BLUES IN THE NIGHT at The Kiln / ONCE ON THIS ISLAND at Southwark Playhouse - Sharon Revisited...

Who is the hardest working woman in show biz?  Step up Sharon D Clarke.  Fresh from her award-winning performance in CAROLINE, OR CHANGE onstage and her wide television exposure in DOCTOR WHO last year, she has played Linda Loman in Marianne Elliott's revival of DEATH OF A SALESMAN at the Young Vic which later this year will transfer to the Piccadilly Theatre - but in between that she has found time to light up the mean streets of Kilburn in a revival of the 1980 compilation musical BLUES IN THE NIGHT.

As it's Sharon, it's a role she is revisiting!  Susie McKenna - the revival's director and Sharon's partner - staged a short run of the show in 2014 and has looked for an opportunity to get it back onstage so when the recently revamped Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn - now renamed the teeth-grindingly pretentious The Kiln - made McKenna an associate director, the chance appeared to get Sheldon Epps' musical back before an audience, it's first London appearance in 30 years.

Now Constant Reader, you will remember that in my ongoing blog series of my '50 Favourite Musicals', BLUES IN THE NIGHT made it in at #47.  Following on from similar jazz and blues revue-style shows like BUBBLING BROWN SUGAR, AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' and ONE MO' TIME, with BLUES IN THE NIGHT creator Sheldon Epps changed the format from a night-club setting to a run-down hotel so the songs play more as a musical than an out-front recreation of a cabaret show.  Three women: an ingenue, a weary sophisticate and an older touring blues singer all interact with a man who seems to connect them through classic songs written by Bessie Smith, Alberta Hunter, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Ida Cox and Harold Arlen among others.

It's a simple format that works because of the exhilarating song choices and having a tightly-focused quartet and I still remember the pure pleasure I got from the show when I saw it at the Piccadilly Theatre in 1988.  What I didn't know back then was that the marvellous US actress Carol Woods who played The Lady of The Road was understudied by a 22 year-old performer called Sharon D Clarke!  How spooky is that?

An atmospheric live cast recording immortalized the excellent original Donmar Warehouse cast of of Clarke Peters, Woods, Maria Friedman and Debby Bishop and their sizzling renditions have kept the show alive for me down the years so it was interesting to see it afresh.  I cannot say McKenna's production completely blew me away but it was good to see it again - and any chance to see Sharon D Clarke turning it out is a welcome one.

Unsurprisingly it was very much her show, and the combined talents of Clive Rowe, Debbie Kurup and Gemma Sutton all seemed a bit at sea with her galvanizing personality.  It must be a daunting prospect to share the stage with such a powerful performer and the others didn't really seem willing to take it on.  Indeed Rowe and Kurup tended to over-sell their numbers while Gemma Sutton occasionally saw fit to just turn up the volume a little too much.  They all had moments to shine which they certainly seized but seemed to retreat when Sharon strode forward to belt out a number; although I must say - given her dominance of the piece - it was a disappointment that they have dropped the character's version of "Take Me For A Buggy Ride".  They did all come into their own, especially in the group numbers, particularly thrilling in Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer's mighty title song.

Sharon had two torch solos in each act which were natural high points, "Lover Man" and "Wasted Life Blues" - she put them over so strongly they were still travelling when they hit the back wall!  The quartet were also joined by two male dancers who lurked at the back of the set and stepped forward occasionally to show off their lithesome steps - there was again a slightly surprising moment when they kissed during one of the numbers which drew a few quiet gasps from the Kilburn cognoscenti.

I did like Robert Jones' atmospheric hotel set with it's multi-level platforms representing the women's rooms and Neil Austin's equally mood-setting lighting.  The onstage band were in tearing form under pianist MD Mark Dickman, setting perfect musical backgrounds to the tales of love and loneliness as sung by the cast.   All in all, I really enjoyed singing the show again - and who could possibly argue when Sharon's character says "Honey I ain't gettin' older...  I'm gettin' better!"  Say amen somebody.

