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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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

Nominees:

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

STEVEN McRAE (Manon) / BRYN TERFEL (Tosca)

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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)

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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)

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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')

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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)

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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)

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

Nominees:

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

KENNETH McMILLAN (Manon) and (Romeo & Juliet)

DVD/150: TESTAMENT OF YOUTH (Moira Armstrong, 1979, tv)

Winner of 5 BAFTAs including Best Drama Series and Best Actress for Cheryl Campbell, TESTAMENT OF YOUTH holds up well after 40 years. resonating more than the 2014 screen version.

It was brought to the screen mostly by women: director Moira Armstrong, writer Elaine Morgan, and script editor Betty Willingale.

Based on her 1933 autobiography, Vera Brittain was aged 20 in 1913, living in Buxton with middle-class parents and devoted to her 18 year-old brother Edward.  Against her parents' wishes, she applied for and received a scholarship to study English at Oxford.

After meeting Edward's close friends - Roland Leighton, Victor Richardson and Geoffrey Thurlow - Vera and Roland's friendship led to an engagement, but World War I intervened.

The friends all enlisted and Vera became a nurse but by 1918, Roland, Geoffrey, Victor and Edward had all been killed.

Cheryl Campbell's Vera is still lustrous, loving, devastated, stoic, numb...

Shelf or charity shop?  This is a keeper, a testament to the futility of war and the pain of grief.  Apart from Cheryl Campbell. there are also fine performances from Emrys James and Jane Wenham as the fussy and over-protective Mr and Mrs Brittain and Rosalie Crutchley as the stern Oxford Principal Emily Penrose.

THE RED SHOES at Sadler's Wells - Dancing Over the Edge...

Three years on, Matthew Bourne's THE RED SHOES is still a masterclass in dance story-telling at Sadler's Wells. It was particularly great to see again after what I felt was an under-par ROMEO & JULIET this year. 

This was my third time seeing Bourne's Olivier Award-winning ballet and, while I have never been a particular fan of the Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger film, I love this version of it; not even two hours long it rattles through the plot with no pause to the shattering climax.  If I do have a criticism, it's that in his rush to tell the story, Bourne has skated over the internal relationships between ballerina Victoria Page and the men in her life: Svengali-ish impresario Boris Lermontov and composer Julian Craster.  Lermontov hovers scowling in the background and as soon as Victoria and Julian throw in their lot together they seem to be splitting up.  It all still works but it would be good to have just a little more depth.

After seeing her dance at a private party, imperious impresario Lermontov gives Victoria Page an audition for his ballet company which wins her a place in the ensemble.  When his star ballerina Irina is injured onstage, Lermontov gives Victoria the lead role in a new ballet THE RED SHOES which has music by composer Julian Craster.  Victoria is a huge success in the title role of a young girl who after donning a pair of magical red ballet shoes dances herself to death, but Lermontov loses her affections to Craster and, when the composer is sacked by Lermontov, Victoria leaves the company.  But when her and Craster's relationship founders, she returns fatefully to The Red Shoes...

What struck me again was the wonderful range of dance that Bourne includes - from classical ballet to post-war contemporary, from stiff social dancing to madcap party dances, from showgirl parading to Egyptian sand-dances.  The action is fluid and truly cinematic helped immeasurably by Lez Brotherston's wonderful settings and costumes and Paule Constable providing lush lighting.

Unlike in other Bourne productions, he doesn't flood the stage with business for his ensemble and minor characters - yes there are minor characters such as the two ballet stars and the choreographer - but they are integrated into the whole without their 'business' holding up the plot.  Bernard Herrmann's glorious film music is made into a whole new score by longtime Bourne collaborator Terry Davies.

For the third time we saw the magnificent Cordelia Braithwaite as Victoria; spiky and physical in ROMEO & JULIET earlier this year. here she was vibrant and sensual as Victoria and a wonderful showcase for her unerring ability as an actress as well as a dancer.  Adam Cooper played Lermontov and it was good to finally see this most iconic of dancers - he danced the role of The Swan in the very first production of Bourne's SWAN LAKE - and although the character is given nothing particularly taxing to do on stage, he did it with a great command and charisma.

The role of Julian was played by another favourite, Dominic North who created the role of Bourne's EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, and again brought great warmth and charisma to the part.  Two other Bourne veterans featured: Michela Meazza was at her diva-ish best as the Ballerina whose injury gives Victoria her chance, and Glenn Graham was fine as the choreographer and lead tempter in THE RED SHOES ballet.  Jackson Finch made a very convincing star dancer in Lermontov's company.

What a pleasure to be able to see this again... c'mon Matthew, release a dvd!