Gareth's Culture and Travel Blog

I’ve been in love with this Frank Loesser musical for over forty years. I think it was the first I saw, at Bristol Old Vic. I moved to London soon after and saw the NT’s definitive production, more than once, before a long gap until it’s next and last West End outing. In recent years there have been seven or so more, out of town in big and small theatres, a miraculous production on the fringe, at drama schools and even in Wandsworth prison, but Nicholas Hytner’s production is like no other.

The Bridge Theatre have perfected the art of immersive theatre in recent years with hugely successful promenade productions of Julius Caesar and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but an immersive musical?! A first maybe, but a triumph certainly. Damon Runyon’s 50’s Broadway comes alive like never before, and its this street-life that has always been the star of the show, notwithstanding a captivating tale of lovable rogues and their put upon lovers, and a score packed with great songs.

The love stories of crap game organiser Nathan & night club performer Adelaide and professional gambler Sky & Salvation Army girl Sarah are intertwined. Nathan has been engaged to Adelaide for fourteen years, so long that she’s had to invent a whole married life, a career for Nathan and even a handful of children to please her mum. Sky’s only in town briefly but manages to get involved in a bet that requires an evening in Havana for an unlikely dinner with and even more unlikely date. Just the names of the gamblers – Nicely-Nicely Johnson, Harry the Horse, Brandy Bottle Bates, Society Max – are a delight. It all ends happily of course with a double wedding and a mission saved from closure.

I’ve long admired Daniel Mays work, but I think this is his first musical, and he’s a revelation as Nathan (though in all fairness it’s a comic rather than singing role). Marisha Wallace’s vocals as Adelaide are stunning and she has real chemistry with Mays. Celinde Schoenmaker and Andrew Richardson make a lovely unlikely couple as Sarah and Sky as they navigate their relationship from aversion (well, her for him, or rather what he does) to true love. Nicely-Nicely is a peach of a role and Cedric Neal rises to the occasion, encoring the showstopper Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat three times.

Platforms rise to create stages of all shapes and sizes and it flows beautifully between settings as neon signs rise and fall overhead to complete Bunny Christie’s iconic period setting of Broadway. The band is top notch, for once above the playing area not buried in a pit, so you can hear every note. Arlene Philips choreography is often thrilling, notably in Havana and in the sewers below the city which the crap game eventually reaches.

This is such a wonderful uplifting joyous evening I’ve already booked for the final performance. It has to be seen more than once.