Another show that has Sharon D Clarke's dabs all over it is the 1990 Broadway musical ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty.  Our Sharon appeared in the original UK production in 1994 and was nominated for an Olivier Award for playing the earth goddess Asaka and she played the role again in 2009 in a short tour than culminated in a run at Hackney Empire. I had never seen it before so when I saw it popping up at the Southwark Playhouse as part of the The British Theatre Academy's summer programme of productions for amateur youth performers, I jumped.

The lyrics are by Lynn Ahrens (who also wrote the book) with music by Stephen Flaherty, the couple behind the wonderful score for RAGTIME and the musical won the Olivier for Best New Musical in 1994 and last year won a Tony for Best Musical Revival on Broadway.  The show is only 85 minutes long and, on the basis of the production directed and choreographed by Lee Proud at Southwark Playhouse, feels that it's just the right length for such a wispy fantasy but also maddeningly short so you never fully invest in the characters.

Based on a book by Trinidadian writer Rosa Guy, it tells of an island people in the French Antillies whose lives are interrupted by tropical storms and the whims of the four gods of the islands.  After a particularly devastating storm, a young orphaned girl Ti Moune is found hiding in a tree and adopted by an older couple, Euralie and Ton Ton.  The island is divided between the descendants of the original darker islanders and the fairer-skinned descendants of French planters and Ti Moune grows up wondering what the rich people are like.

Her life changes when she discovers the crashed car of Daniel Beauxhomme, the badly-injured son of a wealthy planter family.  Ti Moune falls for him and nurses him slowly back to health but when Papa Ge, the demon of death, arrives to take Daniel, Ti Moune offers to exchange her life for his.  The demon is taken aback by her love but threatens to return one day to claim his prize.

Daniel is taken back to his mansion but Ti Moune is determined to follow him and sets off helped by the guiding presence of Asaka the goddess of the earth.  Ti Moune is reunited with Daniel who is still recovering but is captivated by her innocence and love, however he is betrothed to the haughty Andrea Devereaux who gleefully informs Ti Moune that they are to be married soon.  Ti Moune is thrown into despair, just as the demon Papa Ge appears, determined to have one of their lives...

As you can see there is a lot to pack in to it's 85 minutes running time but when it ended it felt not enough time had been invested in any character, it was all very odd.  Director/choreographer Lee Proud however kept the action flowing with the company rushing along the central playing area and as you are never too far from a song, there is also plenty of energetic and exciting choreography which is punched over by the young company.

The non-professional cast certainly put their all into it - maybe too much as quite a few of them were frequently inaudible including Jonathan Chen as the earth goddess Asaka - Sharon D Clarke's role - who has the big production number "Mother Will Provide" but sadly the lyrics were lost in an attempt to just belt it out.  There were however some delightful performances which would grace any West End production: Aviva Tulley as the goddess of love Erzule was well partnered by Martin Cush's menacing demon of death Papa Ge, while Marie-Anna Caufour was a warmly sympathetic mother Euralie.

The best performance came from Chrissie Bhima as an impassioned and loving Ti Moune: she had an exceptional singing voice and while the character might have been a bit milque-toast she was never less than charismatic.  Sam Tutty as Daniel was hardly her match but he sang his big number "Some Girls" well and with feeling.

Ahrens and Flaherty's lovely Calypso-flavoured score sounded great and certainly deserves further exploring; it was well played by Chris Ma's six-piece band and I am happy to report that despite the occasional misfire, it was a delight to see the cast and the show itself.  The British Theatre Academy offers young amateur performers the chance to train and develop alongside professionals for the Academy's summer season of four or five productions.  It's a great idea and hopefully some of the ONCE ON THIS ISLAND cast will pursue a career in performing.  Who knows... there might just be a future Sharon D Clark in there....

50 Favourite Musicals: 17: THE RINK (1984) (John Kander / Fred Ebb)

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: 1984, Martin Beck Theatre, NY

First seen by me: 1987, Forum,Wythenshawe

Productions seen: three

Score: John Kander / Fred Ebb
Book: Terrence McNally

Plot:  Anna Antonelli has finally sold the Coney Island roller rink that she used to run with her volatile Italian-American husband, wanting rid of all the unhappy memories it holds.  But just as the wrecking crew arrive to start demolishing the rink, Anna's estranged daughter Angel appears after fifteen years on the road, wanting to come back to the only home she knows... let battle commence!

