The 13th ANNUAL CHRISSIES - I liked 'em, I really liked 'em

The Chrissies are now in their 13th year...  I don't think 2019 was the most spectacular year in theatre-going it must be said but all worthy winners...

BEST DRAMA (Original/Revival) - A GERMAN LIFE - Christopher Hampton  
(Bridge Theatre)

Nominees:

HARRY POTTER AND THE CURIOUS CHILD (Palace) / NINE NIGHT (Trafslgar Studios) / THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE (Dorfman, NT) / PRESENT LAUGHTER (Old Vic)

=

BEST MUSICAL (Original/Revival) - GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY
  - Bob Dylan / Conor McPherson (Gielgud Theatre)

 Nominees:

BLUES IN THE NIGHT (Kiln) / BRIDGES OF MADICON COUNTY (Menier) / 

 COME FROM AWAY (Phoenix) / FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (Playhouse)

=

BEST CLASSICAL PRODUCTION - GISELLE (Sadler's Wells)

 

 

 Nominees:

MANON (Covent Garden) / THE RED SHOES (Sadler's Wells) /
ROMEO AND JULIET (Covent Garden) / THE SLEEPING BEAUTY (Covent Garden)

=

BEST ACTOR (Drama) - ANDREW SCOTT - Present Laughter (Old Vic)

 

Nominees:

ROGER ALLAM (Rutherford & Son) / JONATHAN HYDE (Gently Down The Stream) /
ALEX JENNINGS (Hansard) / DENIS O'HARE (Tartuffe The Imposter)

=

BEST ACTRESS (Drama) - MAGGIE SMITH - A German Life (Bridge Theatre)

Nominees:

LINDSAY DUNCAN (Hansard) / NATASHA GORDON (Nine Night) / 
 JUSTINE MITCHELL (Rutherford & Son) / MARTHA PLIMPTON (Sweat)

= 

BEST ACTOR (Musical) - ANDY NYMAN - Fiddler On The Roof (Playhouse)

 
Nominees:

ARTHUR DARVILL (Sweet Charity) / ALEXANDER HANSON (Follies) / 

DONALD SAGE MACKAY (Girl From The North Country) / LAYTON WILLIAMS (Everybody's Talking About Jamie)

=

BEST ACTRESS (Musical) - JENNA RUSSELL - The Bridges of Madison County (Menier)

Nominees:

CHRISSIE BHIMA (Once On This Island) / KATIE BRAYBEN (Girl From The North Country) / SHARON D CLARKE (Blues In The Night) / JOANNA RIDING (Follies)

=

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Drama) - JONATHAN CASE - Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (Palace)

 

 Nominees:

JOE ARMSTRONG (Rutherford & Son) / JOSHUA HILL (Present Laughter) /

JUSTIN SALINGER (The Ocean at The End Of The Lane) / LUKE THALLON (Present Laughter)

=

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (Drama) - SOPHIE THOMPSON - Present Laughter (Old Vic)

 Nominees:

MICHELLE GREENIDGE (Nine Night) / DOROTHEA MYER-BENNETT (While The Sun Shines) / INDIRA VARMA (Present Laughter) / ANJANA VASAN (Rutherford & Son)

=

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Musical) - DALE RAPLEY - The Bridges of Madison County (Menier)

 Nominees:

PETER FORBES (Follies) / ROY HAYLOCK (Everybody's Talking About Jamie) / 

ROBERT HANDS (Come From Away) / JACK McBRAYER (Waitress)

=

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (Musical) - RACHEL JOHN - Girl From The North Country (Gielgud)

 

Nominees:

REBECCA McKINNIS (Everybody's Talking About Jamie) / CLAIRE MOORE (Follies) / 

GLORIA OBIYANYO (Girl from The North Country) / RACHEL TUCKER (Come From Away)

=

BEST CLASSICAL MALE - VITTORIO GRIGÓLO - Tosca (Covent Garden)

Nominees:

ADAM COOPER (The Red Shoes) / HERMAN COMEJO (Trio ConcertDance) / 

STEVEN McRAE (Manon) / BRYN TERFEL (Tosca)

=

BEST CLASSICAL FEMALE - STINA QUAGEBEUR - Giselle (Sadler's Wells)

Nominees:

CORDELIA BRAITHWAITE (The Red Shoes) and (Romeo & Juliet) / 

ALESSANDRA FERRI (Trio ConcertDance) / ERINA TAKAHASHI (Giselle)

=

BEST DIRECTOR - MATTHEW WARCHUS - Present Laughter (Old Vic)

Nominees:

JONATHAN KENT (A German Life) / CONOR McPHERSON (Girl From The North Country)  / JOHN TIFFANY (Harry Potter and The Cursed Child) / ROY ALEXANDER WEISE (Nine Night)

=

BEST DESIGNER - ROBERT JONES - Fiddler On The Roof (Playhouse)

