SOUTH PACIFIC at Sadler's Wells - In a land far, far away...

As Lt. Cable sings, you have to be carefully taught.  For many years I had an active disinterest in  Rodgers & Hammerstein. The only show of theirs I had seen on stage was CAROUSEL which I found dreary, and despite seeing the films of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, THE KING AND I and OKLAHOMA!, still I never sought out their work; my baptism in stage musicals coincided with discovering Stephen Sondheim so I kept their perceived excessive sentimentality at bay.  Any liking I had for them was thanks to Barbara Cook, Nancy LaMott or Bernadette Peters cds. But all that changed in 2010 on a trip to New York when I saw Bartlett Sher's acclaimed Lincoln Center production which vividly illustrated a respect for the sub-plots of lonely people, unchallenged prejudice and the irretrievable loss of the future that war brings - and of course showed off their score magnificently!

Thanks to COVID, we had to settle on seeing Daniel Evans' production at Chichester online but here we are a year later, seeing it onstage at Sadler's Wells and how nice it was to see again. It reinforced how remarkable the show's score is when you see the show onstage: all those standards seem fresh when you see the characters' lives that they were written to illustrate.  

The original 1949 production won 10 Tony Awards - every one it was nominated for - as well as the Pulitzer Prize.  Seeing the show onstage again brings to mind the challenge Rodgers and Hammerstein faced when writing the score: Broadway sweetheart Mary Martin had been cast as Nellie opposite opera singer Ezio Pinza as Emile which worried her as she felt she would not be able to compete vocally with him in duets so they composed Nellie and Emile's "Twin Soliliques" so they take a verse each but as sung thoughts.

Based on James H Michener's 1947 novel TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC (which also won a Pulitzer Prize), nurses and sailors in the US Navy find love on an island in the South Pacific during WWII,  Nurse Nellie Forbush falls in love with French plantation owner Emile de Becque while Lt Joseph Cable falls for Liat, the young daughter of Bloody Mary, a wily Tonkinese peddler, but the happiness of all four founders on the perceptions of race from within and without.

One can only imagine how the plot twist of Nellie's racism was received by audiences 73 years ago but it is true that YOU'VE GOT TO BE CAREFULLY TAUGHT where Cable sings of his disgust at his own capitulation to racist thinking was nearly dropped from several productions of the show but the composers stood firm against it and it's 1949 national tour was threatened with boycotts and cancellation in the South.

There are still rumblings about the show - only now it's being questioned for the representations of Bloody Mary and Liat; here's what you do - go write your own musical... and see if it is still around in 73 years.

Daniel Evans has sought to intigrate the character of Liat more into the action; difficult when she hardly has any lines but by featuring her in the productions opening and closing moments and making Bloody Mary less of a stock character - but if the actress playing the role is any good she can seize the character's changes in the second act anyway.

The cast felt capable but Julian Ovenden was excellent as Emile, his rich voice suiting SOME ENCHANTED EVENING and THIS NEARLY WAS MINE, the latter only spoiled by the over-emphatic orchestra; but his charisma and easy playing style made Emile the central figure of the show.  Gina Beck was ok as Nellie, she just doesn't have the star wattage needed to make her memorable after leaving the theatre but she certainly sang the songs well.

Joanna Ampil and Rod Houchen were also ok as Bloody Mary and Cable singing their songs well, they just didn't have that extra spark to make them memorable.  Douggie McMeekin as the eternal chancer Luther Billis left hardly any impression.

Daniel Evans' direction and Ann Yee's choreography kept the show moving along on it's perfectly constructed wheels until the moment the show always stalls towards the end when the battalion chiefs listen in to the radio reports from Emile and Cable on a deserted island behind enemy lines; it is a dead sequence visually with a lot of exposition going on.

But it was still a great experience to see SOUTH PACIFIC onstage again where it really lives and breathes.

50 Favourite Musicals: 11: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG (1981) (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: 1981, Alvin Theatre, NY

First seen by me: 1983, Bloomsbury Theatre, London

Productions seen: four
  
Score: Stephen Sondheim

Book: George Furth

Plot: Franklin Shepard is a successful composer and film producer but as he looks back over his 20 year career he can see how step-by-step his aspirations were lost along with his two best friends Charley Kingkas and Mary Flynn.

