SHOWTUNE - Celebrating the Words & Music of Jerry Herman

Showtune
Uxbridge Musical Theatre
The Compass Theatre
Wed 25th – 28th November 2009

It is said that there is never an evening when, somewhere in the world, the music and lyrics of Jerry Herman are not being sung by a lady in a red headdress, or a lady with a bugle, or a middle-aged man in a wig and a feather boa.

Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage are home to some of the most popular, most-often performed and most successful musical heroines of all time, and have given Jerry Herman the distinction of being the only composer-lyricist in history to have had three musicals that ran more than 1,500 consecutive performances on Broadway.

Showtune premiered as the cabaret revue ‘Tune the Grand Up’ in 1985 in San Francisco. Subsequently, the revue was produced in London in 1998 with a new title 'The Best of Times', first at the Bridewell Theatre and then at the Vaudeville Theatre on the West End. In 2003, the revue, now titled 'Showtune', opened Off-Broadway at the Theatre at St. Peter’s Church, at the Citicorp Center.

The show starts by taking us through the seasons of love, and then returns with optimism to close the first half. We then moved into the movie world of Mack and Mabel with the emotional roller coaster continuing to include all of Jerry Herman’s shows.

The company, with only ten performers negotiated over forty musical numbers, an impressive achievement by any standards. The shows director, Carol Williams, also performed many of the numbers displaying her superb soprano voice; Carol certainly knows how to deliver a song. These numbers from Mame, Hello Dolly and La Cage aux Folles were written for a performer of Carol's quality. There were good vocals also from Rick Williams and Phil Harrison and a lovely touch of comedy from Phil again with Alan Anders in ‘A Little more Mascara’ from La Cage.

For a show with so many songs I would have liked to see more variety in the presentation, a little more movement, dynamism and excitement. Some of the numbers were delivered with deadpan expressions and very little animation. I would also liked to have seen more from the youngest member of the company, Juliet Hickman who when given a rare solo number really shone.

Congratulations to all concerned, to Derek Holland for musical direction and leading the band throughout the evening and the many people who work un-sung behind the scenes. Uxbridge Musical Theatre will be at Iver Village Hall on 22nd May 2010 for their next evening of music and back at the Compass next November. More information can be found at their website www.umtheatre.co.uk

Simon Tidball

The Sleeping Beauty

Argosy Players
15th - 18th January 2009
at the Winston Churchill Hall

This year’s Argosy pantomime, “The Sleeping Beauty”, has to rank as one of the best and most enjoyable pantomimes I have seen! Brilliantly directed by Tom Mackriell and Sally Munday, this was a production that really did have something for everyone.


The gags came thick and fast, the up-beat musical numbers were a perfect balance to the action, and there were none of those over-long slushy prince/princess songs that get the kids fidgeting and asking how much longer there is to go. A good test of the quality of a pantomime is whether a high level of audience participation can be maintained throughout, and in this show the whole audience, adults and children, were loudly and enthusiastically involved from start to finish.

The strength of the innovative script was that it was written by long-established pantomime star Nigel Ellacott, and no one could know better what works and what doesn’t. Add to that some inspirational directorial touches, and what you have is a winner. Just one example. Anyone who goes to a panto is familiar with the ghost in the forest “It’s Behind You!” routine, but in this production just the addition of some very clever direction lifted the scene to new heights.

All credit must also go the talented cast. Anne Robinson would have been out of place at this show, because there were no weakest links. Just right in the title role as the innocent Princess Aurora was Eirlys Roff, who was perfectly matched with Prince Rupert, played by Samir Sherriff. Their “You’re So Lovely” musical number was a highlight. Samir also put on a magnificent display of vanity, and greeted every wolf-whistle with a simple “I know”.

I was very impressed by the confident and polished performance from Sam Webb, who played Muddles, and who immediately set up an enthusiastic rapport with the audience. Newcomer Mandy Gasson was great as the rather inept Fairy Godmother, as was young Shannon Stroud, who played her sidekick Fairy Clover. There were also excellent performances from Yvonne Stroud, who cackled hideously as the evil Maleficent, and Vinay Lad as her assistant Fungi (pronounced “Fun Guy”). And no pantomime would be complete without a Dame, in this case Stoo Gill as Dame Dolly.

The main players were supported by other fine performers, whom space unfortunately prevents me from listing, as well as a number of younger members of cast, but I must mention one of the dancers, Helen Gamble, who, along with Sam Webb, had done all the simple and effective choreography. The lively musical numbers were accompanied by a group of excellent musicians under the direction of Andrew Cowburn. To sum up, this was a very entertaining production. There wasn’t a dull moment.

The Argosy Players are not just about performing, but have an extensive social programme as well, and are always looking for new recruits. Find out more online at www.argosyplayers.org.uk. They will be back with “Cold Comfort Farm” at the Compass Theatre from 13th - 16th May 2009.

Frank Long

Kindertransport

Kindertransport, by Diane Samuels
Oaklands Drama Group
25th - 28th February 2009
at Ruislip-Northwood Liberal Synagogue

Shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, and following the “Kristallnacht” atrocities perpetuated against German Jews, the British government was persuaded to offer temporary sanctuary to 10,000 endangered Jewish children from Europe. The rescue mission, known as Kindertransport, saw thousands of unaccompanied children, up to the age of 17, being placed in British homes, hostels and farms. Less than a year later many of the German-born youngsters found themselves interned as enemy aliens. Hardly any of these children ever saw their natural parents again, as most of them were victims of the Nazi regime. Not only were these children separated from their parents and homes, and brought to a country where they could not even speak the language, but also for many of them there was a legacy of severe and lifelong psychological trauma.

This is the background to the drama “Kinderstransport” by Diane Samuels. It is the story of Eva, the 10-year old daughter of a German/Jewish family living in Hamburg, who experiences an onslaught of conflicting emotions as she grows up to become a woman in northern England. Her sadness at being torn from her close-knit family clashes with the betrayal she feels when her natural parents fail to make it to Britain to join her. Her anguish at discovering that her parents died in a concentration camp is replaced by a cold bitterness when she is finally reunited with her mother, who just about survived. Opting to stay with her adoptive mother, Eva renounces her Judaism, has herself baptised into the Church of England, and changes her name to the more English-sounding Evelyn.

Seen first as a middle-aged mother, Evelyn, played here by Marsha Myers, is on the surface dismissive of her past, shrugging it off as though it is of no consequence, but as the veneer is gradually peered away under the interrogation of her daughter Faith, all the conflicts and anguish rise to the surface. These include guilt, anger, betrayal, and ultimately a disgust for having survived when so many died. Marsha Myers gave a fine performance as Evelyn, a woman tortured by the ghosts of her past, while Suzi Becker, as Faith, effectively portrayed the fury of a girl who discovers that her mother’s version of her past has been a lie, but who eventually comes to terms with reality, and finds forgiveness and resolution.

Hannah Lester played Helga, Eva’s natural mother, and Ingrid Squires played Lil, her adoptive mother in Britain, two women who could not have been more different. Both actresses gave excellent and moving performances, the former conveying the anguish of a mother who knows she may never see her child again, and the latter epitomising the typical northern housewife of early Coronation Street, a rough diamond with a heart of gold. As the teenage Eva, Alexandra Moran expressed cold brutality as she rejected the mother who had barely survived the Holocaust and then searched Europe for her lost daughter. A sinister non-speaking figure, always present on stage, was the Ratcatcher, a character based on the Pied Piper, played by Mark Davidson. His exaggerated expressions reminded me of a silent movie actor, whose function, I thought, was to amplify the emotions often being concealed by the main characters.