 

Nominees: 

LEZ BROTHERSTON (The Red Shoes) / ANNA FLEISCHLE (A German Life) / 

CHRISTINE JONES (Harry Potter and The Cursed Child) / TAKIS (Ain't Misbehavin')

=

BEST LIGHTING - MARK HENDERSON - Giselle (Sadler's Wells)

 Nominees:

NEIL AUSTIN (Harry Potter and The Cursed Child) / JON CLARK (A German Life) / 

PAULE CONSTABLE (Romeo + Juliet) / TIM LUTKIN (Fiddler On The Roof)

=

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY (Musical) - OTI MABUSE - Ain't Misbehavin' (Southwark Playhouse)

Nominees:

MATT COLE / JEROME ROBBINS (Fiddler On The Roof) / STEVEN HOGGETT (Harry Potter and The Curious Child) / LEE PROUD (Once On This Island) / SAM SPENCER-LANE (Maggie May)

=

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY (Classical) - AKRAM KHAN - Giselle (Sadler's Wells)

Nominees:

MATTHEW BOURNE (The Red Shoes) and (Romeo & Juliet) / 

KENNETH McMILLAN (Manon) and (Romeo & Juliet)

GISELLE at Sadler's Wells - Akram Khan takes Giselle into the dark...

Sometimes you see a production that is so unique, it renders it difficult to put into words exactly what it was you witnessed.  Akram Khan's individual take on GISELLE is such a work.

Commissioned in 2016 by Tamara Rojo for the English National Ballet, Khan's first full-length ballet has toured the country and overseas leaving a trail of superlatives, standing ovations and awards in it's wake.  Stripped of it's usual first act bucolic setting and the second act's gloomy forest grave worthy of Casper David Friedrich, what emerges is a raw, physical interpretation which is short on romanticism but packed with otherworldly tension.

GISELLE was an immediate success when it was first staged in 1841 and has been constantly staged ever since, usually utilizing the choreography of Marius Petipa who staged it for the Russian Imperial Ballet at the end of the 19th Century.  The Royal Ballet's production by Peter Wright has stayed in the repertoire since 1985 and is a vision of romantic tutus and princely doublets.  Khan's is very different.

Instead of bouncy, smiley villagers we are presented with glum, faceless workers pushing against a giant wall with a palpable mournful air, Giselle appears from amongst them and dances with Albrecht who is dressed as one of the workers.  The wall rises to reveal the rich people who live on the other side - thank God the programme had a synopsis as none of this was immediately discernible through the production.  Khan's proletariat are former migrant workers in a clothes factory owned by the rich who have closed it down and the migrants live a hand-to-mouth existence.

As the migrants entertain the rich, Hilarion - who loves our heroine  in vain - provokes a fight with Albrecht which leads to the exposing of the latter as one of the rich slumming it for love of Giselle.  He is assimilated back into the rich tribe - nicely done by him donning a bowler hat - and they retreat back to their privileged life behind the wall.  The outcasts close in on Giselle and disperse leaving her dead.

The second act finds us not in the usual forest graveyard but into the desolate, empty factory where Albrecht remonstrates with the uncaring rich; when they withdraw leaving him to his sorrow he is visited by The Wills, the ghosts of dead factory girls, who revenge themselves on the living.  They summon Giselle to join their ranks after first killing the hapless Hilarion.

Myrtha, the Queen of the Wills chases Albrecht off so they can recruit Giselle into their ghostly ranks but he returns to see his lost love; Giselle forgives Albrecht and protects him against the threats of The Wills but she leaves with them, backing into the darkness forever.  Albrecht is on the immigrants' side of the wall, broken.

It's a truly extraordinary work which utilizes a hard-edged score and soundscape by Vincenzo Lamagna which is based on Adolphe Adam's original GISELLE score but constantly keeps you unsettled and on edge.  Khan's work fully utilizes Tim Yip's design and eerie costumes and Mark Henderson's stark lighting either floods the stage with white light or helps you spot lurking figures in the gloom.

There were remarkably vibrant performances from Erina Takahashi as Giselle who was not the usual ethereal wisp of a character but a physically strong presence on stage and she was matched by the rather wonderful Stina Quagebeur as the statuesque, terrifying Myrtha who in one unforgettable image drags the dead Giselle behind her.  I particularly liked how Khan has the ghostly Wills using traditional ballet pointwork for their scenes - acknowledging the original productions but making them seem eerily not of this earth.  The hapless men were well played by Joseph Caley and Ken Saruhashi as Albrecht and Hilarion.  The ensemble are actually the real stars of the show, strong and silent, changing on a dime from slow hypnotic movements to pelting around the stage at full speed.

By setting his GISELLE in a non-specific place or time, Akram Khan's production is now current, mysterious and timeless.  See it if you can and be haunted by Akram Khan's genius.