Five memorable numbers: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, OUR TIME. NOT A DAY GOES BY, GOOD THING GOING, OUR TIME

One show had to just lose out on the top 10 - how ironic it had to be MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG.  After their previous show SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FEET STREET won eight Tony Awards and nine Drama Desk Awards, the partnership of composer Stephen Sondheim and producer / director Hal Prince were expected to come up with another smash hit.  But it was not to be... MERRILY lasted a mere 44 performances after a troubled rehearsal period where the original leading man and choreographer where replaced and audiences walked out, confused by the back-to-front plotline.  Prince's concept of a cast of teenage performers, all in sweatshirts and jeans, backfired and the resultant failure had a lasting effect on it's devastated young cast as well as Sondheim and Prince who would not work together again on a new work for 22 years.  The odd thing is that the seemingly revolutionary plot-twist of having the story told backwards originated in 1934 in a play of the same name by George S Kaufman and Moss Hart, which had also closed losing money - albeit with more performances.  It was neglected at Awards time too, MERRILY received a single Tony nomination for Best Musical Score - which lost to Maury Yeston's NINE.  The palpable sadness of that original production has remained, especially as that cast's recording of the score has kept the show alive down the years - remarkable considering they recorded it the day after they closed.  Since then MERRILY has gone on to be reclaimed as one of Sondheim's most remarkable scores - particularly as the usual criticism thrown at him that he is too cerebral to be emotional is made ridiculous by songs such as NOT A DAY GOES BY and GOOD THING GOING which are tear-triggers of the highest magnitude.  Sondheim's score ripples with great songs whose tunes appear throughout the show in different guises so you can track them seemingly down the years as Charley, Frank and Mary's lives change and grow apart.

I was lucky enough to see MERRILY's European premiere when the Guildhall School's production transferred to the small Bloomsbury Theatre two months after it was first staged at the school.  Ian Judge's wonderful production swept me away and made the show instantly one of my favourites.  Over the years as it's status has grown with every UK and US revival, Sondheim has revisited the score and added new numbers for Frank and Gussie, the musical star he marries, but for me the original score is the one I return to.  After the 1983 Guildhall show I had to wait 17 years until another London production at the Donmar.  Michael Grandage's production featured career-defining performances from Samantha Spiro as Mary, Daniel Evans as Charley and Julian Ovenden as Frank and won three Olivier Awards for Best Musical, Best Actress and Best Actor for Evans; sadly no West End transfer occurred.  That happened three years later when Maria Friedman's production at the Menier Chocolate Factory transferred to the Pinter Theatre for a few months.  While happy that this remarkable show was finally seen in a proper West End house I was less enthusiastic by Friedman's garish and broad production - it did however win the Olivier for Best Musical Revival. The latest news on MERRILY is that Richard Linklater has announced he will make a film of it with the absurd idea of filming it over 20 years so the characters can be seen to age properly... one is tempted to think of Olivier's line to Dustin Hoffman while he was holding up filming doing his Method shenanigans "Why don't you try acting?".

A much more poignant and telling film take on MERRILY is Lonny Price's wonderful documentary BEST WORST THING THAT EVER COULD HAVE HAPPENED from 2016.  Initially a film about the making of MERRILY and the impact of it's failure on it's young cast, Price - who was the original Charley - had remembered ABC News filming all of the audition and rehearsals for a segment in one of their news programme but when they were informed they had an investment in MERRILY they stopped the filming and put out a statement that the footage was destroyed.  However the original videotapes were finally tracked down and Price utilizes the footage to recreate the excitement of the young cast turn to bewilderment at it's failure to work despite Sondheim and Prince's best efforts.  The bigger themes of looking back to see what you gave up to live your dreams - or giving up your dreams to live - are as palpable as MERRILY itself - do hunt it out...

50 Favourite Musicals: 12: SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (1984) (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: 1984, Booth Theatre, NY

First seen by me: 1990, Lyttelton Theatre, London

Productions seen: three
  
Score: Stephen Sondheim

Book: James Lapine

Plot: Paris, 1884: The impressionist painter Georges Seurat obsessively works on his large pointillist painting A SUNDAY AFTERNOON ON THE ISLAND OF LA GRANDE JATTE despite the ridicule of the public and critics; George is also unaware of his mistress Dot's growing resentment until she leaves him.  Despite all this, he finishes his masterpiece.  A hundred years later, Seurat's great-grandson George fears his own artistic vision is fading..

Five memorable numbers: SUNDAY, CHILDREN AND ART, FINISHING THE HAT, PUTTING IT TOGETHER, MOVE ON

So here we go.  Each musical I choose from now on are the ones which mean the most to me, the ones that all feature indelible memories of songs or stage and screen images; these are the ones that on any other day might appear higher up in the chart.  So why does SUNDAY not make it to the Top 10?  A certain austere distancing in James Lapine's book which makes it easy to admire but difficult to love?  The tricky second act where, after the lovely opening scene where each of the painting's characters relate the history of LA GRANDE JATTE and the fate of Seurat, it then pitches into the 1984 sequence which, in essence, entails the audience having to warm to a prickly new lead character too late in the day?  The character of Dot which feels sketched in at best and should be more pronounced?  After the shock Broadway failure of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG in 1981 which severed forever the working relationship between Sondheim and his longtime director-producer Hal Prince, Sondheim felt disenchanted with musical theatre.  However when he was approached by the younger playwright-director James Lapine he found a new impetus to do something different, more experimental.  Lapine suggested the teasing enigma of Seurat's painting and that was the spur.  The first-ever showing of SUNDAY was at the Off-Broadway not-for-profit theatre Playwrights Horizons for 25 performances only.  When it opened Lapine and Sondheim had only the first act completed - the full show was only staged for the last three performances.  Despite this they still managed to get the show financed for a Broadway transfer in 1984.  Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters, while known stars, had never appeared in a Sondheim show before and despite their frustrations during the Playwrights Horizons run in trying to shape their characters while half the score still was being worked on, they both opened on Broadway and both received Tony Award nominations.  Bernadette was particularly frustrated in the under-developed role of Dot which was only solved when Sondheim's friend playwright John Guare suggested that while Seurat is painting his masterwork maybe Dot can be learning to read?  Dot's joy in bettering herself is all the more cruelly dashed as Seurat is so absorbed in his art.  Sondheim and Lapine also gifted the actress playing Dot with the second act role of Marie, Dot's 98 year-old daughter, before Dot appears again in the final scene which ties in all the strands of the three lead characters.  Lapine's Broadway production was nominated for 10 Tony Awards but only won two design awards, it was the year of the feel-good juggernaut LA CAGE AUX FOLLES which beat SUNDAY in most of the bigger awards; however it did better at the Drama Desk Awards where it won 8 of it's 13 nominations including Best Musical.  By a stroke of luck just as the Box Office was starting to slow down SUNDAY won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama which perked the Box Office up again and the show closed after a year, the good news being that a week after it closed, the cast returned to film it for television which is now available on DVD.

I had to wait six years to see the show - after having fallen in love with Sondheim's score through the original cast recording - but found that National Theatre production disappointing as Maria Friedman failed to soar to Bernadette Peters' artistry but Philip Quast was an excellent Georges / George, deservedly winning the Olivier Award for Best Actor in A Musical.  It also won Best New Musical - beating Sondheim and Lapine's London production of INTO THE WOODS!  It would be 15 years before another London production came along but this time it was the Menier Chocolate Factory's game-changing production which incorporated the wonderful designs of Timothy Bird's digital projections which flooded the stage with colour and fluid movement.  Used with economy and wit, the digital animations were a total delight with nice touches such as the ensemble leaving the onstage 'tableau' of the painting one by one at the start of the second act, while their character digitally reappeared in the original painting behind them hanging on the Art Institute of Chicago's wall.   More importantly they did not distract from the performances particularly that of Daniel Evans who had never been better than as Georges / George.  This production also marked my first time visiting the Menier and it has stayed in my mind as one of their finest productions.  Sam Buntrock's production transferred first to the West End where Evans was joined memorably by Jenna Russell as Dot and then to Broadway in 2008 where I saw it with Owen and my late friend Dezur at Studio 54.  This production was nominated for 7 Tony Awards but failed to win any as it was the year of two other all-conquering revivals of SOUTH PACIFIC and GYPSY.  However Buntrock's production triumphed at the Olivier Awards winning 5 of it's 6 nominations including Best Musical.  But above all, there is Sondheim's wonderful and challenging score - the score shows itself as Sondheim's most personal to date, in particular his glorious solo for Georges "Finishing The Hat" in which he wonderfully encapsulates the joy of the artist in creating something from nothing while acknowledging the personal cost that brings.  Whatever failings the book has, the score for SUNDAY is the one that effects me the most emotionally.  The three songs that finish the first act floor me - Dot's farewell "We Do Not Belong Together" usually starts me off. Georges' duet with his mother "Beautiful" keeps the snuffles on a fairly low-light and then the tears just flow during the final song "Sunday".  One of the most beautiful melodies ever, it's sung softly by the characters in Seurat's painting as he moves around them, arranging them into the final 'tableau' that will freeze as A SUNDAY AFTERNOON ON THE ISLAND OF LA GRANDE JATTE - It gets me EVERY time - and I'm not talking one tear trickling down my cheek, I am talking seat-row-shuddering sobs.  To make things worse, the three last songs of the second act mirror this: George's despairing "Lesson #8", George and Dot's empowering "Move On" and a final reprise of "Sunday"; floods... just floods.

My video choice has to be the first act finale of the filmed original Broadway production with Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters.  The DVD has a commentary by Sondheim, Peters and Patinkin - and Sondheim and Patinkin start to blub during this scene so I am in good company.  Let's see if the score works it's potent magic on me next year when I see it at the Savoy with Jake Gyllenhaal and and Annaleigh Ashford who are repeating their roles of Georges / George and Dot / Marie from the last Broadway revival in 2017.

50 Favourite Musicals: 15: SHOW BOAT (1927) (Jerome Kern / Oscar Hammerstein II, PG Wodehouse)

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: 1927, Ziegfeld Theatre, NY

First seen by me: London Palladium, 1991

Productions seen: two

Score: Jerome Kern / Oscar Hammerstein II, P.G. Wodehouse
Book: Oscar Hammerstein II

Plot: The lives and loves of the performers on Capt'n Andy's show boat "The Cotton Blossom" as it sails up and down the Mississippi River span 40 years and the evolving styles of American popular entertainment...

Five memorable numbers: OL' MAN RIVER, CAN'T HELP LOVIN' DAT MAN, MAKE BELIEVE, BILL, LIFE UPON THE WICKED STAGE

You would have thought that the show acknowledged to be the one that first presented a narrative with a fully integrated score and believable characters - not just an evening of skits, songs and production numbers or imported European operetta - would be handled with more respect but no, SHOW BOAT has been revised and rewritten with practically every revival on stage or screen.  Incidentally how interesting that the original SHOW BOAT was produced by Florenz Ziegfeld whose splashy revues were wiped away in the coming years by Musical Comedy productions.  The story stays the same - professional gambler Gaylord Ravanel meets aspiring actress Magnolia Hawks aboard her father's show boat and they marry unhappily ever after - but songs are dropped to be added to the film to be added to the revival to be dropped again etc. etc.  However, no matter what version you see the magic always happens - Edna Ferber's original characters are all sympathetically drawn by Hammerstein and you are never far away from a cracking song whatever the production. 

My first voyage on the SHOW BOAT was James Whale's 1936 film version with the excellent cast of Irene Dunne as Magnolia, Helen Morgan repeating her original stage role as Julie Laverne the Cotton Blossom's leading lady who has to leave when it is revealed that she is half-black, Hattie McDaniel as the boat's cook Queenie and the legendary Paul Robeson as her husband Joe.  Incidentally 'Joe' was written for Robeson but because Ziegfeld's production was delayed he had to withdraw because of other commitments, he played it instead in the original London production.  I first saw it onstage in 1991 when Ian Judge directed an RSC & Opera North co-production at the London Palladium with a memorable cast of Jan Hartley (Magnolia), Bruce Hubbard (Joe), Marilyn Cutts (Julie), David Healy (Cap'n Andy), Karla Burns (Queenie) and Margaret Courtenay (Parthy).  It was a wonderful production that made me realize the show's power.  Then in 2016 Daniel Evans directed an excellent revival for the Sheffield Crucible which later transferred to the New London Theatre for a shamefully short run.  At the Crucible the show had lovely performances from Michael Xavier (Gaylord), Gina Beck (Magnolia), Allan Corduner (Cap'n Andy), Emmanuel Kojo (Joe), Sandra Marvin (Queenie), Danny Collins (Frank) and particularly Rebecca Trehearn's haunting Julie - the character has my two favourite numbers from the show "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" and "Bill" (originally written by Kern with PG Wodehouse in 1917).  It was wonderful to experience SHOW BOAT on stage again, and it proved that a historical milestone from 1927 can be as vital, touching and entertaining as ever.

Again I am confronted with there being so many fabulous songs in SHOW BOAT over so many productions... which to choose?  I kept returning to this, a promo for the New London production with Rebecca Trehearn showing why she won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress In A Musical for playing tragic Julie and delivering such a thrilling version of "Bill"...

SHOW BOAT - Another visit now it is docked in London!

When I had to decide what show should be my birthday night event it was an easy choice - a return visit to Daniel Evans' revival of the game-changing 1927 musical SHOW BOAT, which has now slowly steamed into dock at the New London Theatre.

