HADESTOWN at Olivier, National Theatre - Fire Down Below....

Every so often the ominous words "prior to it's Broadway opening" appear on a National Theatre production which always strikes me as slightly irksome: should the National Theatre stages and resources be used for a production's out-of-town tryout when there is a whole canon of drama that it is the National's remit to stage as no one else will?

The latest to get this treatment is a new musical written by Anáis Mitchell, a folk singer who is hitherto unknown to me,  The really bizarre thing is that the show has already played Off-Broadway in 2016 so it is being road-tested here before transferring to Broadway (allegedly).  It is a very convoluted journey and I am not sure what the National is getting out of the deal - although it does fill the Olivier repertoire which has frequently been a béte noire for Rufus Norris.  However, with no preconceptions on what I was about to see, I was very impressed with a lot of what I saw and heard.

Mitchell released the original concept album in 2010, retelling the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice as a pair of young lovers in the Great Depression played out in a hybrid of blues, New Orleans jazz, country and rhythm 'n' blues.  She met director Rachel Chavkin in 2012 and after several years of working on it, the stage show debuted in 2016 in New York, it was again staged Off-Broadway last year where it was nominated for and won several fringe awards.  And now it's here...

Hermes, our narrator, introduces us to Orpheus, a down-and-out singer with his guitar slung over his back. One day he meets the homeless Eurydice, they fall instantly in love and attempt to set up home together but things go awry as Eurydice struggles to find work while Orpheus spends all his time writing songs.  In the meantime, summer arrives with the appearance of the exuberant goddess Persephone who is visiting for her allotted six months on earth bringing warm weather, joy and prosperity.  When her time is up she sadly returns back to her husband Hades in his underworld factory, but this time she is followed by Eurydice in search of a better life.  Orpheus is broken-hearted at her departure and follows her down to the underworld to bring her back, which no mortal has ever done before.

The lovers are reunited but Hades refuses to let Eurydice leave, however Persephone intercedes on the couple's behalf and Hades allows Orpheus to sing for him.  Moved by the song, Hades dances with Persephone and let's the couple leave the underworld but with conditions attached: Orpheus must lead the way with Eurydice following but if he turns to look at her, she will vanish into the underworld forever...

 I had deliberately not read any of the reviews as I wanted to experience the show with no preconceived ideas and I am glad I did, as I said there was a lot to enjoy.  Anáis Mitchell's score is an intriguingly dense affair, at no time can you guess where the show is going to go musically.  Her combination of country blues, New Orleans jazz, Southern rhythm 'n' blues and pop is a heady mix, the only thing it is missing is a memorable song.  They sound great in the auditorium but by the time I had got home I couldn't remember one of them.  It would also have been possibly better to have a separate lyricist, her's are the weakest part of the score.

Rachel Chavkin's production is big and bold with all energy focused on the performers however as the show reached it's double climax - first with Hades and Orpheus and then with Orpheus and Eurydice's flight from the underworld - the tension slackened and no real crescendo was reached, it all felt played at the same pace; indeed when the show ended, it felt to have been a long time coming.

In case anyone was wondering, there is life after the Broadway debacle SPIDERMAN: TURN OFF THE DARK as two of it's leads Reeve Carney and Patrick Page have turned up here: Carney is an impassioned though not terribly charismatic Orpheus and Patrick Page is a marvellous Hades, with a deep bass voice echoing out like coming from the underworld itself.

As Eurydice, Eva Noblezada - the star of the recent revival of MISS SAIGON - has a powerful voice and a nice stage presence, while Amber Gray was a wild and rollicking Persephone - as indeed she should be as she has played the role since 2016 in all the previous productions.  With her crazy hair and bright green dress she was huge fun.

Musicals veteran André De Shields was an elegant, sinister, slippery Hermes and there was fine support from the three sassy, mean Fates: Carly Mercedes Dyer, Rosie Fletcher and Gloria Onitiri, and a special mention too for the excellent, hardworking ensemble.