The outstanding performance of this Oaklands Drama Group production came from 13-year old Lily Unerman, in her debut performance, as Young Eva. She was the lynchpin of the play, linking scenes set in pre-war Germany and wartime Britain, playing Young Eva as a sweet, innocent girl, wracked by emotion as she is uprooted from everything she ever knew. Not only did young Lily act superbly, but she also spoke excellent German, which she had to learn especially for this role.

This was a gripping and emotional production, expertly directed by Debbie Unerman, and performed on an intriguingly devised set, designed by John Baderman, which doubled, without hindering the flow of the action, as both Germany and England. The Oaklands Drama Group is always keen to recruit new members, regardless of age or experience. Contact mummyu@hotmail.co.uk for more details.

Frank Long

Broken Glass by Arthur Miller

Proscenium
21st - 24th January 2009
at the Compass Theatre

Arthur Miller (1915-2005) was a prominent Jewish-American playwright, a winner of the Pullitzer Prize, and is probably just as well known for having married Marilyn Monroe in 1956. He was a young man in November 1938, when a state co-ordinated pogrom against Germany’s Jewish community resulted in multiple deaths and an orgy of abuse and destruction. This has since come to be regarded as the beginning of the Holocaust. It was called “Kristallnacht” (“Night of Broken Glass”), and provided Arthur Miller with the title of this play, written 56 years later in 1994.

The play is the story of Phillip and Sylvia Gellburg, a Jewish couple living in New York at the time of “Kristallnacht”. On the face of things, it appears that Sylvia has been so traumatised by media reports of elderly Jews being forced to clean the gutters of Berlin with toothbrushes that she has spontaneously become paralysed from the waist down. Dr. Harry Hyman is called in, but can find no physical cause for Sylvia’s paralysis, concluding that her problem is psychosomatic.

Sylvia’s main problem is, in fact, her prickly and inhibited husband Phillip, a complicated businessman who is both proud of, and embarrassed by, his Jewish heritage. While his love for Sylvia seems genuine enough, he dominates and represses his wife. Throughout the play Dr. Hyman learns more and more about Sylvia’s personal life, from Sylvia herself, from her sister Harriet, and even from his own wife who, on first meeting Phillip, accurately sums him up as a “miserable little pisser”. It’s when the doctor/patient relationship becomes too intense, and Phillip’s impotence is revealed, that the sparks really begin to fly.

As tensions mount unbearably Phillip suffers a heart attack which ultimately kills him. At the moment of his death he cries out “Sylvia, forgive me”, whereupon she rises from her wheelchair and walks to the bed on which his body lies. At that point the play ends.

In “Broken Glass” Miller is mirroring Sylvia’s situation with events taking place in Germany. Sylvia’s paralysis is a symbol of the paralysis being shown by America, even its Jewish community, in recognising the evils of Hitler and the Nazis. The play also deals with the traumas thrown up by peoples’ inability to communicate, or to overcome their own repressions. With the exception of the outspoken Mrs. Hyman, the characters are unable to speak about what they truly feel. For them public and personal denial, along with wrongly placed loyalty to one’s family or religion, are apparently more important. In this play’s case, such fear can literally cripple your life.

Directed by Anne Gerrard, this was another superb production from Proscenium. Within minutes I had forgotten that the six outstanding members of the cast were actors, so powerful were their portrayals of the characters. For two hours they were the Gellburgs and the Hymans, in a performance that was a flawless and completely absorbing tour de force. Duncan Sykes, in the challenging role of Phillip Gellburg, prowled the stage like a caged animal, becoming increasingly demented as his world fell apart and all his flaws were exposed. Angie Sutherland, as Sylvia, came across as a woman who had everything except the one thing she needed most - love, both physical and emotional.

Anton Jungreuthmayer played Dr. Harry Hyman, effectively conveying to the audience his struggle to retain his professionalism, while Sheila Harvey, as the down-to-earth Margaret Hyman, provided some lighter moments, very much needed in a play bursting at the seams with so much angst. Lynette Shanbury played Harriet, Sylvia’s sister, struggling to be loyal while reluctantly revealing some of the skeletons in the family cupboard. David Pearson played Phillip’s boss, Stanton Case, the unpleasant face of American capitalism, and representative of the attitude to Jews so prevalent at the time.

