I seem to be one of the few who have never heard of Timberlake Wertenbaker's play, I was surprised to learn after seeing the play in the Olivier that it was originally written for a smaller space and fro character doubling. Nadia Fall's production captures the vast space and desolation in this far-off place that these people have been shipped off to. McKintosh has designed something simple yet effective that makes use of the famous drum revolve to show the cramped conditions of a ship and to change the scenes. Jason Hughes leads a strong cast that shows the therapeutic qualities of theatre that could go hand in hand with Farinelli and the King. It uses these dire circumstances in this broken society to highlight the fact that, whilst theatre and the arts can't transform a person, it can change them to take time to forget their problems and focus on someone-else's life. The horror isn't diluted but the celebratory nature of the play doesn't come across as pretentious. Cerys Matthews' music is wonderfully atmospheric yet contributes towards a slightly longer running time than is expected, even if you don't notice the time pass. This is a funny, uplifting but also brutal play in a good production which captures the scale of the Australian outback.
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This is the second time I have seen Phantom after seeing it in it's 25th year. It was startling going back a second time to see quite how tired this production has become. It has quickly dated with Maria Björnson's design that belongs in 1986 more than it does 2015 whilst the magic from Paul Daniels hardly shocks when there are far better gimmicks on the stage than the final scene of Phantom. Saying this however, it has to be said that the music is wonderful and brought a smile to my face as soon as the Fleetwood Mac plagiarism started. Lloyd Webber's score is what keeps this show from being pulled and it has real power. With a new production, I think his show could be given a new lease of life yet feels chained down by a production that is older than me. Harriet Jones replaces Sierra Boggess as my favourite Christine, having a naivety and purity which is beautiful to listen too. Gerónimo Rauch is an impressive Phantom and, apart from being unable to get the bottom A flat in Music of the Night, has a good range and is proficiently scary yet sympathetic. Liam Tame has a harsh sound as Raoul which at times is quite annoying. The rest of the cast are a talented bunch who are a joy to watch but the longevity of any show for that length of time does it a disservice and I feel it, like the operas it pokes fun at in Il Muto, needs to be taken down before it becomes further past it's sell by date.
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If last year was a bad year for the musical, this year is turning out to be a truly great one with a second superb musical that looks almost certain to have a decent run in the West End. The plot is predictable enough and it has the brash Broadway look with a set from David Rockwell that feels typical of a Broadway show. I was wanting to hate this show, feeling that it was another money making machine from America and in a way it is but it is also far more than that. It addresses sexuality in a way that isn't intimidating and provides one of the most pleasant, enjoyable and feel-good evenings around. The anti-phone message is unique and hilarious and Jamie Baughn is great as the person who delivers that message in his role as Don who is great as the bigot who surprises everyone. An ensemble cast are wonderfully slick for this early in previews. There will be some discussion over X Factor contestant Marcus Collins who has an ensemble role here after reportedly walking out on Joseph rehearsals but he does have a solo in the second half which he excels in and is an understudy for Lola which I'm sure he will be excellent as. The comedy role is played well by Amy Lennox whilst Killian Donnelly plays the owner of the failing shoe factory well. However, it is Matt Henry's Lola that is the true marvel of the piece. He fills Cyndi Lauper's decent score with life and soul. He plays the drag queen with sass and, for me, is shoe in for the Olivier next year. It doesn't see drag queens as masking their true selves but are celebratory towards difference and the audience reacted fantastically because of that. This is one Broadway musical which will deserve it's long run.
It was with great surprise and delight that I found out that Icke's acclaimed production was getting a West End transfer. I had no idea what it was about when I saw it at the Almeida so each twist of the plot seemed truly remarkable. Getting to look back at this production is good, therefore, to be able to see the production with some knowledge of the plot was enlightening. The story of Electra makes more sense the second time around whilst you could see the proleptic irony in the first family dinner. I also forgot how shocking it is, much more so than 1984. The feminist spin at the end didn't feel forced and Oliver Ryan is just as creepy as Calchas whilst the original cast are just as spellbinding here as at the Almeida. I can't think of a production that I could have wished a West End run on more as this is an impressive and important piece of theatre that as many people as possible need to see.
