BERLIOZ AND SAINT-SAENS

BERLIOZ AND SAINT-SAENS

Essex Symphony Orchestra in Chelmsford Cathedral

05.03.16

Saint-Saens' magnificent Organ Symphony was the climax of this feast of French romanticism, relocated from Christ Church to the Cathedral for the occasion.
A robustly eloquent performance from the ESO under Tom Hammond. The expressive Poco Adagio was exquisitely played – the strings [leader Phillipa Barton] and the organ [Laurence Lyndon-Jones] blending to excellent effect. The Maestoso finale was tautly handled, with the piano duet played by two more of the Cathedral's music staff, James Davy and Rosie Vinter.
After the Overture, Berlioz's Roman Carnival, starting with a solemn procession and ending with exuberant cymbals and tambourine, we heard a rare treat. Les Nuits d'Été – Berlioz again – is a song cycle setting six poems by the composer's neighbour Gautier. They trace an arc of romantic love, from youthful exuberance through the pain of loss to new horizons.
Superbly sung here by mezzo Anna Harvey, her rich tone sitting comfortably in the Cathedral acoustic, especially perhaps in Le Spectre de la Rose. The ESO's fine accompaniment reflected the changing moods, and the final setting – L'Ile Inconnue – conjured up a powerful image of the boat sailing over the waves to the “faithful shore” of the unknown island.

LEGALLY BLONDE

LEGALLY BLONDE

CAODS at the Civic Theatre

05.03.16

Unaccountably more popular on this side of the Pond than in its Stateside home, Legally Blonde is a fluffy, feel-good fun show, winner of several Oliviers.
Far-fetched, even by fairy-tale standards, it follows the feisty sorority girl Elle as she charms her way into Harvard to win back her law student boyfriend. And, true to herself to the end, she forges a high-profile career in the courts using little more than feminine intuition.
It's given an energetic, infectiously enjoyable production by Sallie Warrington, with high-octane performances from a huge cast.
Keeley Denman is the dynamo Elle, owning the stage as she owns the interview room and the high court. Her snobby boyfriend is done with smooth assurance by Jacob Burtenshaw, the exact opposite of teaching assistant “Chip on my Shoulder” Emmett [David Gillett], who's on Elle's side from the start, and, to no-one's surprise, ends up proposing to her in the final scene. Great character support from Robyn Gowers as Paulette the beautician, Claire Carr as the evil preppy Vivienne and Patrick Tucker as “Blood in the Water” Callahan.. And there's a fitness queen [Becki Wendes], a hunky UPS boy [Brad Wendes], two cute dogs and an eye-catching triple whammy from Ian Gilbert... But it's the ensemble who carry the show, adding value to the vacuous numbers – the Riverdance pastiche and the jumping rope sequence [Jenny Gayner] just two of the memorable production numbers. An upbeat pit band pumps the score along nicely, under the direction of Robert Wicks.

Great to see so many youngsters – on both sides of the footlights – in the sold-out Civic for this hit Noughties musical. Just what's needed to keep this august society in the pink ...                                  

THE HERBAL BED

THE HERBAL BED

English Touring Theatre at the Arts Theatre Cambridge
04.03.16


Peter Whelan's period piece was written 20 years ago for the RSC. It's the very Stratford-on-Avon story of Shakespeare's eldest daughter Susanna, married to respected local physician John Hall.
She is a frustrated, modern woman – unable, despite her skill and knowledge, to practise medicine, she helps as she can with herbal cordials. She is lonely, too, her husband often away for days at a time bringing healing to the well-to-do.
Amongst the speculation, the fact that a cheeky, feckless apprentice to her husband slanders her, is brought to trial in a church court and is excommunicated.
Whelan ingeniously imagines the lives behind the legal record; the tensions of post-Reformation society are credibly explored, the characters are strongly drawn. Emma Lowndes makes Susanna a flawed human being, neither saint nor sinner, but a woman torn between loyalty to her good husband and the excitement of adultery and the new science. Matt Whitchurch is excellent as the laddish accuser, and Michael Mears makes the most of the splendidly named Barnabus Goche, vicar general, somewhere between Obadiah Slope and the Witchfinder General, suavely sliding one sheet of evidence after another from his scrip. Charlotte Wakefield plays the faithful servant, almost a family member, reminiscent of Desdemona's Emilia.
Susanna's poet/playwright father, ailing round the corner in New Place, almost appears at the end, his nameless 'condition' a possible explanation of part of the slander. His little grand-daughter Elizabeth does appear, charmingly. She will inherit New Place in time, and die childless, the last of the Shakespeare line.
The touring set [Jonathan Fensom] is wonderfully realised, a dark timber cube, opening out to reveal the marvellous garden within, and gliding off to reveal the ecclesiastic courtroom, lit from behind by its high window, bereft of its stained glass by the “Purifiers”.

