“Does the puzzle come together,
piece by piece and row by row?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know
Where the fucking pieces go!”
OK, so the above quote isn’t from Sondheim’s Into the Woods (it’s from the also brilliant Next to Normal) but it’s fitting given the master’s fondness for puzzles, mysteries, and games: many of Sondheim’s shows exhibit jigsaw symptoms of layers and lyrics which come across as confusing on their own but come together to form a large, intricate whole. Into the Woods is very much in this vain, following on from Sunday in the Park with George in its use of linked but largely self-contained acts to illustrate a thematic whole on the childhood lessons provided by fairy tales. It's a deep show that is constantly engaging the audience from one direction or another, and multiple viewings or some quality time with the cast recording are needed to do more than scratch the surface.
To be honest, Into the Woods isn’t in my top three Sondheims (those would be Sunday, Sweeney, and Forum with Company a very close fourth) but that’s like saying Phish Food isn’t my favourite flavour of Ben & Jerry’s. I still like it, and it’s excellent stuff, but odds are good that I’ll buy a pint of Half Baked first. And, being a show which has plenty of cast recordings and an official DVD out of the original production, chances are good that regular theatregoers have previously encountered Into the Woods at some point and already have an opinion of it.
The production at Upstairs at the Gatehouse is surprisingly high-end for a Fringe production, featuring a cast of 11 well established actors - four of which double as musicians - plus TV comedian Paul Nicholas appearing through occasionally glitched but generally well done interactive video, the production is an effective demonstration of how to stretch limited funds.
And thankfully, the implementation is largely successful - Cinderella blowing the birds’ line on the flute is somehow appropriate - if not slightly gimmicky when an actor-musician is interacting with someone poking an arm through a moving projection. It says a lot that while I felt the show dragged towards the end, there wasn’t anything I could specifically point to and say “I’d change that” and even actors who didn’t immediately impress me had their moments when I could appreciate the casting. I also suspect that patrons on the thrust’s sides on busy nights may find themselves with a less than ideal view.
tl;dr: It’s a hard show (like most Sondheim) to perform at the best of times, and it's being done as well as a 120 seat venue can hope for, even if the Graduion thought the staging needed to be more metaphorical.
Where: Upstairs at the Gatehouse
When: Until 1 Feb. Tu-Sa @ 19:30, Su @ 16:00
How Much: £12-15 unreserved depending on the day
Concessions: £10-12 depending on the day
---------------------
RZ Unofficial “Worth Paying”: £12 will get you a seat on any night but Saturday.
RZ Other Notes: You can also get tickets for £10 on lastminute. This is the last time I’ll review a Gatehouse show here - I like the venue and the shows they do, but it feels like it’s hard to maintain the professional distance needed to review productions here clearly when you get drinks with the show’s director and one of the venue’s owners after..
Showing posts with label Revival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Revival. Show all posts
Friday, 9 January 2009
Monday, 8 December 2008
REVIEW: “Sunset Blvd.”
Actor-musicians.
This simple, hyphenated word brings terror to the hearts of musical theatre fans everywhere, for as every production putting this concept to use (e.g. Sam Mendes’s Cabaret and John Doyle’s Company) shows, there are just as many proponents of creativity as there are decriers of the reduced, simplified arrangements and often passable but not impressive playing, let alone the claims that one craft is impinging on the other’s place. As long as small theatres like the Watermill continue wishing to produce musicals, however, the need for compromise will occur.
The new Sunset Blvd. is another Watermill birth: the actors are the orchestra, and a formerly grand show is re-imagined as a chamber piece. I never saw the original, lavish productions in the 90’s, which gave me nothing to compare this production to causing me to judge this production cold (and not just because my companion for the afternoon was running late!)
I won’t bother to include a synopsis, as the details are available on Wiki and both the musical and the original film on which it is based have been skewered countless times, including a brilliant rendition on Tiny Toon Adventures, so even those not directly familiar with the work are likely to have been exposed to some aspect of the story. I will say, however, that the material left me neutral. I enjoyed myself, and a number of the songs are great (the opening “Let’s do Lunch,” the sarcastic “Every Film is a Circus,” and the frantic title song) but the score is decidedly middle of the road for Lord Lloyd-Webber and while Sunset Blvd. is thoroughly professional and dramaturgically sound, the original film is a timeless classic and gains little from being musical-ised.
