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Posts Tagged ‘Stephen Sondheim’

Into the Woods – Theatre Royal, Bath

Posted in Theatre, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

I once had an email from the ENO encouraging me to book for ‘Terry Gilliam’s The Damnation of Faust’. I’d already booked, so I replied asking for a refund as I thought it was Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust. Such is the power of the director. I was therefore somewhat cautious about seeing a favourite show by my musical theatre hero directed by the same man, though in all fairness it wasn’t billed as Terry Gilliam’s Into the Woods. I needn’t have worried. Though it’s got his aesthetic stamp all over, it serves the show well.

Four fairytales are interwoven under the umbrella of a tale about a childless couple who need to collect four items – Cinderella’s slipper, Rapunzel’s hair, Jack’s cow and Little Red Riding Hood’s cloak – in order to break the curse. You are lulled into a false sense of security in the first half only to be confronted with the giantess’ wrath in the second. It’s very clever, containing some of Sondheim’s best tunes and lyrics, closing with a message cautioning us about what we say to our children.

Gilliam and his co-director Leah Hausman give it a period feel in keeping with Bath’s Georgian Theatre Royal, starting each act with a girl playing with an antique toy theatre. Jon Bausor’s design and Anthony McDonald’s costumes are brilliant, again with a period feel, a nod to panto and references to Monty Python when the giantess appears. What makes the show though is brilliant casting leading to sky high musical standards led by MD Stephen Higgins.

Chief among the stars of the show are Nicola Hughes as The Witch, a properly malevolent presence with stunning vocals, probably the best I’ve ever seen in this role. Rhashan Stone & Alex Young are excellent as the baker and his wife, at the centre of the story, Rhashan (who I’ve never really associated with musical theatre despite seeing him in three musicals) with charm and vulnerability and Alex with her beautiful vocals. Audrey Brisson is a firm favourite of mine and she’s simply excellent as Cinderella. Barney Wilkinson captures the naivety and neediness of Jack and Lautren Conroy makes an impressive stage debut as a feisty Glaswegian Little Red Riding Hood. The rest of the ensemble make outstanding contributions.

Nothing will ever replace that first time in 1990, or the Regents Park Open Air Theatre’s magical production in 2010, but this was still well worth the trip to Bath, after the Old Vic caved in to its staff’s wish to censor. Well, their loss was Bath’s gain. Surely someone will transfer this to London, or is wokeness going to override freedom of expression in our increasingly constrained artistic world.

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Gypsy – Buxton International Festival

Posted in Theatre, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »

I was underwhelmed when I first saw this show in 2003 on Broadway, in Sam Mendes production with Bernadette Peters as Rose. That changed when Chichester presented it in 2014 with Imelda Staunton giving one of her many definitive performances. Now it’s Joanna Riding’s turn in Paul Kerryson’s production for the Buxton International Festival, and she rises to the occasion, commanding the stage, making the role her own. Surely this has to have more than the scheduled eight performances?

It’s the story of the ultimate pushy mom, determined to make her daughter a star, to live her own ambitions through her child. Rose creates a children’s act to showcase her favourite daughter June with other daughter Louise in the chorus of other kids. She takes them everywhere and anywhere to get stage time, but they never make the big time, going on for a long time beyond any definition of child act. June eventually runs away with fellow performer Tulsa, so Rose has to turn her attention to her other daughter. As vaudeville declines and burlesque takes off, she’s even prepared to push Louise beyond the point you’d expect any mom to do. Along the way former showbiz agent now candy salesman becomes infatuated with her, but both he and Louise have their breaking point. It’s based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, which tells you who Louise becomes, but on her terms, with both her and Herbie leaving Rose behind.

It’s a wonderful score, mostly for Rose, and the second show for which Sondheim wrote lyrics before doing both. It requires an actress of immense vocal and acting talent to pull it off and Joanna Riding does it brilliantly. In a career full of high spots, this tops them all, until the next one of course. She gets under the skin of Rose and you can see and feel all that single-minded determination, uncontrollable ambition and ballsiness. Monique Young is excellent as Louise, initially accepting of the background, reluctant to take over from June, becoming her own woman and wresting control of her life from Rose. David Leonard brilliantly conveys the unconditional loyalty of Herbie before he too can take no more. In an outstanding cast, Tiffany Graves shines (again!) as burlesque long-timer Tessie Tura, with great sidekicks in Alesha Pease’s Elektra and Rebecca Lisewski’s Mazeppa, their number You Gotta Get A Gimmick a real comic showstopper.