David Neumann's choreography is inventive and striking, Rachel Hauck's large wooden set design is impressive but ultimately one wishes for something more striking for the underworld, and Bradley King's lighting is atmospheric and suits the ominous tone of the work.  The seven onstage musicians are excellent and fully deserved the large ovation at the curtain.

Owen and I agreed that it might be good to see the show again before it finishes it's run in January to see how they have settled into the Olivier and hopefully ironed out some of the longueurs of the second act.

It certainly deserves to be seen...

 

 

50 Favourite Musicals: 33: SWEET CHARITY (1966) (Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields)

The 50 shows that have stood out down the years and, as we get up among the paint cards, the shows that have become the cast recording of my life:

First performed: 1966, Palace Theatre, NY

First seen by me: 2009, Menier Chocolate Factory, London

Productions seen: one

Score: Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields
Book: Neil Simon

Plot:  Charity Hope Valentine is an unlucky-in-love but ever-optimistic taxi dancer in a run-down Manhattan dance hall. One day she gets trapped in a stalled lift with a shy but panicky tax advisor called Oscar.  Slowly a romance blossoms... is this Charity's moment?   

Five memorable numbers: BIG SPENDER, RHYTHM OF LIFE, THERE'S GOTTA BE SOMETHING BETTER THAN THIS, I LOVE TO CRY AT WEDDINGS, IF MY FRIENDS COULD SEE ME NOW

Two female characters dominated the 1965/66 Broadway season, Auntie Mame Dennis and Charity Hope Valentine, two indomitable survivors of life's vicissitudes, but neither MAME or SWEET CHARITY ultimately claimed the Best Musical award which went to doughty old MAN OF LA MANCHA; a decision that in retrospect seems odd.  Indeed out of it's nine Tony nominations it only won Best Choreography for Bob Fosse's memorable work.  Going by the film versions alone - I've not seen MAME OF LA MANCHA on stage! - SWEET CHARITY wins hands down.  It's Overture blares out like a traffic jam of NY cabs, showcasing the contemporary and brassy feel of Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields' score with it's remarkable collection of songs: cynical and hard-edged numbers that cover the heroine's sadness with a noisy bravado.  Blessed with a wisecracking but sympathetic book by the then-King of Broadway comedy Neil Simon, the story is based on Federico Fellini's NIGHTS OF CABIRIA - the first of three musicals based on his films, the others being Lionel Bart's flop LA STRADA and Maury Yeston's hit NINE.  Simon also creates great supporting characters like Nickie and Helene, Charity's comrades in the dance hall, Herman the grouchy manager and Oscar, Charity's latest chance at happiness.  Bob Fosse - who conceived the show for his muse Gwen Verdon as well as directing it - choreographed memorable routines and these moments stud the plot like zircon buttons.  With it's glorious score and memorable characters, SWEET CHARITY has been regularly revived and, although it flopped on release, Fosse's film version keeps delivering down the years.

There are plenty of videos of SWEET CHARITY but I thought I'd stick with the trailer for the Menier production - it's a nice reminder of the winning performances of Tamzin Outhwaite, Marc Umbers and Josefina Gabrielle, as well as the excellent pairing of Ebony Molina and Paul J Medford who made THE RICH MAN'S FRUG such a thrilling experience.

THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM at Wyndhams Theatre - Squall in the family...

When it was announced that Jonathan Pryce and Eileen Atkins were to appear onstage in a new play by French writer Florian Zeller, adapted by Christopher Hampton and directed by Jonathan Kent, I knew it was going to be something to see.  Then I saw the prices...  nothing in the stalls for under £74 - and it only lasts 80 minutes!  Luckily Owen nabbed some Upper Circle tix though of course they were restricted view with the edge of the stage obscured.  And the play?  Well...