Getting back to this rendition, however, I felt the actor-musician concept worked. While I was quite impressed technically - the actors are constantly switching off instruments - I felt the concept neither added nor detracted from the material. The arrangements weren’t particularly thin, but I do wonder if they intentionally snuck a few riffs in as I heard bits of Phantom and Les Miz sneaking into the background on some songs.
What DID work to the production’s benefit, however, was size. We see events unfold from Joe’s perspective, and Diego Pitarch’s small set with its cold, steel revolving staircase lent itself to the cramped quarters at the Comedy. Playing the show in a large set would add to the sense of decay, but the mounting pressures and tensions play better in a venue that promotes the human over the mechanical. That said, I felt that the intimacy and the claustrophobia must have been diminished over the tinier Watermill and I was only in the first circle.
While the actors may still be finding their roles again in the new space, the performances I saw from the four principles were almost all mixed: Kathryn Evans as the great Norma Desmond only hit her stride in the second act, though once she did she easily made up for any earlier failings. Ben Goddard found the piece’s comedy as the acerbic Joe, but seemed absent (and musically off) from his second act love scene with Laura Pitt-Pulford’s bland Betty. In my book, the only actor to maintain his presence and intensity for the entire performance was Dave Willetts as the delightfully and domineeringly creepy Max.
In short? There’s nothing bad or particularly wrong about this Sunset, but it never quite hits the point of greatness that it strives for. Musical fans (especially ALW fans) should go, but I don’t feel right recommending it for, say, the once a year crowd. A strictly middle of the road Meh from me.
Where: Comedy Theatre
When: M-Sa @ 19:30, W/Sa @ 14:30, varies for Christmas week.
How Much: £17-£64
Concessions: Likely, check at the box office. Preview tickets are £10-£20 off.
-------------------------
RZ Unofficial “Worth Paying”: £25
RZ Other Notes: The original production of Sunset Blvd. was so lavish that it ran for years and never made a cent in profit due to ongoing expenses and some rather costly personnel choices. I suspect that this production will not have the same problems.
This simple, hyphenated word brings terror to the hearts of musical theatre fans everywhere, for as every production putting this concept to use (e.g. Sam Mendes’s Cabaret and John Doyle’s Company) shows, there are just as many proponents of creativity as there are decriers of the reduced, simplified arrangements and often passable but not impressive playing, let alone the claims that one craft is impinging on the other’s place. As long as small theatres like the Watermill continue wishing to produce musicals, however, the need for compromise will occur.
The new Sunset Blvd. is another Watermill birth: the actors are the orchestra, and a formerly grand show is re-imagined as a chamber piece. I never saw the original, lavish productions in the 90’s, which gave me nothing to compare this production to causing me to judge this production cold (and not just because my companion for the afternoon was running late!)
I won’t bother to include a synopsis, as the details are available on Wiki and both the musical and the original film on which it is based have been skewered countless times, including a brilliant rendition on Tiny Toon Adventures, so even those not directly familiar with the work are likely to have been exposed to some aspect of the story. I will say, however, that the material left me neutral. I enjoyed myself, and a number of the songs are great (the opening “Let’s do Lunch,” the sarcastic “Every Film is a Circus,” and the frantic title song) but the score is decidedly middle of the road for Lord Lloyd-Webber and while Sunset Blvd. is thoroughly professional and dramaturgically sound, the original film is a timeless classic and gains little from being musical-ised.
Getting back to this rendition, however, I felt the actor-musician concept worked. While I was quite impressed technically - the actors are constantly switching off instruments - I felt the concept neither added nor detracted from the material. The arrangements weren’t particularly thin, but I do wonder if they intentionally snuck a few riffs in as I heard bits of Phantom and Les Miz sneaking into the background on some songs.
What DID work to the production’s benefit, however, was size. We see events unfold from Joe’s perspective, and Diego Pitarch’s small set with its cold, steel revolving staircase lent itself to the cramped quarters at the Comedy. Playing the show in a large set would add to the sense of decay, but the mounting pressures and tensions play better in a venue that promotes the human over the mechanical. That said, I felt that the intimacy and the claustrophobia must have been diminished over the tinier Watermill and I was only in the first circle.
While the actors may still be finding their roles again in the new space, the performances I saw from the four principles were almost all mixed: Kathryn Evans as the great Norma Desmond only hit her stride in the second act, though once she did she easily made up for any earlier failings. Ben Goddard found the piece’s comedy as the acerbic Joe, but seemed absent (and musically off) from his second act love scene with Laura Pitt-Pulford’s bland Betty. In my book, the only actor to maintain his presence and intensity for the entire performance was Dave Willetts as the delightfully and domineeringly creepy Max.
