sung, with a soupçon of humour and superb stage presence, melting the heart of her stern naval captain [Mat Smith].

The seven children she cares for are carefully characterized, from Liesl [Mae Pettigrew], sixteen going on seventeen, with a crush on the telegram boy, impressively done by Aaron Crowe, to Charlotte Golden's little Gretl. Bethan Evans makes a charmingly perceptive Brigitta.

Abbess Catherine Gregory delivers a powerful anthem, and duets wonderfully with Maria in Favourite Things.

This confident, big-hearted production has many memorable moments, not least the moon and the mountain in the final tableau. Like good Austrian patriots, we sing along to Edelweiss, undaunted by the SS officers in the auditorium. The complex scene changes are swiftly accomplished, though some black holes remain, not all of them covered by music.

Plainchant, Viennese waltz, wedding music, all very impressive – Ian Myers the Musical Director. Sometimes the sense and the emotion of the dialogue could be pointed up more. Diction is variable – not just the German and the Italian, either. And the sophisticated musical comedy trio [Barry Miles as Max, with Olivia Gooding a cool, elegant Elsa] seems rather staid.

Always good to rediscover the show behind the film, and this production certainly delighted the midweek audience in a packed Civic. Springers have a distinguished history, reviving both the big hits and the cult classics – up next is Whistle Down The Wind, at the Cramphorn in November.

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

Shakespeare's Globe on Tour

11.06.13

Their grubby red and white fairground booth is pitched back home in the Globe this week, after opening in Portsmouth, and before going on to Bungay, Bury St Edmunds and the Bodleian, amongst many other British venues, not to mention international dates in Malta, Austria and the Far East.

This is a predominantly young company, enjoying the doubling and the disguises. Watching them reminds us of what Shakespeare's "little eyasses" must have been like, the boy companies who were so popular with the play-going public.

Christopher Sly, the drunkard who is duped in the Induction, is a cocky Geordie Kate Lamb, later Katerina, more than a match for Leah Whitaker's swaggering Petruchio – "I am rough and woo not like a babe," she assures us with a knowing look and a bone-crushing handshake. Kate is almost eager for their first kiss, but her submissive speech in the closing moments cleverly wrongfoots Petruchio, who is clearly embarrassed by her effusive abasement.

Excellent comic support from the company, including Remy Beasley as Tranio and Becci Gemmell as Lucentio [pictured], Joy Richardson as the Widow and an asthmatic, cricketing Gremio, Olivia Morgan as the two blondes [Biondello and Bianca], Nicola Sangster as Hortensio and Kathryn Hunt as, amongst others, a lovely Yorkshire Baptista.

Joe Murphy's production has many moments to relish, Kate being left at the church for one, and Colin Buckeridge's music is well used [these are multi-talented actor/musicians], though like the costumes – hunting pink, concert-party flannels, seventies wedding suit – it lacks a cohesive style.

It's a decade since the last all-female Shrew at the Globe, but only last year that Toby Frow's production was the hit of the season. Best if you can put those two out of your mind, and imagine this fresh and feisty show on a warm evening outdoors, with strawberries in your hamper to match those on stage …

THE STONES

THE STONES

Civic Theatre, Chelmsford

06.06.13

Jim Hutchon rocked down to the Civic for the Weekly News ...

Tribute band The Stones, hit the Civic last week in a blast of sound that had the rafters vibrating. While not exactly in the scale of the Rolling Stones extravagant gigs in world venues, this group is no tongue-in-cheek pastiche. They take the music seriously and were well appreciated by the audience of a certain age.

The lead, Ben, bears an extraordinary resemblance to Jagger, though not just there for his looks. The boy can sing, and mimic the full outrageously camp pouting and strutting backed up by the group Richard, Jason, Steve (a spitting image of Bill Wyman), Charlie, and the man who put the group together in 2007, JBlack.

All the old favourites were there, reproduced exactly as they were first staged in the 60s and 70s, including ‘No Satisfaction’, ‘I Wanna be Your Man’, ‘This’ll be the Last Time’ and in a fantastic finale, a spirited rendition of ‘Jumping Jack Flash’.

Although there were comparative youngsters in the audience, who jigged self-consciously at the front of the stage, for most of the audience, there were few signs of the hysteria of bygone years, and the audience seemed more prepared to contemplate past excesses in quiet enjoyment.