Five memorable numbers: COLOURED LIGHTS, CHIEF COOK AND BOTTLE WASHER, THE APPLE DOESN'T FALL, WALLFLOWER,  AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

In 1984, THE RINK opened on Broadway with the double-threat casting of Chita Rivera and Liza Minnelli as the estranged mother and daughter Anna and Angel.  Despite them and a score that is pure Kander & Ebb, the reviews were iffy and it lasted six months with Minnelli leaving before the end to check into rehab, her replacement was none other than Stockard Channing.  Kander and Ebb had originally wanted it to be a smaller show: Off-Broadway with a different book and director.  But when their good friend Liza expressed an interest, the investment money poured in, a new director was brought on board and Terence McNally was drafted in to re-write the book.  Despite it all, THE RINK won Chita Rivera both the Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Actress in A Musical.

In 1987 I went up to Manchester to see the UK Premiere at Paul Kerryson's northern musical powerhouse The Forum Theatre in Wythenshawe starring the wonderful pairing of Josephine Blake and Diane Langton.  They had whetted my appetite by singing songs from THE RINK in the Kander & Ebb tribute show HOW LUCKY CAN YOU GET! in 1985 so I could not let that opportunity pass - little did I know they were to transfer to London's Cambridge Theatre the following year.  But, as I got in to see them in their shared dressing-room after, I'm glad I made the effort.  Sadly history repeated itself when, despite their explosive performances and the energetic performances by the male chorus of six, the show received so-so reviews and it closed after only a month despite the goodwill of all who saw it and a rallying campaign by Jo Blake who suspected double-dealing from the show's management.  It was all very sad but the London cast recording captures some of their unique performances.  A while after it closed, there was a concert version staged at Her Majesty's with Blake again but with Langton's understudy Caroline O'Connor playing Angel - and last year O'Connor starred in the Southwark Playhouse revival playing Anna with Gemma Sutton as Angel.  It was great to see again but it proved that if you are going to stage it, you really need two larger-than-life performers whose voices still are travelling when they smack the back wall.  Where are the likes of them these days?

Luckily THE RINK got a slot on the Olivier Awards show before it opened so sit back and experience the take-no-prisoners belting vocals of Josephine Blake and Diane Langton with Michael Gyngell, Richard Bodkin, Peter Edbrook, James Gavin, Gareth Snook and Steve Hervieu as the Wreckers - Go Girls!

FOLLIES at the Olivier, National Theatre - We're still here...

At the start of FOLLIES, the aged Broadway producer Dimitri Weismann welcomes his guests with "Welcome to our first - and last - reunion"... well Dimitri, we all had such a great time in 2017 that another one is being thrown on the Olivier stage.

Dominic Cooke's Olivier award-winning production was the theatrical sensation of 2017, and in my original blog I found it "...nigh-on perfect; an American classic given the production it deserves on our leading stage." (click on the link to read my 2017 blog) and, by the end of it's run, I had seen it four times, plus when it was screened to cinemas as part of NT Live.

And now it returns in a revival with some key cast changes: Joanna Riding and Alexander Hanson are now playing Sally Durant Plummer and Benjamin Stone while Harry Hepple, Ian McIntosh, Gemma Sutton and Christine Tucker play the ghosts of younger Buddy, Ben, Sally and Phyllis; the ex-Weismann Girls now feature Claire Moore belting out "Broadway Baby" while Heidi Schiller is being shared between two 1980s opera divas: Felicity Lott until April then taken over by the production's original star Josephine Barstow.

The interesting thing was to see how the show has been tweaked for the new cast and also to bring out some hitherto hidden moments.  The ghosts of the showgirls and the younger principals seem to be interacting with their older selves more pointedly, and in Joanna Riding's "Losing My Mind" and Alex Hanson's "Live Laugh Love" there are noticeable changes to the originals.  All in all, there are enough new touches to warrant another visit - needless to say I was clapping like a mad thing at the curtain call.

I had been most worried by the casting of Joanna Riding as Sally as Imelda Staunton had been so extraordinary in the role in the production's first incarnation, making Sally's mental breakdown shockingly real and painful.  Joanna Riding started slow, not having Staunton's immediate galvanizing onstage wattage, and played in a softer style.  To be honest, I have found her at times to be an anonymous actress; she has given performances I enjoyed while watching - THE PAJAMA GAME and a concert performance of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (with FOLLIES co-star Janie Dee) - but nothing really stays in the mind.  However by the time, she hit her big moment "Losing My Mind" she gave an intriguing interpretation which I found oddly riveting.  Imelda Staunton sang it with an unbearable painful desolation but Riding, with some extra business swallowing a handful of pills, ends the number almost catatonic in isolation and on the last note pulling her blonde wig off as if to reveal the reality behind the artifice of her Harlow-esque costume.  She also played Sally's unrelenting despair in the final scene well so I guess she got there in the end.  I must admit I also liked her 'look' - like a suburban Dusty Springfield.

She was matched in a more subdued tone by Alexander Hanson as Ben Stone - and how nice it must be for both of them to have standing ovations and wild applause at their curtain call after their last show together, the Lloyd Webber flop STEPHEN WARD.  Philip Quast was a great physical presence on stage as Ben, singing the songs with a bruised masculinity which fitted his role as a jaded former-politician so his breakdown at the end was all the more affecting; here Hanson plays him with an exhausted ruefulness so Ben's final breakdown suggests more of a relief than anything else, I did enjoy his performance however.  There is also a change to his faltering in "Live Laugh Love" - whereas Philip Quast brought the number to a standstill while the chorus line kept looking around, attempting to feed him his next line or trying to kick-start the number, Hanson goes straight into the breakdown.

It's interesting to see how Janie Dee and Peter Forbes have recalibrated their performances to fit the playing styles of their two new co-stars; there is always the possibility that Janie Dee will just go large as the bitchy Phyllis but she keeps her character's pain grounded in frustrated anger.  Forbes' performance has grown on me now and his Buddy is also paired down to fit Riding's playing style.  The performances of Gemma Sutton, Christine Tucker, Ian McIntosh and the always-watchable Harry Hepple as the shadows of the leads' younger selves were all very good.

13 years ago I saw Claire Moore give a psychologically bruised performance as Sally in the unique experience which was the Landor Theatre's above-a-pub production of FOLLIES so it was nice to see her pop up here as Hattie, using her 1980s West End belt voice to punch across "Broadway Baby" to a huge cheer.

The role of Heidi Schiller, the oldest Weismann 'girl' at the reunion is played - and more importantly - sung by Dame Felicity Lott, who is playing the role until the production's original Heidi, Dame Josephine Barstow, again joins the show in April.  The soaring "One More Kiss", sung by Heidi and her younger self is one of my favourites and again it hit home for me - Young Heidi is once again wonderfully sung by Alison Langer - but Lott just missed out on the majesty that the richer-voiced Barstow brought to the song.  The returning star-turns were as good as before - and I even liked Tracie Bennett as Carlotta now she appears to have toned down the Judy Garlandisms.

Bill Deamer's choreography still sparkles with inventiveness and out-front flash, while Paule Constable and Vicki Mortimer's lighting and design still provide the perfect setting for Dominic Cooke's wonderful production.  We just had the one slip-up: during the "Loveland" number - where the chorus girls raise their glittering trains to spell out L-O-V-E-L-A-ND - the last one had her train fixed on her costume the wrong way round so we got L-O-V-E-L-A.... instead!

But once again what Dominic Cooke, his crew and cast have done more than anything else is to fill the National's Olivier stage with the sheer glory that is FOLLIES by treating James Goldman's book and Stephen Sondheim's score with the respect and love it deserves.  How wonderful it must be for people to see this version of FOLLIES as their introduction to the show.

FOLLIES is running until 11th May - if you didn't see it last time BOOK NOW... if you saw it last time STILL BOOK NOW!

Hats off... here they come...those Beautiful Girls...

THE RINK at Southwark Playhouse - rolling back the years...

 When I heard that Southwark Playhouse were going to stage Kander & Ebb's musical THE RINK I was excited tempered with worry... always the way when a favourite show is being revived.

In 1984, THE RINK premiered on Broadway with the killer-diller casting of Chita Rivera and Liza Minnelli as estranged mother and daughter Anna and Angel Antonelli, fighting over the imminent demolition of their former home, a roller-skating rink on a now-derelict boardwalk.  Anna is glad to finally be rid of the place as it is filled with memories of her unhappy married life and later struggles as a lone parent, while for Angel it's the only home she has ever known after years of unfulfilled searching in California.  When she discovers Anna forged her signature on the sale contract, Angel declares war...

Despite the star headliners and a score that is classic Kander & Ebb, the critics were unimpressed and it lasted six months with Liza leaving before the end to check into rehab, Stockard Channing replacing her for the last few weeks.  In retrospect, maybe that was the way it should have been all along: Kander and Ebb had wanted it originally as an off-Broadway show with a different book and director, their friend Liza expressed an interest and the investment money poured in, a new director was brought on board and Terence McNally was asked to write a new book.  Although judged a failure it did however win Chita Rivera both the Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Actress in A Musical.

Jump forward three years and I am on a train up to Manchester to see the British Premiere at Paul Kerryson's northern musical powerhouse The Forum Theatre in Wythenshawe starring the equally magnificent musical talents of Josephine Blake and Diane Langton.  They had whetted my appetite by singing some of the songs in the Kander & Ebb tribute show HOW LUCKY CAN YOU GET! that I couldn't let the opportunity pass.... little did I know they were to transfer to London's Cambridge Theatre.  But, as I got in to see them in their shared dressing-room after, I'm glad I did!

But history repeated itself: despite their explosive performances and the energetic performances by the male chorus of six, the show received cool reviews from the critics and the show closed after a month despite the goodwill of all who saw it and a rallying campaign by Jo Blake who told me she suspected double-dealing from the show's management.  It was all very sad but their dynamic production lives on with the cast recording which captures some of their two unique performances.

But to the Southwark playhouse and a new audience... and a new text!  There were a few new lines, an altered finale and the biggest surprise was that the show's opening solo for Angel COLOURED LIGHTS now closes the first act rather than a short reprise; I am not totally sure it worked.  The show now starts with the book rather with one of Kander & Ebb's signature solo numbers to whisk you into the score straightaway.

Director Adam Lenson's production however moved along like the demolition men on their roller-skates - maybe a bit too briskly at times as several of the numbers were cut-off before the end of the song which frustrated the audience - alright, me - in giving the performers their due.

The pairing of Caroline O'Connor and Gemma Sutton worked well, although both oddly seemed to have dodgy moments with demanding numbers in the second act - Anna's MRS A and Angel's ALL THE CHILDREN IN A ROW - and in the first section of the play O'Connor sometimes over-sold her line-readings - she seemed to be channelling Popeye - but she calmed down as the show went on. No such worries with Gemma Sutton whose Angel was nicely poker-faced and combative.

The six supporting actors who play the demolition men also portray all the men - and sometimes women - in Anna and Angel's flashbacks and I particularly liked Ross Dawes for his spectacular spins in the title number and Ben Redfern's Lenny, quietly loving Anna from afar.  The way the auditorium has been configured for this production has cut down on the space for the chaps to do their skating in the title number but Fabian Aloise's choreography managed to still make an impact.

THE RINK is running until June 23rd and if you have never seen it before I urge you to get down to Southwark Playhouse and experience John Kander and Fred Ebb's wonderful Broadway score. My memories of Jo and Di are still intact but it was great to experience it all over again... and congratulate myself on my taste in musicals!

GYPSY - now at the Savoy

Before my birthday trip to Paris - oh yes Constant Reader, I have been to Paris - I had the fabulous chance to see Jonathan Kent's revival of the classic Broadway musical GYPSY which we saw last year at Chichester.  It has now transferred to the Savoy Theatre so more people can experience the thrill of seeing Imelda Staunton's magnificent performance as archetypal stage mother Mama Rose.

I blogged about the show last year (re-read it here) but somehow Imelda's already great performance has got even better!  Scorching the silver Savoy paintwork with her act-closing solos of EVERYTHING'S COMING UP ROSES and ROSE'S TURN, Imelda seems to have dug down into Rose's character and, while still the driven and argumentative woman blind to her children's real needs, she also reveals the inner Rose - a woman damaged by her own absent mother and who has become emotionally shellacked to deflect any more hurt.  As Herbie rightfully describes her, she is "a frontier woman without a frontier". 

One of the many strengths of GYPSY is it's magnificent book by Arthur Laurents which provides the jumping off point for the actresses playing Rose and Louise but without the emotional truth of director Jonathan Kent and Imelda Staunton, the characters can sometimes come across as unlikeable.

But not here, Staunton's Rose and Lara Pulver's Louise are vibrantly human and their final confrontation scene is a titanic clash that is all too painful.  Lara Pulver is quite marvellous as the neglected Louise, all too aware of her lack of talent but who parlays that into becoming her own special creation Gypsy Rose Lee, the classy burlesque queen.

Kevin Whateley has vanished during the move from Chichester to the Savoy and Herbie is now played by Peter Davidson in a fairly anonymous performance which is the one disappointment of the production.

And of course there is the glorious score by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim which, 56 years on, sounds as fresh and magnificent as ever, especially under the music direction and new orchestration of Nicholas Skilbeck.

One of the score's great showstoppers did just that!  Mazeppa, Electra and Tessie Tura, the frowzy, hard-bitten strippers in a seedy Wichita burlesque theatre, stop their squabbling to teach Louise the most important rule of stripping YOU GOTTA GET A GIMMICK and Louise Gold, Julie Legrand and Anita Louise Combe rightfully earned a huge ovation.  Louise Gold is also covering the role of Mama Rose... now *that* would be something to see.

A special mention must go to Gemma Sutton's disgruntled Baby June and Dan Burton's Tulsa who dances the heck out of ALL I NEED IS THE GIRL.

It has just been announced that the production's run is being extended to Nov 28th - but why wait?  Book now!

Imelda's Turn: GYPSY at Chichester

This year Chichester Festival Theatre has given us very fine revivals of AMADEUS and GUYS AND DOLLS but they have topped even these with Jonathan Kent's production of the Jule Styne & Stephen Sondheim classic GYPSY, in no small part due to Imelda Staunton's stunning performance as Mama Rose.

Soon after their previous Chichester collaboration SWEENEY TODD, rumours started that Kent and Staunton would take on GYPSY which sent me into an utter to-do... could it really happen?  There has been the occasional regional production or tour but no London production for 40 years.

Yes Constant Reader, you read that correctly, 40 years.  Any number of possible Mama Roses have come and gone - whither Julia McKenzie?  There was talk that Sam Mendes' production starring Bernadette Peters would come in marking her London acting debut but it never materialised probably due to the fact that it had a troubled run on Broadway although Peters scored a personal triumph as Rose.

Up until now I had seen 5 Mama Roses: Tyne Daly on Broadway, Lynda Baron in Cheltenham, Bette Midler in the tv movie, Rosalind Russell in the disappointing film version and Patti LuPone again on Broadway.  I had thought I would never see another to match the latter's intensity.  Boy, was I was wrong.

Despite being one of the greatest musicals ever written, there is an imbalance in it as the title character is not the lead.  Arthur Laurents based his script on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee who was still alive at the time which might explain why the character of Louise feels slightly under-written compared to the more dominant role of Mama Rose, the eternal stage mother.  However Louise comes into her own midway through the second act and become a match for her mother towards the end.  This is a difficult ask as Rose is always cast with powerhouse performers in a role that is proven to be one of the biggest in musical theatre.

 

Of the five actresses who have played Rose on Broadway, all have been Tony Award-nominated with Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly and Patti LuPone winning.  In a battle of career-defining roles, Ethel Merman lost to Mary Martin in THE SOUND OF MUSIC while Bernadette Peters lost to HAIRSPRAY's Marissa Jaret Winokur.  Lansbury also won the London Critic's Circle Award for Best Actress, the first time it had been given to a musical actress.

All of which means that any actress that takes on Rose knows she is taking on a huge challenge.  Re-reading my blog after seeing the LuPone production I did say that although powerful, I also was not surprised by anything she did, she gave exactly the performance I was expecting.  Imelda Staunton also gave the performance I expected from her - but she then kept going!