This is the first play I have seen by Florian Zeller but I know of his work - all translated by Christopher Hampton in the UK.  While I appreciate what he is trying to do with the form, bending narrative structures and giving you characters who might not be the most trustworthy of narrators, however THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM feels annoyingly slight, like a writer cruising on his tricks, thinking "Oh I can do the same to this situation" rather than it feeling in anyway new and revelatory; just narrative guessing games for the sake of it.

Andre and Madeleine have been married for over 50 years and have two daughters.  Andre is beginning to show signs of confusion and although both daughters have arrived at the family home at the same time, he is vague as to why.  Marianne wanders in and out speaking to the family as she busies herself with dinner but the emphasis is on Andre who listens but doesn't really take in what his daughters are saying about a house that they have seen which might suit him better.  They even bring home a woman who vaguely knows Andre and Marianne - much to the latter's consternation as she has always thought she had been in an affair with Andre once - to talk about the house.  An appearance from the younger daughter's latest boyfriend who is a estate agent only makes the situation clearer to all but Andre.

It very soon becomes apparent (through the play and knowledge of Zeller's past work) that one of the couple has died - but which one?  I will not be the spoilsport and reveal who but it's all quite obvious really.  So in actual fact, I left thinking that the play could have been shorter, there seemed to be a lot of re-stating what was fairly obvious before, so much so that at times I felt like saying "Yes we get it, that person is dead!!"

Yes the play reverberates once the curtain has come down, but I think that has more to do with Jonathan Kent's taut direction - despite the several 'interludes' to show time passing - and of course his remarkable lead performers.  That said, credit is due to the fine supporting performances from Amanda Drew and Anna Madeley as the concerned daughters but Lucy Cohu is, as per, a trifle over-ripe as the mysterious friend of the family.

Needless to say there was enough coughing for the duration of the play to make it seem like Scutari Hospital on a wet Wednesday, but as a tribute to Jonathan Pryce and Eileen Atkins you could hear a pin drop in their scenes together, especially the final scene when all the threads come together.  To be honest, it is this final scene that has stayed with me as it was so beautifully pitched and played.

Jonathan Pryce was remarkable and heartbreaking as Andre, a man slowly losing himself in his own mind, given to panicked confusion as he gets stuck in painful repetitions of a sentence, not able to comprehend recent events despite the clues in front of him.  Onstage for most of it's running time, Pryce radiated an intense charisma.  Eileen Atkins was frustratingly under-used, drifting in and out of the action to drop some withering lines but as I said, the last scene was breathtaking as she took flight with a warm delicacy as Madeleine reminded Andre that she once said she would never leave him.

I'm glad I got the see these two favorite performers again on stage, it was just a shame the play was so maddeningly slight.

DVD/150: REGENERATION (Gillies MacKinnon, 1997)

1n 1917, The Times printed a letter from decorated soldier / poet Siegfried Sassoon opposing the continuation of WWI by those who could end it; a war of defence was now one of aggression.  He was sent to Edinburgh's Craiglockhart Hospital to be treated by psychiatrist William Rivers; the inference being he was mentally-ill.  This event inspired Pat Barker's 1991 novel REGENERATION and this film adaptation.

The subdued film highlights the emotional conflict felt by both men: Rivers is a caring man healing the shattered psyches of his patients but knows that it will mean they are returned to war, while Sassoon wants to return to his platoon but knows to do so will be to continue the madness.

Sassoon meets fellow soldier / poet Wilfred Owen who he pursuades to start writing about his war experiences, also included is Barker's fictional character Billy Prior who openly challenges Rivers' probing analysis.

Shelf or charity shop?  It will stay in DVD limbo eg. in a plastic storage box but a keeper for the performances of Jonny Lee Miller as Billy Prior, Stuart Bunce as a warmly sympathetic Wilfred Owen (a performance which should have led to greater fame) and, in particular, Jonathan Pryce's heartfelt performance as Dr William Rivers. 

 

50 Favourite Musicals: 34: SHE LOVES ME (1963) (Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick)

The 50 shows that have stood out down the years and, as we get up among the paint cards, the shows that have become the cast recording of my life:

First performed: 1963, Eugene O'Neill Theatre, NY

First seen by me: 2016, Menier Chocolate Factory, London

Productions seen: one

Score: Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick
Book: Joe Masteroff

Plot:  In 1930s Budapest, Georg and Amalia work together in a perfumery and dislike each other intensely - what they don't know is they are each other's pen-pal who they are falling in love with through their letters.  As Christmas approaches, they agree to meet...   

Five memorable numbers: VANILLA ICE-CREAM, A TRIP TO THE LIBRARY, DEAR FRIEND, WILL HE LIKE ME?, SHE LOVES ME

It's an untrusted word, heartwarming... one mis-step and it can lead to cloying sentimentality and no one wants to sit through two-and-a-half hours of that.  So it is always a delight to find a show that is genuinely heartwarming without any of it's concomitant pitfalls - step up Bock and Harnick's SHE LOVES ME, for me a much more enjoyable musical than their more famous FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.  Miklós László's original play has been the gift that just keeps giving since 1937: no less than three Hollywood films - THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER, IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME and YOU'VE GOT MAIL - have been based on the plotline and can be added to Bock and Harnick's version.  After a nod to the show's Hungarian location with the keening violins that open the overture, their score is packed with choon-ful tunes - and with 25 songs listed in the programme I mean packed!  Joe Masteroff's delightful book also keeps the plot moving with warm, sympathetic characters.  A delightful chocolate-box of a production at the Menier two years ago has stayed with me but it's the original cast recording that made me love the show immortalizing the performances of Barbara Baxley as lovelorn Ilona, Jack Cassidy as womanizing Kodaly, Daniel Massey as Georg and, above all, the glorious Barbara Cook as Amalia, one of the key roles of her Broadway career which provided several songs to add to her repertoire for her second career as a solo artist, namely the soaring VANILLA ICE CREAM. An interesting sidenote: MGM bought the film rights and after a few years of delay were set to make it with Julie Andrews as Amalia, possibly reuniting with Dick Van Dyke as Georg but a change of management led to a restructuring for more contemporary subjects and SHE LOVED ME was dropped.  The show lives on however so if it pops up near you do see it...

Sadly there is no original footage of Barbara Cook singing one of her signature songs but here she is during her second career as a solo singer in concert in Melbourne, acting and singing VANILLA ICE CREAM to perfection; it really gives you a flavour of Bock and Harnick's delightful score

50 Favourite Musicals: 35: A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM (1962) (Stephen Sondheim)

The 50 shows that have stood out down the years and, as we get up among the paint cards, the shows that have become the cast recording of my life: 

First performed: 1962, Alvin Theatre, NY

First seen by me: 1999, Open Air Regents Park, London

Productions seen: two

Score: Stephen Sondheim
Book: Burt Shevelove, Larry Gelbart

Plot:  Pseudolus, a slave in Ancient Rome, agrees to help his master's son get the girl of his dreams in exchange for his freedom - but the road to liberty never runs smooth...

Five memorable numbers: COMEDY TONIGHT, EVERYBODY OUGHT TO HAVE A MAID, PRETTY LITTLE PICTURE, THAT'LL SHOW HIM, FREE

The original 1962 FORUM won an impressive six Tony Awards, but one contributor got nothing... composer Stephen Sondheim.  Yes, it won Best Musical but that is for the overall production: Shevelove and Gelbart won for their riotous book, George Abbott won for his direction, Zero Mostel and David Burns won for their performances, Harold Prince won Best Musical producer... but the score? Nothing.  It can be argued that it was a crowded field that year: nominations went to Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh for LITTLE ME, Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for STOP THE WORLD - I WANT TO GET OFF and, the eventual winner, Lionel Bart for OLIVER! - but a nomination for BRAVO GIOVANNI, a vehicle for opera singer Cesare Siepi?  You would think that Sondheim could comfort himself with his Best Score awards for WEST SIDE STORY or GYPSY - wrong!  The Score Award was discontinued from 1952 to 1962.  He would finally be nominated for Best Score with his next show DO I HEAR A WALTZ?, small comfort for what had been a difficult process writing with Richard Rodgers.  Not that FORUM was a breeze either; rewrites, recasting and the baffling out-of-town lukewarm response.  But Sondheim concentrated on the form of the piece and ditched most of his generic musical comedy songs and, in particular, changed the opening song from the whimsical LOVE IS IN THE AIR to the barnstorming COMEDY TONIGHT and hey presto, a hit was born.  The adage that you can't have a good musical without a good book is proved by Gelbart and Shevelove's excellent writing - based on plays by Plautus - which provides a solid base for the capering, light-hearted songs and the farcical characters.  The role of 'Pseudolus' is a Tony Award magnet on Broadway: Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers and Nathan Lane have all played it and have all won Best Actor in a Musical.  No such luck for London productions but the two revivals I have seen have had barnstorming performances from Roy Hudd at the Regents Park Open Air Theatre in 1999 and Desmond Barrit at the Olivier Theatre in 2004   About time for another revival I reckon...

I was going to choose a clip from Richard Lester's 1966 film version but it is woefully dated despite the involvement of original stars Zero Mostel and Jack Gilford, so instead here is a glorious version of EVERYBODY OUGHT TO HAVE A MAID from the 2010 Proms tribute to Sondheim with a perfect imaginary revival cast of Simon Russell Beale, Daniel Evans, Julian Ovendon and Bryn Terfel - I love this!

50 Favourite Musicals: 36: HERE LIES LOVE (2013) (David Byrne, Fatboy Slim)

The 50 shows that have stood out down the years and, as we get up among the paint cards, the shows that have become the cast recording of my life: 

First performed: 2013, Public Theater, NY

First seen by me: 2014, Dorfman, London

Productions seen: one

Score: David Byrne, Fatboy Slim
Book: David Byrne

Plot:  Inside the Club Millennium disco, we see the rise and fall of former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos 

Five memorable numbers: HERE LIES LOVE, WHEN SHE PASSED BY, CHILD OF THE PHILIPPINES, WHY DON'T YOU LOVE ME, PLEASE DON'T

From one club-set musical to another, from Pet Shop Boys to David Byrne and Fatboy Slim.  However HERE LIES LOVE trumps CLOSER TO HEAVEN with it's focused story-telling and concept.  The spark for composer David Byrne's vision was when he heard that the notorious Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos had been a disco dolly, visiting discos like Studio 54 and installing her own club on the top floor of the presidential palace in Manila while having a glitter-ball installed in her NY apartment.  Of course there are comparisons with the other first lady musical EVITA but they show how sometimes history has a way of repeating - it's basis in a concept album, the vengeful leading character and in the title song it has her sugar-coating her actions as in DON'T CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA.  The odd thing is that my criticism of CLOSER TO HEAVEN - facile book, paper-thin characters - could be levelled at HERE LIES LOVE with it's almost totally sung-through score but here it really doesn't impinge on your enjoyment as Byrne isn't asking you to engage in that way with his characters.  However the success of the show is that it changes your idea of Imelda Marcos... without a single reference to her shoe collection, her drive and ambition to be someone at the expense of others may not make her likeable but it does make her understandable - and a great musical bitch!  Alex Timbers' production provided an all-encompassing world within the club setting utilizing sound, lighting and design - the idea to present it as a mostly promenade production with the standing audience marshalled by the cast around different podiums worked excellently as a lot of the numbers have Imelda, Ferdinand Marcos or their nemesis Ninoy Aquino making speeches or justifying their actions to their supporters - and all to an excellent driving dance beat.   It's a shame that HERE LIES LOVE - a genuine ground breaker in advancing the musical form - looks like it might be overlooked in the rush to over-praise HAMILTON as the way forward.

This extended trailer for the Public's production - which won 10 off-Broadway awards - gives you a taste of the show's kinetic, immersive excitement:

MAYERLING at Covent Garden: McRae's back... and firing on all cylanders

He's back,, and the Royal Ballet's still got him!   After ten months away from the stage recovering from an injury, Steven McRae,the most charismatic of Royal Ballet male stars, is back and dancing up a storm!  However as one returns so another is up on bricks: Edward Watson who was due to dance the role of the tortured Crown Prince Rudolf for some performances in this revival has had to limp away injured.  I hope he recovers quickly.

Kenneth MacMillan's brooding masterpiece is now 40 years old but has lost none of it's power to unsettle - luckily there are two intervals for you to exhale after the pressure-cooker atmosphere his choreography engenders.  The bleakness of the tale of Crown Prince Rudolf and his teenage mistress Mary Vetsera casts a strange, disturbing atmosphere.

Rudolf was a death-obsessed womanizer addicted to morphine and addled with syphilis. His politically expedient marriage to Princess Stephanie of Belgium left both miserable but his wish to separate was refused by his parents Emperor Franz Josef and Empress Elizabeth which was jaw-dropping hypocrisy as they both had lovers and lived separate lives.

Countess Marie Larisch, a former mistress and one of his mother's ladies-in-waiting, knew Mary Vetsera's mother and, as they both wanted advancement at court, they affected an introduction between the 30 year-old Prince and 17 year-old Mary, who was obsessed with him.  After a secret three month affair, he invited her to the royal hunting lodge of Mayerling.  Mary probably knew why - she left a letter saying they were going together into an uncertain beyond - but the result was two dead bodies and a revolver.

MacMillan's ballet begins and ends with Vetsera's secret, moonlit burial in a monastery cemetery - in real-life a ghoulish affair where her corpse was driven in a carriage to the site, wedged between her two uncles with a broomstick pushed down the back of her coat and a hat covering the bullet wound in the back of her head.  Her uncertain beyond was to be written out of history initially while Rudolf was mourned supposedly dying of a heart rupture.  But eventually their dangerous liaison was revealed...

Thankfully Kenneth MacMillan wasn't in the mood to make Rudolf and Mary tragic victims of a devastating love or a cruel world who refused them happiness as in the film versions of the story; all the characters in his ballet are presented with a clear-eyed realism which makes it hard to sympathize with them but you remain riveted as the lovers pirouette closer to their abyss.

Steven McRae was remarkable as the narcissistic Rudolf, seeming to dance at times to crazed music playing in his own head, emanating an icy disdain for all around him seemingly not connecting with anyone, you suspect that for McRae's Rudolf even Vetsera was simply a means to an end.

Akane Takada danced the role of Mary and did so with a technical precision but I never felt any particular heat from her, the last time I saw it Lauren Cuthbertson danced the role and had been violently passionate.  Meaghan Grace Hinkis was a suitably scared Princess Stephanie and there was the usual very good work from Kristen McNally as the Empress Elizabeth and Laura Morera as the scheming Countess Marie Larisch. 

It's a ballet where the best roles are the women's but Luca Acri was very good as Bratfisch, Rudolf's coach-driver, who has a great solo in the tavern scene which he repeats for the doomed couple in the final scene but falters and stops when he realizes nothing can distract them from their deadly solipsism.

The revival is again staged by Christopher Saunders, Grant Coyle and Karl Burnett and the late Nicholas Georgiades set designs are still wonderfully evocative. However it's the presence of MacMillan that pervades the whole production, for both his artistic and choreographic brilliance and the sadder thought that it was during a 1992 revival of MAYERLING that he collapsed and died alone backstage at Covent Garden from a heart attack.