SALAD DAYS

SALAD DAYS

Braintree Musical Society at Braintree Arts Theatre

06.06.13

Julian Slade's cosy little piece is a late-flowering British musical, a final taste of innocence before those rude boys Newley and Bart changed things for ever.

Rarely performed, recently revived in town, it is a charming reminder of those far-off days when "gay" meant "merry", flying saucers were new technology, and musical comedies were done without head mics. It has a creaky, dated plot, but a string of tuneful, catchy numbers.

Stephen Kenna's production for Braintree [who last staged it in 1979] has many strengths, not least the presence of the cast [graduating students, nightclub revellers] mingling with the audience.

Credible Oxbridge graduates from juvenile leads Tom Willis [Timothy] and Emma Loring [Jane] – he has a natural feel for the genre, singing, dancing, smiling, and she has a lovely voice, giving us a beautiful Sit In The Sun and a touching duet – We Said We Wouldn't Look Back.

Plenty of opportunity for character work, grasped with particular felicity by Andy Bryant as Uncle Zed and others, Michelle Jesse as the chanteuse Asphynxia, Anthea Kenna as Lady Raeburn, and Alex Bass as moustachioed civil servant Fosdyke and hooray henry Nigel, an amusingly believable peer, at least from the waist up, well matched by his ditsy Fiona [Claire Addis] …

Good ensemble work, too, in the involuntary dancing, and the breakfast trio. Elsewhere, some scenes overstay their welcome, even when they are as well done as the Beauty Parlour monologue.

The stage, made deeper by a generous apron, is well used in the big production numbers [Claire Addis the Dance Captain] with simple, adaptable scenery and a fetching little five-octave Minnie. But blacking out between almost all of the nineteen scenes does nothing to help the crew, and slows the impetus of the show.

A colourful, enjoyable revival of a charming classic, followed this autumn by a very different animal, the cult favourite Little Shop of Horrors.

AS YOU LIKE IT

AS YOU LIKE IT

Cut to the Chase at the Queen's Theatre Hornchurch

An open air promenade performance in Langtons Gardens

05.06.2013

for The Public Reviews 

Hard to imagine an evening more fitted to Shakespeare's sylvan comedy. The lightest breeze, warm sunshine, cloudless skies all evoke the Golden World.

It's 410 years since As You Like It was premièred, at another country house, and 60 since the birth of the Queen's in Hornchurch – hence the £19.53 ticket price. For the occasion, artistic Director Bob Carlton has devised a merry romp, gently pruned, the tone just right for the audience guided round the lovely gardens of Langtons House, built when Hornchurch was as rural as the Bard's Forest of Arden. The audience is encouraged to follow the action with an arm round a shoulder, a beckoning wave, a cry of Come Hither … and, since this is Cut to the Chase, the Queen's own company of actor/musicians, there is plenty of music to lure us to the next scene.

There is magic in this setting – the action begins in a circle, with snatches of song murmured by the mingling players, and ends with the audience brought into another circle for the closing dance. Time and again, simply by turning around, we are met with another scene. The Duke [Sam Pay] is discovered in the impressive Cedar of Lebanon, under which same greenwood tree the melancholy Jaques [Simon Jessop] delivers his Seven Ages, the verse, as it is throughout, clarified by mime and gesture. The warm brick façade, the holly from the song, the sheep in the bucolic meadow all play their part to perfection. And Rosalind arrives for her nuptials in a faerie skiff on Repton's serpentine lake.

Rosalind – and her alter ego Ganymede with a Ronald Coleman pencil moustache – is engagingly played by Sarah Mahony, her Orlando is Elliot Harper, just as convincing in his courtship as in his wrestling with Charles [Sam Pay again]. Very impressive fighting, particularly considering we were close enough to hold the ropes. The motley-minded Touchstone, excellently done by Matt Devitt, comes off worst in this bout, as he does in his tempestuous pursuit of his muppet Audrey ["even a toy in hand"], very amusingly overdone in the best tradition of Shakespeare's Fools. Good work too from Barbara Hockaday as the proud shepherdess Phoebe, who weds her Silvius [Niall Costigan] when her Ganymede is unmasked. Only Jaques is less than joyful at the happy ending, though in this version he does at least swap his black cap for Touchstone's jester's headgear …

Clear diction, with not a syllable lost to duck-calls or passing aircraft, and a straightforward telling of the tale, as we are led along the pathways and through the shrubbery in pursuit of the tortuous plot, played out in "this wide and universal theatre". A rare chance to enjoy a Shakespearean comedy from the inside.

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews