WHEN I GROW UP !

Tomorrow's Talent Juniors at the Cramphorn Theatre

03.07.11

Despite the Pussycat Dolls title, the emphasis of this slick, enjoyable showcase was firmly on the kids here and now.

Starting with ragged urchins from Oliver and Les Mis, the huge cast filled the Cramphorn stage with colourful routines, energetically directed by Gavin Wilkinson. A costume change, and they were back for Monster Mash, My Fair Lady and The King and I, all done to powerful backing tracks.

There was drama too, notably the touching scene from David Campton's Split Down the Middle, with nicely contrasting characters from Giselle Byron and Kirstin Allen [Sophie Weatherhead and Annabella Saward in the “Hollywood” cast].

I also enjoyed the dialogue from A Proper Little Nooryeff, with Emma Shorey frustrated by William Keeler's lack of commitment to dance [Joseph Bennett and Olivia Hendrick for the matinée]; followed, cleverly, by Electricity, written for that other ballet boy, Billy Elliot. No dance moves for William here, though he more than compensated with his contribution to the stunning finale.

This is the first time the juniors have had the limelight to themselves in the Cramphorn – invaluable performance experience for these enthusiastic young people.

The seniors will be strutting their stuff next door at the Civic, where Our House, the Madness musical, runs from the 20^th to the 23^rd of July.

production photographs 

by Louise Freeland

THE CHELMSFORD SINGERS

Summer Concert at Chelmsford Cathedral

25.06.11

A lovely midsummer miscellany from the Chelmsford Singers. They began with Schutz, an exhortation to Sing and Be Joyful, and ended with Brahms' gentle Geistliches Lied, both works performed with rich tonality and infectious enthusiasm.

The major work was a new cantata by Joseph Phibbs, commissioned last year by Saxmundham Rotary, here receiving its second performance. Shadows of Sleep takes its theme from Belloc's The Night, and weaves other verse, from Milton to limerick, into a fascinating sequence; ambitious and challenging, it involved the choristers and consort of the Cathedral as well as the adult choir, plus Tomoaki Kimura playing the demanding piano part, and Sam Wilson on percussion. Three martial poems dominated – a muscular setting of Julian Grenfell, a dramatic Charge of the Light Brigade, and Chave's Night Bombers, ending with a violent sunburst from the choir. Heady stuff, but leavened by gentler moments, like the Lear, or the Yiddish Lullaby.

After the interval, we heard organ music from Bach [Oliver Waterer the soloist] as well as two familiar Bruckner motets, performed with exemplary discipline and attention to detail, and Buxtehude's Magnificat, a very attractive setting, although of doubtful provenance, featuring some sensitive solo work from within the choir.

Chelmsford Singers were conducted by Peter Nardone, who also conducted the Phibbs at its Snape première. 

BUGSY MALONE

Ingatestone Young Expressions at the Community Centre.

25.06.11

Bugsy Malone's world of pint-sized hoodlums and their molls took over the Community Hall for Young Expressions' latest show, a swan-song for Music Director Cathy Edkins and Directors Liz Gibson and Allen Clark.

The wide stage was made wider still by the Book Emporium and the office; a grim Big Apple backdrop was drawn aside to reveal the illicit delights of Fat Sam's.

The pit band, in black homburgs, produced impressively sleazy speakeasy sounds.

Polished performances from Harry Kemp, proudly padded as Fat Sam, and Ralph Stevens, promising as his arch rival Dandy Dan. The charming chancer Bugsy was very confidently portrayed by Alec Stevens; I particularly admired the way he delivered the motivational Down and Out. His Blousey was sweetly sung by Rebecca Craythorne, and the sultry Tallulah was gamely played by Ella Harget-Dash. Fizzy, dreaming of stardom, was Suzy Jennings.

Stylish staging of the production numbers – My Name is Tallulah, the Bad Guys' Song – and plenty of clever touches: the hat routine, the synchronised hit-men, with the stiffs sack-barrowed off to Rota's Godfather theme from Asgeir Faben's bass, the Pink Panther from Rebecca Durose's sax for Smolsky and O'Dreary [Todd Brand and Peter Angel].

With thirty different scenes, it was sometimes hard to maintain the punch and the pace, but it was all great fun, and the shoot-out and the finale were excellently choreographed.

DOCTOR FAUSTUS

at Shakespeare's Globe

26.06.11

How would the first audiences have seen Faustus, when it opened round the corner from the Globe, at the Rose on Bankside ?

Many of the features that are pleasing the packed house of 2011, I'd guess. The coarse humour, the fantastical spirits and animals straught out of the morality plays. The skeletal dragons were especially impressive. The wings on the Good Angel and later on Lucifer were visually stunning, and Matthew Dunster's production was studded with such treats for the eye: the planets, the lithe deadly sins, the huge puppet Helen of Troy. The opening was striking too, with multiple black-clad, dark-glassed Faustuses, all wielding volumes from his library.

Paul Hilton's Doctor was a conjuror in the modern as well as the ancient sense, releasing an inflatable castle in the air, plucking a bunch of grapes from “a far country”.

What this version lacked for me, was the intensity of emotion and cosmic conflict. This Faustus spoke of Hell as a modern cynic, not a medieval scholar. The verse was not generally well served; Mephistopheles [Arthur Darvill] was too offhand to be evil. Of course we are not likely to be shocked or chilled by one man's rejection of God these days, but the two central characters needed to engage us on a deeper level to do justice to Marlowe's tragical history.

The groundlings loved it, though, and their enthusiasm was rewarded with a generous jig, unnecessarily complex, maybe, but with an inspired instrumental duel between Faustus and 
Mephistopheles. 
   

LEND ME A TENOR

Gielgud Theatre

Wednesday matinee : 22^nd June 2011

John Richardson, lucky man, had a seat in the stalls ...

A bijou musical that is fun, funny and fast moving, “Lend Me A Tenor” is set in 1934 and tells of the trials and tribulations of the Cleveland Opera Company just hours before a performance of Verdi’s “Otello”. It has witty, fun lyrics, equally witty orchestrations and is a delight on the eye and ear. Sumptuous settings, scenery that magically, seamlessly and inventively moves from one location to another, doors that SLAM without the slightest wobble. And I am reminded of a northern friend whose opinion of a show invariably depended on the number of “wunnnnnderful frocks” – here he would not have been disappointed, for they were exquisite. If you enjoy musicals, good singing and don’t mind an opera or two being sent up, with the occasional tap routine (FAB !) as a bonus, then this is the show for you !

As ever I was too mean to buy a programme so I had no real idea who played who, but, as H.E.Bates' Pop Larkin character would put it, everyone was ‘perfick’. My out and out highlight was the opera company diva’s ‘audition’ in front of the world-famous tenor who should have been singing the lead role in “Otello”. When she began the show I thought she had a ‘modern-day musical’ voice, but was I wrong – she hit each an every note of her pastiche of operatic roles – wonderful ! Her post-number applause took some time to die down, peppered with a more than a few ‘bravo’ shouts (including from me – noisy so and so !). My ‘subsequently done’ homework reveals that she was played by Sophie-Louise Dann. ‘Others’ in the cast (sounds a bit disparaging but it’s not meant that way) included Matthew Kelly and Joanna Riding.