Paul Kerryson’s production has great pace without losing the power of the fine solo moments when we see the beating heart of Rose. David Needham provides fitting choreography and Ben Atkinson leads a fine thirteen piece orchestra which does full justice to Jule Styne’s music. The design team of Phil R Daniels, Charles Cusick Smith and Jake Wiltshire create the period, locations and aesthetics superbly whilst facilitating the pace of the production. The Buxton Opera House proves to be a great home for this show; it fits it like a glove.

This was such a treat which elevates the show, for me, from one of interest because of Sondheim’s involvement to a master work of 20th Century musical theatre. London, you’ve no idea what you’re missing!

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Anyone Can Whistle

Posted in Theatre, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 15, 2022| Leave a Comment »

So the first Sondheim show I’m seeing after he’s left us is his biggest flop, which lasted for just nine performances after its 1964 opening night on Broadway. In recent years, though, the London fringe has been interested in it enough to stage it four times in less than twenty years. This is the fourth, and I’ve seen them all. It’s also the best.

It’s a satire without enough satirical bite. It has a Brechtian quality about it, but that doesn’t quite work either. One could argue it hasn’t stood the test of time, but it’s stage history suggests it never worked in the first place. What this production does, though, is invest it with a more manic quality, much more of a sense of fun and exceptional musical standards. If only someone would rewrite Arthur Laurents’ book.

In a bankrupt town, they search for a miracle that will bring in tourist bucks. A spring provides the opportunity. Mayor Cora Hoover Hooper and her three officials start to exploit their luck, or is it? So far so good. Then there’s the arrival of the residents (cookies) of the local asylum (the cookie jar) under the care of Dr Detmold, led by Nurse Fay Apple, intent on disproving the miracle. This derails it. A new doctor, J Bowden Hapgood, arrives (or is he?) and joins Nurse Apple, now in disguise as a miracle inspector from Lourdes. Let’s just forget the story, shall we?

The show does have three great songs which have had a life outside it, and two of them – There Won’t Be Trumpets and the title song – are sung by the nurse, and Chrystine Symone’s excellent vocals ensure they are highlights. The third – Everybody Says Don’t – showcases Hapgood, and Jordan Broatch delivers this superbly too. I’ve been following Alex Young’s career since she brought me to tears singing Send in the Clowns in A Little Night Music whilst training at the Royal Academy of Music (something Judi Dench and Hannah Waddingham hadn’t previously done!) and here she reveals a real flair for comedy as Cora, and sets the tone of the piece brilliantly.

The show has clearly been cast purely for talent, which makes it an exceptional diverse ensemble. I thought the musical standards achieved by MD Natalie Pound were outstanding and the venue’s troublesome acoustics were mastered by Justin Teasdale. This is a relatively new production team, led by director Georgie Rankcom, who bring new life to a dodgy show. The late Bridewell Theatre did well in 2003, as did Jermyn Street Theatre in 2010 and the Union Theatre in 2017, but for me this comes out tops. Sondheim fans should be flocking to Elephant & Castle!

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Steve

Posted in Theatre, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on February 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Opening a new theatre after the worst two years in theatre history is brave indeed. Seven Dials Playhouse has risen, metaphorically, from the ashes of Tristan Bates Theatre, and it’s good to report that it gets off to an excellent start with this European premiere of Mark Gerrard’s 2015 off-Broadway hit.

Designer Lee Newby has built a replica of Joe Allen’s New York theatre-land restaurant which doubles up as a Starbucks and other locations. Dick Straker & Barbara Senoltova’s projections into photo and window frames are particularly clever and there’s even a revolve! MD Ben Papworth plays musical theatre numbers superbly on an onstage piano, reflecting the background of the key characters. Outstanding production values.

The story revolves around gay couple Steven, a former dancer, and Stephen, a lawyer, and their 8-year-old son Stevie, Steven’s best friend Matt and his partner Brian and Carrie, a friend of them all, who is estranged from her partner Lisa, oh, and terminally ill. Steven & Stephen’s seemingly stable relationship is tested by another Steve, a personal trainer, who also has relationships with Matt and Brian it seems. Then there’s Argentinian Esteban (guess what that translates as?!), who starts as a waiter but becomes intertwined with them, and Stephen Sondheim, who looms large.