It's a role she inhabits superbly: Rose's tenacious, terrier-like, attack on the world to make one of her daughters a star, the tough-as-nails exterior covering up a child-like vulnerability, it's all there in Imelda's performance.  But there are lovely touches too - her flirtatiousness attack on Herbie when they meet; her dejected capitulation when she realises the act is truly over when it's booked into a burlesque house, her crumbling into broken sobs when hugged by Gypsy at the end.

But truly hair-raising was how Staunton took on the two act-closing solos where any actress playing Rose has to go from 0-to-100 in as many minutes.  When Rose discovers her beloved daughter June has rejected both her and the act by eloping it leads to her switching her ambition to her unprepared daughter Louise by declaring EVERYTHING'S COMING UP ROSES.  Staunton launched into it with a thrilling attack, her Rose so caught up in her vision that at one point after hugging Louise, she then pushes her out of her way.  Her scorching final note was button-holed with her twirling her coat around, on her way to start her burning mission.

Laurents' book moves seamlessly along punctuated by Styne and Sondheim's glorious songs until the final, angry confrontation when Gypsy orders her mother out of her dressing-room and her life.

Alone on an empty stage, Rose finally gives vent to her long-bottled-up rage at all those who have walked out on her with the scorching ROSE'S TURN.  This legendary number - a mental breakdown performed to a bump-and-grind beat - is what the whole show has been building to and any actress playing the role has to be up to it's tricky challenges.  Staunton totally nailed it: the sarcasm, the anger, the despair and the mania that she had hinted at earlier all came together in an all-too-human performance.  Resisting the temptation to chew the scenery, Staunton kept it in check which made it all the more thrilling.

 

Lara Pulver was a delight as the less-talented, emotionally-neglected Louise who morphs into the self-assured, brittle glamour of Gypsy Rose Lee.  She captured Louise's sadness sweetly and her unrequited longing for the dancer Tulsa was also well-played, making it all the more touching when she is the one who is left alone when her sister and Tulsa elope.  All of this made her list of accusations against her mother during their face-off all the more biting.

I was surprised when Kevin Whateley was cast as Herbie but, apart from a dodgy American/Geordie accent, he was quite charming and played his character's permanent exhaustion well, especially in the scene when he is finally broken by Rose's intransigence.  Gemma Sutton also scored too as June, itching to be free of Rose's tyrannical ambition and her little-girl outfits.

One of GYPSY's great set-pieces is YOU GOTTA GET A GIMMICK, performed by the tough-as-nails strippers to an enthralled Louise in a tatty burlesque dressing room, and it was punched over by a great trio of broads: Anita Louise Combe as Tessie Tura, Julie Legrand as Electra and the wonderful Louise Gold as Mazeppa. 

Jonathan Kent's direction was seamless and strong with the main characters all feeling thought-through and 'real' while Anthony Ward's set and costume designs were a constant delight from the gaudy and glamorous vaudeville designs to the low-rent theatrical digs.  The eye-popping and colourful designs for Gypsy's LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU medley were a nice surprise.  Also adding immeasurably to the production's success was Mark Henderson's lighting design.

Stephen Mear's choreography was excitingly energetic and the show also included Jerome Robbins' original and inventive staging of both the 'transition' scene when June and Louise grow up in seconds and the YOU GOTTA GET A GIMMICK number - those moves might be 55 years old but are still great.

The Chichester run finishes this week and it will be the crime of the century if this does not transfer to London - we NEED this show in the West End.
 

Heaven and Earth in East London

Last week we had a theatrical adventure and went east to Dalston to visit the Arcola Theatre for the first time.  What production could lure me to this basement theatre of exposed brick walls and stone floor?  Maybe a metaphysical rumination of man's place in time and space?  A drama about how a woman can stay with a husband who is handy with his fists?  Or just a good old fashioned Broadway show?  Well blimey if it wasn't all three!

I can't say CAROUSEL is one of my favourite musicals but the thought of this big show from the Golden Age of the Broadway musical being staged in a space that at best seats 180 people was one I couldn't pass up.  I have only seen the show once before on stage which was in 1994 when the National Theatre production moved to the Shaftesbury Theatre.  Since then I have seen both the 1956 film musical starring Gordon Macrae and Shirley Jones and Frank Borzage's stylish 1930 film LILIOM which was the original play by Ferenc Molnar that CAROUSEL is based on.

