After the remarkable CAROLINE, OR CHANGE at Hampstead Theatre (which is transferring to the West End at the end of the year) we had the chance to see her earlier musical re-write of THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE which is currently touring.
Rewrite you say? But why not just use the film soundtrack? Well it turns out there wasn't a real score to the film, it was a mishpocheh of songs - THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, JIMMY and THE TAPIOCA were original, while the rest were songs from pre- and contemporaneous to the 1920s. Tesori and lyricist Dick Scanlon have only kept the first two for their score, unsurprisingly they are the ones that stay in the memory. Tesori's score sounds good in the theatre but there are no real stand-out melodies.
The original film is an odd one for me, I had the soundtrack album when I was growing up but never actually saw the film till much later and have never really liked it. I find it heavy-handed and forced, a straight man's idea of Camp. Everyone appears to be acting in different films - thank God for Julie Andrews' light playing as John Gavin, James Fox and Mary Tyler Moore all have the touch of a concrete souffle. Beatrice Lillie and Carol Channing... well, it's hard to accuse them of over-playing when that's their default style.
The stage musical opened on Broadway where it made a star of Sutton Foster and ran for two years, which is more than can be said for the original London production which lasted eight months with Amanda Holden. Go figure.
The show is back on tour, directed and choreographed by Racky Plews - yes I know, it sounds like an illness in Polari "Ooo doctor, vada well my racky plews!" Her choreography is great fun however and really keeps the show rolling along but the plot gets rather tired before it's de rigueuer happy end.
However the biggest failing of the show is the plot line of Millie's hotel being a cover for white slave trade by the it's proprietor Mrs Meers. The playing of the Mrs Meers character just kept reminding me - as AVENUE Q famously attested - that Evly One's a Rittle Bit Lacist. Despite Lucas Rush's game performance, line after alleged funny line died as it hit the stage and the whole concept of Mrs Meers being a failed Broadway actor in drag just distanced the character further and further away from any possible interest. The denouement has one of the main female characters falling in love with one of Mrs Meers' Chinese henchmen but it all felt like having your dodgy comedy oriental jokes with an odd liberal gloss.
The cast certainly gave it their all and the potentially colourless male lead was given a nice spin by Michael Colbourne. Richard Meek also managed to build up interest in the under-written role of Millie's boss Graydon but an over-played drunk scene made me wonder had he ever actually been drunk himself. There is also a performance of clanging bad acting by the head of the typing room where Millie works which we will draw a discreet tarpaulin over.
Luckily there are two glittering performances that simply highlight some of the thin performances elsewhere. I had never seen Hayley Tamaddon on stage before but she made a totally winning Millie. She has a nice belt of a voice and a real watchability on stage; she has had a career in television soaps but she certainly has enough charisma to hopefully become a fixture on stage.
In the role of Muzzy Van Hossmere - which gave Carol Channing her one moment of film fame - we have Nicola Blackman oozing class and bonhomie. Nicola is one of the increasingly rare performers who, when they come on stage, you know you can just relax in the knowledge that someone on that stage knows *exactly* how to place their performance. Muzzy's two contrasting numbers gave Nicola the chance to bring a Porter-like throb to her first act paean to New York and to swing out in her second act cabaret number. Between Tamaddon and Blackman, the show finds it's heart.
I suspect I was the only one in Richmond who groaned loudly when the tallest chorus girl was introduced as Dorothy Parker, who in real-life was as short as her wit was large. However, I would recommend the show if it comes your way.
No comments:
Post a Comment