It’s an original, cleverly constructed piece, often very funny, with sharp sparkling dialogue, well developed characters and unexpected plot twists. It’s littered with musical theatre references, particularly Sondheim ones, in both dialogue and piano ‘accompaniment’, which I found delicious, but others less seeped in the genre may find less accessible. It’s performed superbly, particularly by David Ames as Steven and Jenna Russell as Carrie. One of the strengths of Andrew Keates’ great production is its pacing, including a stand-out section where Joe Aaron Reid as Stephen is masterly juggling multiple overlapping phone and text conversations alone on stage.

I really enjoyed it. Quality writing and performances, terrific staging and design. What more can you ask for?

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Cabaret

Posted in Theatre, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 18, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Given it’s iconic status in musical theatre, I’m surprised this is only the fourth major London revival since I moved here forty years ago. Sam Mendes also turned his theatre, the Donmar Warehouse, into the Kit Kat Club for his 1993 production, albeit less dramatically. This transferred to Broadway, where it ran for six or seven years, returning less that ten years later for another year. Rufus Norris’ 2006 revival was a radical production on a conventional stage. Now Rebecca Frecknall’s is a complete reinvention within an elaborate reconfiguration of the Playhouse Theatre. There was so much to take in, which might be why I’m still struggling to write about it four days later.

It must have felt extraordinarily ground-breaking when it was first staged on Broadway 55 years ago; it felt pretty much the same now – a musical set in 30’s Berlin during the rise of the Nazi Party featuring prostitution, drugs and homosexuality, the Kit Kat Club at the heart of all the decadence. It starts when you enter, walking through the bowels of the theatre to emerge in what used to be the foyer where the ‘prologue cast’ were performing. Then you enter the auditorium, where the club vibe continues, with the audience on two sides of a round playing area which revolves and rises, and the band above in the two boxes that once housed audience members. It’s actually a small playing area, though Frecknall and choreographer Julia Cheng use it brilliantly, switching from the club to all other locations with few props very speedily.

In addition to Tom Scutt’s physical design, his Kit Kat Club costumes have a distinct aesthetic too, a sort of surreal punk fantasy, never more so than with Eddie Redmayne’s Emcee, which he invests with an extraordinary physicality and a manic stare. One of the striking things about this production is how all of the roles come to the fore; it isn’t just Sally & the Emcee’s show, the audience waiting for their next entrance. This cast rise to that challenge superbly. Lisa Sadovy is terrific as landlady Fraulein Schneider, her relationship with Elliot Levey’s excellent Herr Schultz growing, exuding warmth, before it crashes so sadly. Omari Douglas continues to impress with a very subtle and sensitive Clifford, struggling with his sexuality. It’s great to see Anna-Jane Casey back where she belongs investing prostitute Fraulein Kost with such exuberance. Then there’s Jessie Buckley, conquering yet another peak in a short career that has demonstrated extraordinary range. Her Sally Bowles balances confidence and vulnerability perfectly.

It’s an unsettling, dark show and this production is often chilling. Perhaps because of the recent passing of Stephen Sondheim, the parallels between him and Kander & Ebb struck me. They both tackled subjects unusual to musical theatre before, and each show was completely different. Cabaret will go down in history as a show which made a great contribution to the evolution of the form in the last half of the 20th Century and this production will be remembered for proving the point that great shows evolve and change, reflecting the period they are performed in and the talent that creates and performs them. I’m so glad I was there to experience this one.

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West Side Story – Curve Theatre, Leicester

Posted in Theatre, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 3, 2020|

It’s almost forty years since I first saw this show, in a Broadway revival, and it’s been in my top five musicals ever since, so I was excited to see what this new production by Nikolai Foster, without Jerome Robbins’ iconic choreography, would be like. The answer is ‘thrilling’.

The story is as timeless as the Shakespeare play on which it’s based, but it seems to resonate more in the UK today, given our struggle with gang culture and knife crime. Even though the setting and period, book and lyrics, remain unchanged, it has a contemporary feel and edgy aesthetic, Ellen Kane’s new choreography contributing greatly to this, which makes it feel very fresh. The design team of Michael Taylor (set), Edd Lindley (costumes) and Guy Hoare (lighting) have respected the period whilst somehow making it feel like now. A luxury fifteen piece band under MD George Dyer do full justice to Bernstein’s brilliant score.

It’s been a great pleasure watching Jamie Muscato grow into such a fine performer and here he is owning one of musical theatre’s great roles, with breathtaking renditions of Something’s Coming, Tonight and Maria. Maria is superbly played and sung by Puerto Rican Adriana Ivelisse, here to study musical theatre at the Royal Academy of Music, but looking like she doesn’t need to (note to self – RAM student productions in 2020!). Carly Mercedes Dyer is a terrific Anita, leading America with Abigail Climer’s Conesuela and Mireia Mambo’s Rosalia, who both also stand out in I Feel Pretty. Then there’s another fifteen in this superb cast, enhanced by a ‘young company’ of local trainees, who fill the stage, most notably during a rousing, moving Somewhere.

The Curve has been working with the police and the local community on the issues covered in the show (how often do you get a programme note by the Chief Constable?!) which underlines the ongoing relevance of this sixty-year-old show, here feeling like its brand new. Thrilling.

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Assassins – Watermill Theatre, Newbury

Posted in Theatre, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 28, 2019| Leave a Comment »

This is one of the less frequently revived Sondheim shows, but I’ve been lucky enough to see it four times since its UK premiere at the Donmar in 1992, and it always repays a fresh look, as it does again here.

Designer Simon Kenny has turned the Watermill into a distressed red striped barn, which creates the perfect intimate space for the nine successful and failed assassins to tell their stories and reveal their motivation. From Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, the father of them all, to more recent attempts on the lives of Regan, Nixon and Ford, some are deranged, some motivated by perceived grievances. It can sometimes seem like a series of individual stories, but in Bill Buckhurst’s production, connections are emphasised and common psychological themes revealed, and the handling of the final assassin’s story brings them together superbly.

The clever references to contemporary gun crime are chilling, with a vending machine and a surprise late arrival. The transformation to, and pivotal scene in, Dallas is deftly handled, with Alex Mugnaioni showing great presence as Booth. The balladeer is played by a woman for the first time, and Lillie Flynn sang the role beautifully. The staging of Garfield’s assassin Charles Guiteau’s hanging was brilliant, with Eddie Elliott making a great job of I Am Going To The Lordy. Steve Simmonds’ meltdowns’ as Nixon’s would be assassin Samuel Byck were terrific. The whole ensemble acts, sings and plays all of the the instruments brilliantly.

It’s only five years since I last saw it, but it resonated differently again, and it was great to see this small scale production in one of my favourite theatres. Too late for Newbury, but it’s heading to Nottingham, you lucky East Midlands peeps.

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Company

Posted in Theatre, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on October 24, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Every time I see a new production of a Sondheim musical, I think its his best, so here we go again! There hasn’t been a major London production of Company for 22 years, though we have had some fine fringe ones. Director Marianne Elliott’s reinvention, with Sondheim’s approval and involvement, changes 35-year-old New York male singleton Bobby to female Bobbie, the three girlfriends to boyfriends and one couple, Paul & Amy, about to be married after living together forever, have become gay couple Paul & Jamie. It makes a 48-year-old show feel fresh and bang up to date.

It’s Bobbie’s 35th birthday and there’s a surprise party planned. We meet her and her three casual boyfriends and her best friends, five couples who fret about her lack of a long-term relationship whilst making attempts at match-making and harbouring some jealous thoughts about her freedom. She’s at that age where she’s trying to reconcile her love of independence with her mid-thirties body-clock, which is where this production works even better with the change of gender. The normality of a gay marriage is the other change which works in its favour and choosing this particular couple, about to be married with one party having second thoughts, is inspired. Each couple has their own story, and they’re interwoven with Bobbie’s three casual romances and all the issues and pressures of being single in your thirties.