I had been informed that it was a radical re-interpretation but to be honest it was only a re-interpretation in that it was in the afore-mentioned space - there was no radical look at the material, no overhauls of the text - the only twist put on it was that the action was brought forward to the 1930s but to be honest I didn't notice apart from the opening moments where Julie is seen listening to the radio news about Mussolini!

Other than that the story was as usual: Julie Jordan goes to a visiting carnival with her friend Carrie and when Julie sees the Carousel barker Billy Bigelow it's love at first sight.  The jealous Carny proprietor Mrs Mullins sacks Billy when it looks like he returns Julie's affections and Julie too is sacked from her millworking job for staying out late with Billy.

They marry and move in with Julie's cousin Nettie.  Billy cannot find work and starts to hang around with the dodgy Jigger Craigin and a now-pregnant Julie confesses to Carrie that Billy has hit her.  Jigger persuades Billy to rob the mill-owner on his way to deposit his money and they sneak off from the local clambake to do it but the hold-up goes wrong and surrounded by the police, Billy stabs himself.  Julie arrives just before he dies and when he does she can finally tell him she loves him.

Fate however is not done with Billy.  He is ushered into a celestial waiting-room and informed by the Starkeeper that as he didn't do enough good when alive to get beyond the pearly gates but he has the chance to return to earth to help his now-teenage daughter Louise who is feeling confused and lost.  Can Billy make amends?

Richard Rodgers' wide-ranging score delights with such undeniable classics as "Do I Love You" - the culmination of the teasing first scene where lines are sung only to stop, showing the couple's hesitant groping towards revealing their feelings - "Mister Snow", "June Is Bustin' Out All Over", "When The Children Are Asleep", Billy's "Soliloquy" "What's The Use of Wond'rin'" and of course that emotional tripwire "You'll Never Walk Alone".

 

But there is little can be done with Oscar Hammerstein II's book from 1945 which is so of it's time and now looks creaky and simply past it's sell-by date.  It doesn't have to be: characters are drawn well, the character of Billy in particular is three-dimensional in his complexity and you can see how at the end of wartime the thought of the dead being only a heartbeat away was successful but the jaw-droppingly passive character of Julie is unworkable - especially when seen in contrast with the well-drawn supporting character of her friend Carrie.

There is also the squirming problem with the final scene when Julie's confused and lonely daughter asks her mother "Can someone really hit you so hard that you don't feel it at all, that it's almost like a kiss?".  You can deny Political Correctness all you want but those lines just stand out with huge klieg lights illuminating them, no matter how straight-faced the actress playing Louise says them.

As much as I find the show hard to warm to, there is no denying the brio that the company brought to the production.  I liked Richard Kent's slippery Jigger, Joel Montague's lumpy Mr Snow although there was really no reason for him to sing half of "When The Children Are Asleep" in his underpants and Amanda Minihan's redoubtable, full-throated Netty.  There was an odd performance by Valerie Cutko as the lusty widow Mrs Mullins - has she ever been seen in the same room as Justin Bond?  

Gemma Sutton played Julie as well as that book can allow her and she had a lovely voice but it's hard to make the character live when all you have to do is stand with brimming eyes and a noble chin.  Tim Rogers certainly had the swaggering bravado to make an impression as Billy but when he opened his mouth to sing the oddest noise came out, it was almost like he shouted the songs rather than singing them.  The lack of a belt voice was most noticeable in the "Soliloquy" which sang him rather than the other way around.

By far the most eye-catching performance was from Vicki Lee Taylor as the sparky Carrie Pipperidge.  I remember no less an authority than Barbara Cook saying of the two female leads - which she played in two 1950s revivals - that she would rather play Carrie, much more varied and with a definite arch to her character.

Lee Fredericks had certainly thought through his production so it was always busy, always moving forward, although it seemed to stall in the whimsical Starkeeper scenes.  The production was helped by Stewart Charlesworth's inventive designs and Lee Proud certainly didn't let the small playing area cramp his choreographed dances. 

I wonder if I will ever see a production that totally wins me over?