Proscenium are back at The Compass Theatre from 25th - 28th March with Shakespeare’s “Anthony and Cleopatra”, an event not to be missed! Find out more about Proscenium at www.proscenium.org.uk.

Frank Long

Chess

Ruislip Operatic Society
31st. March - 4th. April 2009
at the Winston Churchill Hall

“Chess” started life as a concept album, realeased in 1984. With lyrics by Tim Rice and music composed by Abba’s Bjorn Alvaeus and Benny Andersson, the album was a critical and financial success, which virtually guaranteed the appearance of a theatrical version. This premiered in London’s West End and ran for three years, but the production was considerably altered for the American audience, and was less successful when it opened on Broadway in 1988.

Back in the 1980s chess tournaments were big news, and the world of international chess was full of equally big household names. It made good business sense to hype up every major tournament as an East/West conflict, and the Grand Masters competing at the highest level nearly always came from the Soviet Union or the USA.

The story of “Chess” involves a romantic triangle between two major chess players, one American and one Russian, and the woman who manages the former but falls in love with the latter. Although the two Grand Masters are fictional characters, they were closely based on the personalities of two chess giants from the 1980s, the USSR’s Victor Korchnoi, and the USA’s Bobby Fischer.

The programme introduction to Ruislip Operatic’s production of “Chess” describes the musical as a challenging and complex work. That it certainly is, but the ROS performers rose to the occasion brilliantly. This musical is not just about learning straightforward songs and memorising the words that link them, because even the dialogue is sung to an intricate musical accompaniment. To add to the challenge, many of the songs must have been a nightmare to learn, with sudden changes of pace and pitch, not to mention the need at times to pack in quite so many words. Impressively, I did not see any performer stumble once.

Frederick, the American player, was played by Andrew Sonden, who effectively conveyed the character’s anti-Communist leanings, brashness and inner torment. His entry from the rear of the theatre was highly dramatic, and his powerful vocal contribution to the song “Merano” was just the first of many that Andrew sang so well. Opposing him, as the Russian Anatoly, was Carl Quaif, who also gave a memorable performance as a character who lived only to play chess, and not to be a pawn in some anti-capitalist Soviet game. I have seen Carl perform in several shows, but here he was at his best, eliciting sympathy from the audience, while acting and singing superbly. He too had many memorable numbers, but my own favourite was his duet, “You and I”, sung with Caroline Clark.

Caroline Clark played Florence, a Hungarian refugee who had worked her way up in the USA, and was now Frederick’s manager/lover, until her whirlwind romance with Anatoly led to his defection to the West. Caroline has a wonderful voice, and for me every song she sang was a highlight. She put everything she had into her performance, and by the end of the show’s closing number, “Epilogue”, which she delivered with tear-jerking passion, she must have been exhausted!

Polished performances came from the supporting principals. The excellent Jevan Morris was outstandingly Soviet as Molokov, Anatoly’s manager and KGB agent, and to provide political balance, an equally strong performance came from Paul Hunter, as Walter, the devious American promoter. Susan Maycraft cut a sympathetic character as Svetlana, Anatoly’s deserted wife, while linking the chess action. The outstanding quality of the whole show was established from the outset, when the Arbiter, stylishly played by Simon Wilson, set the scene. The ROS chorus also spent a lot of time on stage, performing to their customary high standard. Their rendition of the “Anthem” which ended the first half, and their unaccompanied opening to the song “End Game”, were both spine-tingling moments.

I must congratulate Ruislip Operatic Society on this production. So much work must have gone into it, but how gratifying it must have been for them that it all came together so effectively. ROS are always on the lookout for new members, and for sponsors, so if you would like to know more, go to their website: www.ruislipos.org

Frank Long