The production is highly inventive, with a terrific design from Bunny Christie. Each song and each scene seems to be a showstopper. The boyfriends trio You Could Drive A Person Crazy was deliciously interpreted by Richard Fleeshman, Matthew Seadon-Young and George Blagden. Individually, Fleeshman shines as airline steward Andy in his bedroom scene with Bobbie where they sing Barcelona, the destination of his forthcoming flight, and Blagden as PJ delivers Another Hundred People superbly. Liam Steel’s choreography comes into its own in the staging of Side By Side / What Would We Do Without You, which becomes a slick series of party games. With Jamie a gay catholic, Getting Married Today rises to new manic / comic heights and Jonathan Bailey brings the house down. Broadway royalty Pattie Lupone sings The Ladies Who Lunch like I’ve never heard it before, fabulously. Left alone on a bare stage, Rosalie Craig’s Bobbie sings Being Alive, the song that is the emotional heart of the piece, and her tears are matched by the audience; she’s wonderful as Bobbie.

As a Sondheim fan, being in a full house that roars its approval is a joy. Watching Patti Lupone leave the stage hugging Rosalie Craig felt like one generation of performers nurturing the next, as Marianne Elliott thrillingly passes on this masterpiece to the next generation too. A triumph for all concerned.

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Spamilton

Posted in Theatre, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 23, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Musical theatre parody Forbidden Broadway has been running in NYC for thirty-six years in a large number of incarnations and has had two London runs in the last ten years, one even transferring to the West End. I think its a mark of respect that they’ve renamed this 2016 incarnation after the show they’ve built it around.

Morgan Large’s design is a mini-Hamilton set and cloned costumes. Most of the show contains numbers from Hamilton with new lyrics, performed by just five actors. The way they’ve structured it, about as well as parodying Hamilton, they are able to go off at tangents with references to writers like Sondheim and Lloyd Webber, spoofing their shows too, plus others like Wicked and Annie, and we even get a visit from a famous diva.

It’s great fun, but I do think the pace is relentlessly fast. Though I’ve seen Hamilton, and most of the other shows it parodies, even I couldn’t keep up, missing more than I was happy with. It’s faster than Hamilton, which is probably the point, but it’s at the expense of total comprehension. I wished it would have come up for air and given the audience a breather every now and again.

The five main performers – Marc Akinfolarin, Jason Denton, Eddie Elliott, Liam Tamne and Julie Yammanee – are all terrific, good enough to be in the show they are spoofing. There are lovely cameos from Damian Humbley, notably as Hamilton’s King George, and Sophie-Louise Dann, including that infamous diva. Simon Beck gamely and brilliantly accompanies on a grand piano. The energy and enthusiasm of all eight is infectious; you have a ball because they are.

Writer / director Gerard Alessandrini gives us a parody that is also a homage to a show he clearly loves, and a musical form he’s a big fan of. Great fun.

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Into the Woods

Posted in Theatre, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 30, 2018| Leave a Comment »

All Star Productions last produced this Stephen Sondheim show just four years ago at their regular home in Walthamstow (https://garethjames.wordpress.com/2014/10/27/into-the-woods). Now it’s in central London, fully in-the-round at the Cockpit Theatre, substantially re-cast, but essentially the same production.

Director Tim McArthur seems to have extended his contemporary characterisations, some of which work – Towie ugly sisters, Little Red Ridinghood with headphones and Sloane prince’s – but some which don’t – the witch as bag-lady and Jack’s chavy single mum (with such an impenetrable accent I could hardly understand a word she spoke or sang). The first half is meant to smother you in fairytale charm and lull you into a false sense of security, before it turns very dark after the interval; the problem with this interpretation is that it robs you of that, and that’s where it fails.

They’ve kept the adventure playground design aesthetic, albeit with a different designer. Aaron Clingham’s band sounded great, as ever, though there were amplification problems at the performance I attended. The cast is a great combination of young newcomers, like Florence Odumosu as Little Red Ridinghood and Abigail Carter-Simpson as Cinderella, both delightful, and seasoned performers like Michele Moran and Mary Lincoln, who was in the UK premiere in 1990 – a great singer in a virtually non-singing role here! Jo Wickham is excellent as an older Baker’s Wife than we’re used to, Macey Cherrett & Francesca Pim give great turns as Cinderella’s sisters and Ashley Daniels & Michael Duke make a lovely pair of prince’s.

It was only the fifth performance (but after the press night) so it may well improve. There’s much to enjoy; what I saw was flawed, but worth catching nonetheless.

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