Finally!  A production has appeared at the New London Theatre that I want to see.  Since I became a 'proper' theatre fan in 1982 - apart from the transfer from the National Theatre of WAR HORSE - the New London Theatre has been home to a run of shows that I would walk a mile in tight shoes to avoid, but now I could visit safe in the knowledge that I wouldn't be seeing a dud.  To be honest the New London reminds me of any number of regional theatres I have been in - definitely a cross between Chichester and Sheffield with a similar 1970s feel of carpet and concrete.  Nice big bar area though!

We saw and loved SHOW BOAT back in January in it's Sheffield home but now it is gracing the West End with it's glorious score by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II and Evans' elegant production that guides you through the plot's decades.  In the journey from Sheffield to London, the production has lost it's two male leads but this has not sunk the ship, in fact it has made it a smoother journey.

In Sheffield Michael Xavier played Gaylord, the raffish gambler who falls for heroine Magnolia, while Allan Corduner was the affable Cap'n Andy, owner of the Cotton Blossom Showboat but these they have been replaced by Broadway import Chris Peluso and the always-dependable Malcolm Sinclair respectively.

Xavier was better than the role to be honest - it gave him very little chance to shine as it is quite a strait-jacketed role but it suited Chris Peluso but dear God... all through the show, through whatever decade, the tab at the back of his boots stuck out from under his trouser hems - It was profoundly irritating!  No such problems with Malcolm Sinclair who was a total delight as the hen-pecked but tender-hearted owner of the Cotton Blossom.

The strength of Evans' production is in the casting of the three central female roles: a majestic triumvirate of Gina Beck's sweet-natured Magnolia, Rebecca Trehearn's tragic Julie and Sandra Marvin's imperious Queenie with Trehearne coming out on top of them all thanks to having the two best songs in the score: "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" and "Bill".

Lucy Briers has grown in the role of Parthy Ann Hawks, the battle-axe of the Cotton Blossom and the good news is that Emmanuel Kojo is still toting barges and lifting bales as he belts out a passionate and emotive "Old Man River".  I was particularly happy to see again the bendy dancing of Danny Collins as Frank Schultz who turns choreographer Alistair David's routines into something quite thrilling.

It was a huge delight to see this production again to enjoy Lez Brotherston's spare but evocative designs, David's physical choreography and Evans' direction that spills out into the auditorium at times.

SHOW BOAT was the show that in 1927 proved that a musical could be more than just a string of numbers and comedy scenes, it could actually tell a through story with characters you care for while also dealing with serious themes.  If you have never seen it now is your chance to - and if you have, then see it again!

SHOW BOAT at the Crucible, Sheffield - back to the beginning...

Last Saturday we took a long journey up to the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield and also journeyed back to the first milestone of the American musical, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's legendary SHOW BOAT.

I had previously seen the show once before in 1991 when Ian Judge directed an Opera North revival at the London Palladium with a memorable cast of Jan Hartley (Magnolia), Bruce Hubbard (Joe), Marilyn Cutts (Julie), David Healy (Cap'n Andy), Karla Burns (Queenie) and Margaret Courtenay (Parthy).  Nearly 25 years later I can still remember the production well.

But Daniel Evans - soon to be the artistic director of Chichester Festival Theatre - has directed a fine production which smoothly moves through the show's timespan of 40 years.  It's a shame we do not see this show produced more often because it's one of the best Broadway shows which boasts a stunning score including "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin Dat Man", "Bill" and "Why Do I Love You?" among other classics.

The show, based on Edna Ferber's novel, broke the mould of previous revue-style shows and operettas, by telling a story which touched on serious themes with it's musical numbers allowing the story and the characters to develop.  Indeed Hammerstein's book, although admittedly thin on character development, does indeed touch on the racism that the black workers on the Show Boat faced from their overseers, which of course lend "Ol' Man River" a greater weight when seen within the show's context.

Through the timespan, apart from the travails of Magnolia's love for gambler Gaylord, we also see the times changing for the Show Boat performers too - song-and-dance team Frank & Ellie evolve from low comedy performers to headliners until they reveal in the final scene that they have moved to Hollywood.

Lez Brotherston's set design makes good use of the Crucible's thrust stage and his minimalist Show Boat was hugely evocative - although the cast probably could do without all those stairs!  The great lighting designer David Hersey has also given the show a glowing vitality and kudos too for Tim Reid's video projections which helped the years melt away within the show.

There are sparkling performances from Evans' handsome cast - Michael Xavier was in excellent voice as the raffish Gaylord Ravenal (although Owen did note that ultimately his character could be given more to do), Gina Beck was a delightful Magnolia (although at times her strong operatic soprano lent too hard on the notes), Allan Corduner was (and appeared to have) great fun as Cap'n Andy and was well-partnered by Lucy Briers' scowling Parthy Ann.

Emmanuel Kojo nearly stopped the show with his rousing "Ol' Man River" and he too was well partnered by Sandra Marvin's no-messing Queenie.  As you will see, it's interesting how there are so many couples within the show, another being the song-and-dance team of Frank and Ellie and they too were well played by Danny Collins and Alex Young - Collins energetic, athletic dancing betrayed his extensive work with Matthew Bourne.

Although initially partnered with Bob Harms' Frank Baker, Rebecca Trehearn as Julie LaVerne always suggested her character's inner solitude.  Julie is the star of the Show Boat cast until a jilted co-worker tells local lawmen her secret: Julie has been hiding that she is a half-caste.  She has to leave the boat which starts a downward spiral ending up as an alcoholic club singer.  Trehearn sang my two favourite songs in the score "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" and "Bill" and gave a haunting, quietly tragic performance.

It was wonderful to experience this show on stage again, and it proved that a historical milestone from 1927 can be as vital, touching and entertaining as ever.

 

HEY, OLD FRIENDS! Sondheim's 85th Birthday Gala at Drury Lane

Now here is a something you don't see often these days... a Sunday all-star gala charity event.  Last Sunday we went to see HEY, OLD FRIENDS! an 85th birthday gala celebrating the career of Stephen Sondheim at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s it seemed there was one every other weekend, mostly fundraisers for AIDS charities.  The same faces usually were in the cast and one got used to the curate's egg quality of the shows but there were some that live long in the memory: the all-day THING-A-THON, the Ray Cook memorial concert A COOK'S TOUR which ended with Angela Lansbury and Beatrice Arthur singing their "Bosom Buddies" duet from MAME and SUNDAY WITH SONDHEIM, directed by Julia McKenzie at the Shaftesbury.

The good old days of charity events seem to have died out so it was fun to step back in time to see this one.  26 years before I had seen another Sondheim tribute show at the same theatre - and a couple of charity gala stalwarts were also in this one!  Step forward Bonnie Langford, Lorna Dallas and Robert Meadmore.  I am sure Ned Sherrin, Elaine Stritch, Denis Quilley, Martin Smith, Dursley McLindon and Eartha Kitt would like to have appeared again had they been able to.

But back to 2015... the show was well staged by Bill Deamer who also choreographed in his lively if slightly generic style and apart from the longueurs that always happen when Nicholas Parsons appears on stage, the show moved along at a good pace.  Unlike some of the old concerts there didn't appear to be a through-line, songs were dropped in next to others from all across Sondheim's career, only towards the end was there an obvious trio of comedy numbers followed by Julia McKenzie introducing the final selection of 11 o'clock numbers (although the Sondheimite in me noted that FOLLIES' "Broadway Baby" and "I'm Still Here" are more like 8.25 and 9.30 numbers).

Ah, Julia.  The woman who helped to make me a theatre fan thanks to her performance as 'Miss Adelaide' in GUYS AND DOLLS and whose status as one of the great West End leading ladies seems to be diminishing in some people's minds in favour of her television appearances.  She was one of the show's comperes tonight, teamed with her friend and SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM co-star Millicent Martin, and although Millie gamely picked her way through "I Never Do Anything Twice", Julia didn't sing.  I fear those days are gone now which is quite a sad thing to contemplate.  Deamer tweeted this rehearsal picture of him, Julia and Millie side by side, by side.

So... highlights?  Quite a few actually.  There was a rousing version from Joseph Shovelton of "Beautiful Girls" featuring a walk-down of the night's female stars but as we were in the vertiginous balcony seats I couldn't make out who half of them were!  Anita Harris used her tremulous tone to good effect singing the wistful "Take Me To The World" from EVENING PRIMROSE - it made me wonder if any theatre director would ever have the mad / brilliant idea of adapting this Sondheim tv musical to the stage as a one-act musical?  There was a surprising inclusion of INTO THE WOODS' "The Last Midnight" which was belted out to the chandelier by Rosemary Ashe who also had great fun with Laura Pitt-Pulford in the camp duet that is "There's Always A Woman" cut from ANYONE CAN WHISTLE.

There were other good pairings with Daniel Evans, Simon Green and Michael Peavoy singing "Pretty Lady" from PACIFIC OVERTURES and Evans was then joined by Anna Francolini for "Move On" from SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE which was topped by them being joined by the Arts Educational students to sing a wonderful choral "Sunday".   I wasn't the only one a-blub as Julia McKenzie sounded very emotional after it too.  Inexplicably this did not end the first act but McKenzie introduced Sally Ann Triplet (who played the younger Julia in the '87 FOLLIES) for a lengthy "Lucy and Jessie" from the same show.  It outstayed it's welcome as did Triplett's slashed gown - I kept being reminded of the Forbidden Broadway lyric: "flashing some guy / with my Stubby Kaye thigh".

The second act highlights included Bonnie Langford - yes Bonnie Langford - dancing up a storm with Anton Du Beke from "Strictly Come Dancing" wherein she did the splits and hung upside down from him. Ms Langford is 51!  Charity gala veteran Lorna Dallas gave us a lovely version of "In Buddy's Eyes", she had been introduced by Anita Dobson who said Dallas had been off the scene for a while with personal issues, illness maybe?  She seemed genuinely touched by her ovation.

As I said earlier Millicent Martin sparkled in her solo number "I Never Do Anything Twice" which she first sang nearly 40 years ago in SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM and she radiated pure star quality.  Her number was only topped by Julia McKenzie watching her exit into the wings before saying "And she can still walk unaided" which brought the house down!  After that it was time for the afore-mentioned 11 O'Clock Number section - Tracie Bennett and Charlotte Page oversung "Broadway Baby" and "Losing My Mind" to an alarming degree but luckily Haydn Gwynne (supported by Daniel Evans) sang a lovely, rueful "Send In The Clowns" while Kim Criswell socked over "I'm Still Here".  Finally it was left to the marvellous Michael Xavier to give us an impassioned "Being Alive", all the better for being sung as in COMPANY with the rest of the cast chipping in little asides during the song's build-up.

All in all it was an enjoyable night which also raised money for the Silver Line charity and the Stephen Sondheim Society.

 

AMERICAN BUFFALO at Wyndhams Theatre: In for a penny...

I have now seen David Mamet's AMERICAN BUFFALO in four different productions.  I wouldn't call it one of my favourite plays but as it features a flashy, kinetic star role it is one that usually attracts interesting actors, and that usually attracts me!

Well I have been drawn back into the seedy, conniving, occasionally touching, world of small time crooks in 1970s Chicago with this new production at the Wyndhams Theatre, directed by Daniel Evans.

This time around, the lead role of the gambling chancer 'Teach' is played by Damian Lewis in a return to the West End after six years away in which he became an award-winning tv star in the US with the gripping thriller series HOMELAND.  Joining him is the one and only John Goodman as Don, owner of a rundown junk shop where the action is centred and coming actor Tom Sturridge as the flaky junkie Bobby.

Lewis joins my gallery of former 'Teach's: Al Pacino at the Duke of Yorks in 1984, Douglas Henshall at the Young Vic in 1997 and William H. Macy at the Donmar in 2000.  So now it's a straight split between UK and US actors and I must admit (unsurprisingly) that the US actors were the most convincing.  Pacino was mesmerising, a human dynamo of itchy anger while Macy was a more rundown and venal 'Teach'.

This production marks the 40th anniversary of the play's first performance and Mamet's idiosyncratic, pungent, salty dialogue, heavily indebted to Pinter, is still a delight to hear.  The plot seems simple enough: Don (Goodman) owns an untidy junk shop where he occasionally also holds after-hours poker-nights.  He keeps a warily protective eye on recovering heroin addict Bobby (Sturridge) who is his unpaid go-fer. 

Don is rattled by the sale of an old nickel (showing the titular American Buffalo) to a coin collector for $90 and, feeling it is obviously worth more, he plans a robbery of the collector's flat to get it back.  The unpredictable chancer 'Teach' appears and shoehorns himself into the burglary plot, persuading Don that Bobby would probably mess up.  When another friend who is recruited for the burglary fails to show up at the appointed time, paranoia and anger lead to an explosion of recriminations and violence.

Snaking around and through the plot however is an exploration of the power struggle between men, the constant shifts in power among so-called friends.  While Daniel Evans certainly keeps the verbal volleys firing across Paul Wills' over-the-top cluttered set, the pace sometimes dipped during it's quieter moments which loosened the tension within the play.  What he certainly did highlight was the underlying care that Don feels for the damaged Bob which Goodman played with gruff tenderness.

