SHOW HITS 2011

SHOW HITS 2011

LADS at the Tractor Shed
31.08.11


How did a redundant tractor shed attract a talented company of younsters to spend their summer nights preparing a very enjoyable, and highly professional, variety show of songs [and dances] from the musical stage ?

Well, that's a story for another day. Suffice it to say that Show Hits 2011 was a fast-paced, slick sequence which never lost energy or style.

It began with a generous helping of Sister Act, with a very lively Deloris, and some impressive chorus work.

And ended with the Queen fans' juke-box musical, We Will Rock You, with familiar numbers [though not alas Bohemian Rhapsody] belted out with enthusiasm and a great rock backing.

In between we had two lovingly revived “Gerald Wiley” monologues off the box, a very stylish title number from Cabaret, and the Waltz duet from Sweeney Todd, which honesty compels me to say was the only performance where all the words were audible. Not to mention brief encounters with Rent, Wicked, Legally Blonde and Glee, and a commendably simple sequence from Glee: the a cappella ending to Say A Little Prayer was a musical highlight.

The sixteen-piece orchestra – the envy of many a West End pit these days, and maybe a tad over-powered for this acoustic and these vocal forces – was directed by the prodigiously talented Kris Rawlinson, who also managed to appear in two numbers, including Shrek in a green mask of his own making …

The younger performers – some cute Cockney tots here – got a chance to shine in a medley from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which featured a brilliant knees-up number [Ol' Bamboo] and the car itself, magnificently recreated by Frank Burgess. We're promised a period cab for Pygmalion, LADS' next show...

Show Hits 2011 was directed by Cathy Hallam, with Mandi Tickner, and choreography by Vicki Bird.

RHINESTONE MONDAYS

RHINESTONE MONDAYS

at the Mercury Theatre Colchester

01.09.11

for The Public Reviews

As the Rhinestone Cowboy Glen Campbell prepares a UK farewell tour, country music is as popular as ever this side of the Pond. A far-flung outpost of this fan base lurks in the dingy basement of the Warbleswick Sports and Social Club, where Monday night is Line Dancing night.

That's the premise for Joe Graham's slight piece, directed by Phil Willmott, which aims to please lovers of the music and the regular theatre-going crowd.

More than a touch of Girls' Night Out, though a sad lack of boots and hats in the audience. And rarely has the label “karaoke musical” seemed more apposite, with the cast stepping up to sing to backing tracks in the lilac spotlight.

After a front cloth warm-up, we meet the gallery of clichéd sitcom characters – little old lady with flatulence and false teeth, loud Welsh gay tap-dancer, you get the picture – whose fights and feuds, loves and losses, form the flimsy plot on which to hang the songs.

Some interesting performance pedigrees at work. Faye Tozer, from Steps, is the dance teacher who finally finds happiness with dance-phobic, tongue-tied Tom [Anthony Topham]. Also from Steps, Ian H Watkins, giving a strong performance as Duncan the treacherous tap-dancer who engineers the happy ending. One of the best vocals of the show [Willie Nelson's Crazy], not surprisingly, was from Lyn Paul, whose first big hit with the New Seekers was an incredible forty years ago. Less convinced by her Cougar character, however. Lots of comedy potential in the pivotal role of Ronald, who likes to be called Clint, and takes everything a bit too seriously. But Phil Pritchard failed to make it more than a figure of fun, I felt. The best performance by far, combining just a little send-up with real acting and superb comic timing, was Shaun Williamson's Del Boy barman. His rendition of Orbison's Blue Bayou was priceless, a taste of how wryly entertaining this show could have been …

Not much actual line-dancing in evidence until the coda, when we were given a nice 42^nd Street curtain line of stepping feet, and a chance to see how much of Achy Breaky Heart we could dance in the narrow aisles of the Mercury.

This is a World Première for Colchester: the show and its stars set off on an ambitious tour, bringing line-dancing comedy to Wales, Ireland and Scotland.

production photograph: Robert Day

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews

ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS

ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS

National Theatre at the Lyttleton

28.08.11

What would Carlo Goldoni make of Richard Bean's hugely successful and side-splittingly hilarious re-working of his Servant of Two Masters ?

