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: 23: RAGTIME (1996) (Stephen Flaherty / Lynn Ahrens)

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: 1996, Ford Centre, Toronto

First seen by me: 2003, Piccadilly Theatre, London

Productions seen: two

Score: Stephen Flaherty / Lynn Ahrens 
Book: Terrence McNally

Plot:  Three groups of people experience society's changes during the early 1900s in New York: the upper-class family of Father and Mother in leafy New Rochelle, the black musicians in Harlem including Coalhouse Walker Jr. embracing the new jazz of Ragtime, while the ships bringing East European migrants including Tateh from Latvia keep arriving at Ellis Island.  Linking all the groups are those in the newspapers, the ones who have made it: businessmen like Henry Ford and JP Morgan, activists like Emma Goldman and Booker T Washington, and celebrities like illusionist Harry Houdini and notorious beauty Evelyn Nesbit.

Five memorable numbers: BACK TO BEFORE, PROLOGUE - RAGTIME, THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY, TILL WE REACH THAT DAY, MAKE THEM HEAR YOU

Back in the mid-90s, there were two Broadway musical scores that I adored from the minute I heard the cast recordings, one was Maury Yeston's TITANIC and the other was Flaherty and Ahren's RAGTIME.  Both shows had striking similarities: both 'epic' shows which also honed in on the lives of individuals with both scores featuring memorable soaring ensemble numbers alongside character solos and duets, both integrated real-life and fictional characters and, most of all, both composers drew on early 20th Century musical styles so RAGTIME's score is awash with ragtime syncopation, Souza brass bands, Jewish klezmer music and vaudeville cakewalks as well as contemporary Broadway.  EL Doctorow's 1975 novel had already been filmed in 1981 by Milos Forman and it seemed an unlikely candidate for a musical but Terrence McNally's book is successful in keeping most of the intricate plot's plates spinning, with maybe Jewish immigrant Tateh's story being the least integrated as the other two strands - Coalhouse Walker's increasingly violent search for justice at the manslaughter of his lover Sarah and the wrecking of his beloved Model T Ford by racists, and the impact his actions have on the privileged family of Father and Mother.  But the score leads us from story and story and through the years, soaring above the book and giving specific character moments a universality.  Despite the original Broadway production running for almost two years it failed to make money - indeed it's Canadian production company Livent filed for bankruptcy ten months after it's closure.  This production received nine Tony Award nominations and won four including the Best Score and Best Book, but lost most of the others to the marauding LION KING. A 2009 Broadway revival was well received but only lasted 65 performances.  I had to wait until 2003 to see it in London in a production which was an expanded version of a Welsh concert production which attempted to make a virtue of it's minimalism but just looked exposed on the Piccadilly Theatre stage, it lasted three months.  However Thom Southerland's small-scale production at the Charing Cross Theatre was more successful artistically and showed the marvellous opportunities the musical holds for the performers playing the roles of Coalhouse, Sarah and Mother.  The Broadway cast recording is one of my most-played... and stand back when I belt out BACK TO BEFORE!  I still wonder what the Communist agitator Emma Goldman, who was exiled from America, would feel if she knew she featured in two Broadway musicals, RAGTIME and Sondheim's ASSASSINS?

Here the original Broadway cast - including the late Marin Mazzie as Mother, Mark Jacoby as Father, Audra McDonald as Sarah, Brian Stokes Mitchell as Coalhouse and Peter Friedman as Tateh - deliver that wonderful opening number at the Tony Awards:

RAGTIME at Charing Cross Theatre - history keeps happening...

Director Thom Southerland is adept at choosing to direct musicals which might give other directors pause.  At the Southwark Playhouse, where he has worked most regularly recently, he has staged GRAND HOTEL, ALLEGRO, GREY GARDENS and TITANIC, four musicals that would never turn up in an established West End theatre; some need too big a cast or would be deemed too risky at the box-office.

His appointment to be artistic director of the previously troublesome off-West End Charing Cross Theatre this summer has given him the chance to revive his production of TITANIC (which has now won 6 off-West End theatre awards) and, after a hiccup with the cancellation of the second show - the nostalgic RADIO TIMES - Southerland has chosen another tricky musical as his next production, the Tony Award-winning RAGTIME.

Based on EL Doctorow's groundbreaking novel, which mixed fact and fiction to show the powder-keg of events in the New York of 1900, RAGTIME opened in 1998 which, although it ran for two years, did not recoup due to the blockbuster production costs.  The show has faults; Terrence McNally's book struggles at times with focus as he has to corral fourteen main and supporting characters throughout, there is certainly too much emphasis on the growing friendship of Mother and immigrant Tateh rather than the more powerful storyline involving black ragtime pianist Coalhouse Walker Jr.'s terrorist revenge attacks.

Although, as a whole, the score is a glorious explosion of turn-of-the-century pastiche numbers and tear-jerking ballads, Lynn Ahrens' lyrics sometimes overstate themselves in contrast to Stephen Flaherty's consistently excellent music.  But be that as it may, I have been a huge fan of the score since I first heard the original cast recording and again, it was fantastic to hear it 'live' on stage.

Sadly my main drawback with Southerland's otherwise hugely enjoyable production is the return of the dreaded "actor as musician" so we have the absurd directorial choice of Joanna Hickman as Evelyn Nesbitt singing her excellent solo "Crime of The Century" hidden behind a double bass and the only thing that the actor playing Harry Houdini wrestles out of is the accordion permanently strapped to his chest.  It was profoundly irritating, a hired band could easily have been stowed in one of the side balconies as the Donmar does when it stages musicals.

Among those not brandishing instruments were some very good performances: Anita Louise Combe was a wonderfully warm and sympathetic Mother and she literally rose to the occasion (while standing on a piano) to belt out the character's big belt song "Back To Before", the oddly angular Valerie Cutko, although physically wrong for the role, was very good as the communist firebrand Emma Goldman - who coincidentally said "If I can't dance to it, it's not my revolution" which really should have been a title of a song for her.  I have always wondered how the communist anarchist Goldman would react had she known that she would feature in two Broadway musicals (the other being Sondheim's ASSASSINS)?

Ako Mitchell was an imposing presence as the vengeful Coalhouse Walker Jnr. but was sometimes a bit wonky in his higher notes however Jennifer Saayeng as his beloved and doomed Sarah was vocally very strong and gave a very centred and moving performance.  I liked Jonathan Stewart's Younger Brother who finally finds a purpose in blowing things up and there was a scene/song-stealing turn from Seyi Omooba (in her professional debut) who brought some serious church to the mournful "Till We Reach That Day".

Sadly for me two lead performances failed to really connect: Gary Tushaw as the Jewish immigrant Tateh was too overwrought (why did he think he was singing in the Albert Hall?) and Earl Carpenter was a touch too anonymous as Father, a shame as there is much to be mined in this character who refuses to acknowledge that his world has changed until it is too late.  A special mention too for Howard Harrison's atmospheric lighting design.

You have until December 10th to experience the majestic sweep of the Flaherty/Ahrens score - surely one of the greatest in the last 20 years - as well as Southerland's ingenious production.

Watching the show it slowly dawns on you that in these days of urban terrorism, distrust of immigrants, tawdry celebrity, America's questioning of itself and Black Lives Matter, the concerns of 1900 and RAGTIME are not that far away.  Highly recommended.