In short? There’s nothing bad or particularly wrong about this Sunset, but it never quite hits the point of greatness that it strives for. Musical fans (especially ALW fans) should go, but I don’t feel right recommending it for, say, the once a year crowd. A strictly middle of the road Meh from me.
Where: Comedy Theatre
When: M-Sa @ 19:30, W/Sa @ 14:30, varies for Christmas week.
How Much: £17-£64
Concessions: Likely, check at the box office. Preview tickets are £10-£20 off.
-------------------------
RZ Unofficial “Worth Paying”: £25
RZ Other Notes: The original production of Sunset Blvd. was so lavish that it ran for years and never made a cent in profit due to ongoing expenses and some rather costly personnel choices. I suspect that this production will not have the same problems.
Sunday, 17 August 2008
REVIEW: "The Music Man"
(Review #2 for the day. See below for the RZ's thoughts on Piaf at the Donmar.)
According to some of the RZ’s local friends, The Music Man is a show that never quite resonates properly with British audiences: the isolationist expanses of the midwest combined with a puritanical instinct for a good clean society left Britain for the most part with industrialisation.
It is this desire for an upright, clean Christian society that allows The Music Man’s central figure, “Professor” Harold Hill (Brian Conley), to work his charms: a travelling fraudster, Hill creates moral panic in small towns before proclaiming himself a musical expert and selling the people instruments and uniforms for a band he has no plan to bring together. Hill meets his match in River City, Iowa, though as stubborn self-sufficient librarian Marian (Scarlett Strallen) sees through his lies while the rest of the town falls to Hill’s slick words. It’s obvious where this is going, and the RZ stop bantering on about the plot here. The score (by Meredith Wilson, as is the book) is loaded with Broadway classics including “Ya Got Trouble,” “Pick-A-Little Talk-A-Little,” and of course “76 Trombones.” There are some who write off the score as simplistic or bland, but the numbers are all appealing, and some (“Rock Island,” “Piano Lesson”) feature rather clever techniques that make themselves apparent upon multiple listens.
In terms of production, the fine folks at the Chichester Festival Theatre have done an excellent job. From the clever use of a revolve during “Rock Island” to utilising the venue’s many entrances and exits, Rachel Kavenaugh (director) and Robert Jones (designer) have given us a pastel-hued piece of Americana that’s just the thing for a warm summer day. Howard Harrison’s lighting won’t win any awards, but it’s effective and makes good use of the CFT’s unique arrangement. More importantly, Kavenaugh’s direction actually takes advantage of the diamond-shaped stage, and patrons on the sides feel involved, rather than like voyeurs.
As Harold Hill, Brian Conley is a fast talking smooth moving fellow, but was showing signs of vocal strain when the RZ attended: perhaps a side effect from attempting to channel the late Robert Preston, who originated the role. The desire to mimic the OBC and/or original film cast is a running issue throughout the piece: there was little originality in how the characters were portrayed, and while this approach worked, it would have been nice to see something a little fresher. The RZ wasn’t blown away by Scarlett Strallen in Mary Poppins, and felt similar about her Marian, particularly her consistent but clearly not midwest-American accent. Her fans, however, will undoubtedly adore her performance here. The remainder of the cast are solid, including the children who go uncredited on the website. It’s easy for the roles of Amarylis and Winthrop to be annoying, but they weren’t, and when Marian sees Wintrhop break out of his shell to sing a verse in Wells Fargo Wagon, the moment is genuine.
50 years ago, The Music Man did what would today be considered unthinkable: it beat out West Side Story for the Best Musical Tony. In retrospect it’s easy to pass judgement, but visiting this production made the RZ remember why audiences fell in love with the show: West Side Story may be the more intellectually satisfying piece, but The Music Man is a simple, charming story that does its duties so well that it’s easy to be won over like the people of River City.
Where: Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester
When: In repertoire until 30 August. Check the website for times and dates.
How Much: £12-£36
Concessions: The usual groups can book in advance for half off on main section tickets (so £15 rear section, £18 front section)
---------------------------------
RZ Unofficial “Worth Paying”: £36 for an excellent revival of a timeless classic. Even with the cost of a train ticket, it’s still cheaper to see it here than in a West End transfer.
RZ Other Notes: The RZ, having spent a number of years in middle America, may find himself recognising and appreciating the characters and setting more than others, but the performance he attended (a Friday matinee loaded with OAP’s and families) was quite well received.
