MY FAIR LADY at London Coliseum - I've Grown Accustomed To This Score

A few weeks ago we went to see the Lincoln Center's revival of MY FAIR LADY which is playing during the Summer at the Coliseum.  I had never seen it on stage before but had of course seen George Cukor's 1964 film version and if you can't sing along with at least five songs from it's score then what *have* you been doing with your ears?

Director Bartlett Sher has given us revelatory revivals of Rogers and Hammerstein's war-horse musicals SOUTH PACIFIC and THE KING AND I so I guess Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's MY FAIR LADY fits that frame, but since seeing it I am unsure of why it made hardly any impression on me.

It's original NY production was a huge hit playing 2,717 performances over 6 years, nearly matched by the London production which managed 2,281 shows.  It's success was even mirrored by Cole Porter in his song WE'LL HAVE MANHATTAN "And My Fair Lady is a terrific show they say / We both may see it close, some day".  Subsequent revivals have built on it's success and it's score has been plundered over and over for albums, variety shows and cabaret.  But despite this, the show has always left me cold.

The songs are pretty and well-structured but they seem to be all front-loaded in the first half with the second half mostly comprised of reprises and the deathly solos for Henry Higgins.  Here, the ghost of Rex Harrison haunts the score: they were composed to be sung-spoken to accomodate Harrison's limited vocal range and because of that, his songs drone on and on... and on: even the most famous one "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face" seems endless.  Henry Higgins was played well by Harry Hadden-Paton, blithely riding rough-shod over Eliza's feelings.

Of course having Julie Andrews as the original Eliza meant her songs have a more graceful sweep and newcomer Amara Okereke gave a charming performance, over-doing the gaucherie a bit in the first act but she became more assured in the second act as Eliza finds herself in a class no-mans-land.  Sher has given the show a new ending which gives Eliza the final moment and for Okereke that seemed right.

The supporting cast should have been headed by Vanessa Redgrave as the imperious Mrs Higgins - but she was a no-show.  It was unannounced so when some person walked onto the stage and started addressing Henry Higgins as her son I was distinctly narked.  Maybe that's when I withdrew my interest?  Whoever she was she gave a colourless performance. 

Malcolm Sinclair was a delightful Colonel Pickering, a real stand-out.  Stephen K Amos was an interesting choice as Doolittle and was effective in his acted scenes, he just about got through his two famous numbers WITH A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK and I'M GETTING MARRIED IN THE MORNING, the latter has been extended for no other reason than to give the ensemble something to do and to give the show a second act showstopper.  Maureen Beattie as Higgins' housekeeper bustled about well while Sharif Afifi in the worst supporting role in Musical Theatre, Freddy Eynsford-Hill, sang ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE well because let's face it, the character is given nothing else to do.

Bartlett Sher has directed well but ultimately it all felt a bit top-heavy; unlike SOUTH PACIFIC and THE KING AND I there is nothing to delve into with MY FAIR LADY, Lerner's book is all surface and it doesn't allow for any exploration.  His usual team of Catherine Zuber (costumes), Christopher Gattelli (choreography) and Michael Yeargan (sets) all delivered.  Ted Spurling's musical supervision was excellent and Gareth Valentine's leading of the orchestra was fine.

But although I can now tick it off my list of musicals never seen on stage, I am still none the wiser as to it's huge appeal.

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!

TEMPLE at the Donmar - Beale appeal

Although he has made frequent visits to the West End, Simon Russell Beale has primarily been one of the jewels in Nicholas Hytner's National Theatre crown.  But now we have Rufus Norris taking over the NT top job and in his first season there appears to be nothing for Beale.

I am sure he will be back there again but for the time being he is exploring other stages; later this year he will be in a new play at Hampstead but recently he has returned to a favourite venue, the Donmar, in a new play TEMPLE.

Steve Waters' play reminded me of the ad lines that used to accompany real-life film dramas in the 1950s - "Ripped From Today's Headlines" they would proclaim.  OK so the Occupy London protest wasn't yesterday nor the day before but it's close enough to remember the febrile atmosphere that surrounded the whole event.  

In October 2011, the anti-capitalist Occupy London protesters, blocked from protesting outside the Stock Exchange, pitched up instead outside St Pauls Cathedral for four months.  Eventually it all broke up after action by The City of London Corporation but as is often the case in third-party areas drawn into a conflict, the Cathedral found itself coming off the worst.  The Canon Chancellor resigned in sympathy with the protesters saying the Cathedral was siding with the wrong side and the Dean of St Pauls later resigned after being criticised in the Cathedral's anti-protester stance.  This is the background of the fictionalised version in TEMPLE.

It's the morning after the late-night meeting in the St Pauls' Chapter House where it has been decided that St. Pauls is to be re-opened after the Dean ordered it's doors closed a week ago for "health and safety reasons".  Far from restoring order this is the catalyst for more soul-searching by Simon Russell Beale's Dean as he comes under increasing pressure to show his colours to a society that seems to demand black and white positions rather than his more considered approach.

Helping and hindering him in the 90 minute lead-up to the morning's press conference are Anna Calder-Marshall's no-nonsense Virger, Paul Higgins' Canon Chancellor who announces his resignation on Twitter, Rebecca Humphries' temp PA who has hidden depths, Shereen Martin's City of London lawyer - all iPad, high heels and cold-heart - and Malcolm Sinclair's Bishop of London, adept at playing the media game and seeking no dramas at all.

All the supporting cast were fine but Malcolm Sinclair was excellent as the patrician Bishop, exasperating his Dean with his thorough knowledge of social media yet mindful of the importance of the position of the church.  The female roles felt like caricatures - in particular the City lawyer and the gormless PA temp - which sat uneasily with the more nuanced arguments about church and society.  Humphries in particular had the Devil's own job making sense of the PA - one minute a comedy klutz, next minute a wise and shrewd adviser to the Dean.

But it was Simon Russell Beale who shone most brilliantly as the conflicted Dean.  His trademark delivery of waspish, needling put-downs - weighting a single word in a line so it lands with the precision of a poison dart - was thoroughly utilised but he suggested this was the Dean's way to keep the encroaching world of sound bytes and instant judgements at bay.  He made the character of the Dean totally three-dimensional, both intellectually and emotionally.

It was a surprise to find the Dean handled so sympathetically as you would expect the idealistic Canon Chancellor to be the one to be held up as having right on his side but in a moment of quiet intensity, the Dean says to him "You are a vain man" - Beale's sorrowful, pained delivery making it the emotional highpoint of the play.

As usual there was incisive directing by Howard Davies and a carefully-detailed set from Tim Hatley contributed to the production but ultimately I felt it was a play that seemed too full of ideas, more a debate on the place of religion in society today than a successful drama that built on that theory.  That doesn't however take away from the quiet desperation at the heart of Simon Russell Beale's memorable performance.