SHADOWLANDS

SHADOWLANDS

Sudbury Dramatic Society at the Quay Theatre

03.03.16

for Sardines

Shadowlands tells the true, often tragic, story of the relationship between C S Lewis, the Oxbridge academic now best remembered for Narnia, and Joy Gresham, an American admirer. William Nicholson's literate script evokes wonderfully well the pleasure and the pain of this remarkable late-flowering love. The theology and the soul-searching form a rich back-drop to the unique romance of a buttoned-up, reticent Englishman in late middle age and the younger fan from New York City who sends him long letters and reads him her poetry.

Peter Drew's production moves smoothly from The Kilns, near Oxford, to a hospital ward, to Greece. The cosy “midden” of the room Jack shares with his brother Warnie is convincingly recreated stage left, with the rest of the action against black walls and drapes.

Some fine performances make for an emotional, thought-provoking evening of drama.

Lewis himself – tweeds, tie-clip and a warm, comfortable voice – is played by Neil Arbon. I'm not sure he'd cut it in the “intellectual elite” of the 50s, but he captures well the heart-searching and the anguish of the “foolish, frightened old man” as he seeks to reconcile this vale of suffering with his belief in a loving God. His key scene with the boy Douglas [an impressively confident Alex Ray – neat parting, suede shoes, comfy cardigan] is especially moving. Denis Brogan is absolutely right as the toper Warnie – double-breasted old buffer. And Heidi Bernhard-Bubb makes a poised, feisty, straight-talking poet. The awful, misogynist denizens of High Table are well suggested, particularly by Christopher Suckling as the atheist Professor Riley and Ian Pritchard-Witts as the pin-striped cleric Harrington.

Though Douglas is deprived of his Wardrobe moment, there are some telling scenes: the rain on the roof of the Register Office [and Warnie's expression as he signs his name], the grouping round the bedside for the wedding, the standard lamp, the tea-tray. The static semi-circle of academics lacks energy, perhaps, and it is a relief when Joy takes off the [superbly period] little hat that keeps her eyes in shadow.

Music is sparingly but effectively used – an eclectic playlist including Arvo Part and the sadly neglected County Durham composer John Garth.

A polished production of a compellingly moving, well-made play.

THE LAST FIVE YEARS

THE LAST FIVE YEARS

at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich

01.03.2016

for The Reviews Hub

Rumoured to be based on the writer's own marriage woes, this charming chamber musical fits the Wolsey like a glove.

The structure is ingenious, with more than a hint of I Do, I Do and Merrily We Roll Along. Bride and groom meet – and duet – somewhere in the middle; otherwise their timelines move in opposing directions, giving an ironic twist to past and future passions.

In Peter Rowe's fluid, uncluttered production, both characters are frequently on stage together, sometimes interacting, sometimes not. Which makes even greater demands on the actors, and the audience, since time shifts in an instant, as Cathy and Jamie dart around their five year relationship.

Katie Birtill and Chris Cowley both inhabit their roles with conviction, with plenty of vocal power and engaging presence. She, the loser in this love match, eliciting rather more sympathy than he does, as he unattractively eyes up “other women” almost as soon as the knot is tied. But in the end it's work – he's a flavour-of-the-month novelist, she an aspiring actor – that comes between them. She stands starry-eyed stage right as he pens a last letter and packs up his things. Just ninety minutes before – straight through, no interval - he falls naively in love, delighted to be dating outside his faith, (he's seen “every Shapiro in Washington Heights”), as she laments the end of her marriage in “Still Hurting”.

As in Tell Me On A Sunday, the musical numbers are more like a song cycle than a sung-through show. Charming pastiches, not stinting on a good tune; like Sondheim, Brown knows how to tell a story in witty, snappy lyrics. A very stylish band – ready for a Schubert quintet, by the look of them – with MD Caroline Humphris at the grand piano. Some lovely numbers, though nothing to whistle on the way home. “Summer in Ohio”, about Cathy's awful experience in summer stock, the Chorus Line moment as she auditions, using a wonderful homage to the Great American Musical (“When You Come Home To Me”).

The staging is simple and intimate – magical fairy lights for the opening, soft spotlights for the solos, a table doubling as a pier on the lake, a love boat either side of the wedding, with her dialogue cleverly mirroring his as she retreats into the past. The moments when the two young lovers are happy in each other's company are a rare treat: standing together like the couple on the cake, Cathy sitting rapt and cross-legged as Jamie acts out his Christmas story of the tailor Schmuel before making her a present … of a watch.

production photograph: Mike Kwasniak