The RZ suggests that patrons visiting from London attempt to catch a matinee instead of an evening performance - it takes 90 min. to get from London Bridge or Victoria to Chichester (and back), and catching an evening performance puts one in danger of missing rail connections and possibly the final underground for the evening.
Props to the CFT website for providing a list of the orchestra on the website.
The RZ had never heard of Brian Conley before this production, and finds the actor to be like Harold Hill himself: entirely elusive with any form of credential. The RZ still has no idea why this man is considered a selling point as his website is devoid of any useful information as to the man's past.
According to some of the RZ’s local friends, The Music Man is a show that never quite resonates properly with British audiences: the isolationist expanses of the midwest combined with a puritanical instinct for a good clean society left Britain for the most part with industrialisation.
It is this desire for an upright, clean Christian society that allows The Music Man’s central figure, “Professor” Harold Hill (Brian Conley), to work his charms: a travelling fraudster, Hill creates moral panic in small towns before proclaiming himself a musical expert and selling the people instruments and uniforms for a band he has no plan to bring together. Hill meets his match in River City, Iowa, though as stubborn self-sufficient librarian Marian (Scarlett Strallen) sees through his lies while the rest of the town falls to Hill’s slick words. It’s obvious where this is going, and the RZ stop bantering on about the plot here. The score (by Meredith Wilson, as is the book) is loaded with Broadway classics including “Ya Got Trouble,” “Pick-A-Little Talk-A-Little,” and of course “76 Trombones.” There are some who write off the score as simplistic or bland, but the numbers are all appealing, and some (“Rock Island,” “Piano Lesson”) feature rather clever techniques that make themselves apparent upon multiple listens.
In terms of production, the fine folks at the Chichester Festival Theatre have done an excellent job. From the clever use of a revolve during “Rock Island” to utilising the venue’s many entrances and exits, Rachel Kavenaugh (director) and Robert Jones (designer) have given us a pastel-hued piece of Americana that’s just the thing for a warm summer day. Howard Harrison’s lighting won’t win any awards, but it’s effective and makes good use of the CFT’s unique arrangement. More importantly, Kavenaugh’s direction actually takes advantage of the diamond-shaped stage, and patrons on the sides feel involved, rather than like voyeurs.
As Harold Hill, Brian Conley is a fast talking smooth moving fellow, but was showing signs of vocal strain when the RZ attended: perhaps a side effect from attempting to channel the late Robert Preston, who originated the role. The desire to mimic the OBC and/or original film cast is a running issue throughout the piece: there was little originality in how the characters were portrayed, and while this approach worked, it would have been nice to see something a little fresher. The RZ wasn’t blown away by Scarlett Strallen in Mary Poppins, and felt similar about her Marian, particularly her consistent but clearly not midwest-American accent. Her fans, however, will undoubtedly adore her performance here. The remainder of the cast are solid, including the children who go uncredited on the website. It’s easy for the roles of Amarylis and Winthrop to be annoying, but they weren’t, and when Marian sees Wintrhop break out of his shell to sing a verse in Wells Fargo Wagon, the moment is genuine.
50 years ago, The Music Man did what would today be considered unthinkable: it beat out West Side Story for the Best Musical Tony. In retrospect it’s easy to pass judgement, but visiting this production made the RZ remember why audiences fell in love with the show: West Side Story may be the more intellectually satisfying piece, but The Music Man is a simple, charming story that does its duties so well that it’s easy to be won over like the people of River City.
Where: Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester
When: In repertoire until 30 August. Check the website for times and dates.
How Much: £12-£36
Concessions: The usual groups can book in advance for half off on main section tickets (so £15 rear section, £18 front section)
---------------------------------
RZ Unofficial “Worth Paying”: £36 for an excellent revival of a timeless classic. Even with the cost of a train ticket, it’s still cheaper to see it here than in a West End transfer.
RZ Other Notes: The RZ, having spent a number of years in middle America, may find himself recognising and appreciating the characters and setting more than others, but the performance he attended (a Friday matinee loaded with OAP’s and families) was quite well received.
The RZ suggests that patrons visiting from London attempt to catch a matinee instead of an evening performance - it takes 90 min. to get from London Bridge or Victoria to Chichester (and back), and catching an evening performance puts one in danger of missing rail connections and possibly the final underground for the evening.
Props to the CFT website for providing a list of the orchestra on the website.
The RZ had never heard of Brian Conley before this production, and finds the actor to be like Harold Hill himself: entirely elusive with any form of credential. The RZ still has no idea why this man is considered a selling point as his website is devoid of any useful information as to the man's past.
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