Well, he'd recognise the famous dinner scene, superbly served up in Nicholas Hytner's stylish production. And the flats giving a perspective view of the seaside – Brighton standing in for La Serenissima. And the concept of a star player stepping out of the plot to improvise like a stand-up, and interact with audience members. Goldoni's original Harlequin one such – the talented, and equally famous James Corden another, working to brilliant effect as the permanently hungry and slightly slow-witted Francis Henshall, who strives to serve both Jemima Rooper's lairy Roscoe and the public school toff Stanley Stubbers [beautifully caught by Oliver Chris].

The classy company included several masters of the farce, not least the crowd-pleasing doddery waiter of Tom Edden.

And I've not even mentioned the marvellous music [Grant Olding], using skiffle and rock'n'roll pastiche to bridge the scenes and transport us to the early sixties. With some glorious speciality spots, including Corden on the xylophone.

A sell-out in the Lyttleton, a West End transfer already selling well, and cinema relays sold out all over the UK – Goldoni, who died in poverty and in exile, would certainly have approved of that.

CHICAGO

CHICAGO SUMMER SCHOOL

Tomorrow's Talent at Little Waltham

14.08.11

They pulled it off last year with a pared-down, no-frills Cats; this year the even more demanding, infinitely darker Chicago, the three-ring circus of Cook County Jail, where celebrity is a drug and murder is entertainment.

Gavin Wilkinson's karaoke version was hard-hitting [though they did “pipe down the swearing”] and caught the steamy atmosphere to perfection. No lighting to help, nor sound reinforcement, just these madly talented young people [average age 14 or 15], inventive choreography and stunning stagecraft. And the chairs of course, used with flair and imagination. The precision of the movements, the depth of the characterizations were an incredible achievement in less than a week.

A very strong ensemble, all of them characters in their own right, and very effective in the big numbers – the sisterhood tango, Razzle Dazzle complete with knife throwing act. Sam Toland was a touching Mr Cellophane, Ashton Reed played seasoned vaudevillian Velma, with dance captain Liz Pilgrim as Mama Morton. Some of the best character work came from wannabe celebrity Roxie [Sophie Walker], and her mouthpiece Flynn, a very stylish Josh Butcher. Their impeccable quick-fire duet, which blossoms into a full-blown riot of dance moves, was brilliantly done. I could believe that sequence alone took five days to set, but no, the whole hour was polished and perfected from scratch in that time. Sixty minutes of energetic, emotional musical theatre, and still oomph enough for the Hot Honey Rag and a fantastic finale.

production photograph by Louise Freeland

GAS LIGHT

GAS LIGHT

The Little Theatre, Sheringham

16.08.11

Patrick Hamilton died in Sheringham, an unhappy alcoholic. His most recent success was his novel Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky, in a 2005 adaptation for the BBC.

But he is best remembered for his enduringly popular psychological thriller Gas Light, and it was this piece that was revived this season at Sheringham, one of the few seaside reps to have survived into the 21^st century.

Illona Linthwaite's production was impressively atmospheric, greatly helped by Matt Nunn's oppressive Victorian parlour.

William Hartley was a chillingly menacing Massingham, the killer with a heart of stone who tries to humiliate his wife into the mad-house. I admired his quiet stillness, his suppressed fury as he finds his private desk ransacked, and his caged-animal pacing as the spirit of justice finally corners him. I was less convinced by his sotto voce Gus Elen song as he returned from a night on the town.

The mysterious Inspector Rough - “is this a dream, too ?” - was played as a cheery Dickensian figure in a saucy shirt by Andrew Williams.

The fragile, frightened Bella was Keely Beresford – tense, tearful and finally, hysterically triumphant. Her fear of madness was palpable, and I was impressed by the incredulous joy with which she read the long-lost letter from her cousin.

The “dark household” was completed by the loyal Elizabeth [Madeleine Brolly] and the flighty, spiteful Nancy [Sarah Langton].

The Sheringham season continues with Perfect Wedding, Absent Friends and The Decorator.