John Goodman gave the performance of the evening, catching the rhythm of the prose perfectly, every pause, shrugged response and sudden burst of anger hit the money every time, his stillness being a bedrock of the production.  Whirling around Goodman was Damain Lewis who, while getting the slick self-centredness of 'Teach' well, came across more more like a fly than a mosquito.  It was a very showy star performance which is what most of the audience were happy to see but after one has seen Pacino and Macy really shake the life out of the part, it felt a bit thin.  It was almost like he was letting his 70s pornstar facial hair and brown two-piece do all the work, which was a pity as he is a very likable actor.

I liked Tom Sturridge's Bob as well, you could almost feel the character's itchy clamminess.  Bobby has a brief moment when he senses he is in control of the powerplay and Sturridge played his preening importance well just before being literally felled by a vindictive 'Teach'.

As I said, Paul Wills' junkshop set was certainly eye-catching if over-powering and as with nearly every play in the West End, the lighting was up to Mark Henderson's usual standard.  If you have not seen AMERICAN BUFFALO before I would recommend grabbing one of the few seats left before the end of it's limited run at the end of this month.

 

Sorry about that delay in blogging... life, you know...

Our second exposure to the Bard showed the truth in the old phrase of the mountain coming to Mohammad.

Sometimes you just gotta get out of town... so a few Saturdays ago found Owen and I sitting on a train chuffing merrily out of St. Pancras International to ... wait for it.... Sheffield. Sheffield yet! So what could get me to up sticks and venture north? Well, it was the news that the thrilling partnership of Clarke Peters and Dominic West which proved so successful in the epic US tv series THE WIRE was to be made flesh at the Sheffield Crucible in OTHELLO. There was no mention of a London transfer so a day-trip to the home of The Human League was a must.
It was also good to finally see inside the famous Crucible auditorium so beloved of the World Snooker Championships and it makes you understand how, with the right match, the atmosphere must be tense.

The theatre itself isn't all that exciting - it's form seems to echo so many regional late 20th Century builds, all concrete and large windows overlooking either the main road or the car park! But the place seemed very buzzy and busy, no doubt down to the excellent reviews the production had garnered the week before.

The actor Daniel Evans has landed the Artistic Director role at the Crucible and he made his Shakespeare directorial debut with this production. Surprisingly he made an excellent job of it - while playing up the - ahem - black comedy of such a hissable villain as Iago, Evans also gave us a thorough, uncluttered reading of the play with a momentum which moved smoothly but relentlessly ever-onward, like a shark honing in on it's prey.Oddly enough, the play's final scene did dissipate this momentum but Shakespeare did rather prolong the end of his play - how many times *does* Desdemona have splutter to life after having been smothered? However by then Evans and his talented cast had done enough to deserve the ovation that they genuinely deserved.

Evans gave us a fairly traditional setting for his version of the play with doublets, jerkins and wide skirts a-plenty against Morgan Large's set comprising a large functional brick wall with central doors which with Lucy Carter's subtle lighting worked well in exterior and interior scenes.

I guess the best Shakespearean productions should seem to introduce the play to you afresh and this it certainly did. I can't remember laughing so much at the tale of the tragic Moor but I suspect a lot of that was down to the inspired central casting.
It's a shame that the exciting performances of Dominic West and Clarke Peters will not be seen by a wider audience but I feel very lucky to have done so. The chemistry revealed in THE WIRE was built on here and their scenes together fizzed and sparked as Iago teased and wheedled Othello from his benign married state into a jealous murderous husband.

Dominic West was the true star of the show, using a broad Yorkshire accent to suggest a hail-fellow-well-met character who secretly relishes the carnage his malicious lies provoke. No one is safe from him including his wife Emilia and here West was perfectly matched with Alexandra Gilbreath who brought an earthy wisdom to the role. As with the best performances, it was her a pleasure to watch her silent reactions to others as well as speaking her lines - her slow realization that she was an unknowing contributor to her husband's scheme was heartbreaking.Clarke Peters came in for some unfairly critical reviews in the press but he gave a fine performance, becoming more and more unravelled as his jealousy took hold until his mania was scary to see. Peters is an actor who you instinctively can trust on stage and this performance proved again his wide-ranging versatility and powerful presence.

Desdemona is a sticky role but Lily James made a good fist of her inherent innocence and her scenes with Peters and Gilbreath gave her ample opportunity to show her versatile playing. In a small but impressive cast, special mention should go to Gwilym Lee as Cassio, Luciano Dodero as Montano and Leigh McDonald as the courtesan Bianca.

C'mon someone, film this production and give these fine actors the wider acclaim they deserve.
Oh and well done HMV Sheffield for stocking the dvd of Vanessa Redgrave in ISADORA which the HMV Piccadilly Circus haven't done!