My original blog post is here: http://britainstheatre.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/oresteia-almeida-theatre_28.html
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It is hard to have an objective view on a production. Multiple elements like your mood at the time, the seat your sitting and the price of a ticket impact your view on a show. Therefore, I find it difficult to be critical of The Scoop as their setup is very noble and ambitious. However, I have to say that Women of Troy was plain boring. Lisa Kuma has adapted Euripides' Trojan War plays in a way that feels long-winded and dull. The first half is spent with the debate over the death of Iphigenia between Agamemnon and Clytemnestra that has no buzz or tension to it. When you feel apathetic at the ultimate death, you know these actors have not done their job properly. The second half picks up some pace and captures the idea of the brutality of humanity yet never feels quite right. There are wobbly links as far as the acting goes but Ursula Mohan, Hannah Kerin and Terence Frisch are three notably good performances. The rest range in performances from middling to bad. Unfortunately, it comes at an inconvenient time when many of these Greeks are being portrayed at other theatres with larger budgets, with shows like Oresteia at the Almeida showing the same events with such skill and brilliance. Whilst the motive of this enterprise is fantastic, the quality needs to be better so that people aren't alienated from theatre.
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Our House does fall into the traps of the Jukebox musical. It occasionally includes songs and sequences that are irrelevant to the narrative arc (eg. an inconsequential drive in a car which happens not to be a jaguar) and, in order to make each line of Madness' songs make sense, it occasionally shoehorns in things and characters into the action who shouldn't be there like a priest in the opening number. However, Tim Firth's fist class book makes this musical stand out. The sliding doors style narrative explores the possibilities of what happens if Joe Casey, who has taken his girlfriend Sarah into an unowned house to look over his street, takes account for his actions when police come to arrest them for breaking and entering. Through clever directorial choices by Michael Burgen, Bad Joe and Good Joe are easily separated and it is an interesting take on the effect that crime, however small, has on our lives. The experience of this intimate 50 seat venue is wonderfully intimate and Eleanor Wdowski's design is great in setting the scene of this road whilst providing a thrust stage that means that the audience feel engulfed into Madness' 'banging tunes'. The cast is admirably brilliant with energy and charisma and are professional enough to carry on through a song when the keyboard died halfway through a song leaving the cast to keep it together with only a drum and bass guitarist backing them up. Considering when a similar problem occurred at American Idiot, the performer stormed off stage and the show was stopped for a few minutes, here they can muddle through which is something I admire greatly. Steven France is a great Joe Casey and is supported well by Alisa Davidson as Sarah. An ensemble cast have fantastic precision as well as comedy and most importantly, fun. The curtain call shows you how great the music of Madness is and how well the Union Theatre has produced one of the few good jukebox musicals.
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During the summer, the Royal Opera House and the Coliseum give way to the Ballet leaving little in the way of Opera to be found in London. Luckily, the ambitious OperaUpClose have filled that gap by bringing a new production of the Bizet classic to the Soho theatre. It is a rarity to be able to see the expressions on opera singers faces so sitting only a metre away from them here is a revelation. Therefore, the performers here have, in a sense, a harder job than singers in the opera house in that they have to be able to act. Even the mighty Bryn Terfel appeared shaky in his acting during Sweeney Todd when I was almost a mile away from him. These performers are strong actors and their singing strong, even if it isn't quite as powerful as the great singers at the ENO or ROH. The other slight problem with this setup is that the power and impact of the orchestra is lost when the grand prelude is only played by a pianist, a flautist, a cellist and a violinist making the overall effect seem slightly naff at moments. However, the overall effect of this stripped down performance is to create a piece of theatre that feels more real and gritty than the grandeur of the opera house. Robin Norton-Hale's adaptation turns what could be an overly romantic story glorification of murder into a relevant story of domestic violence that, through a change to the end, is far from the sexy and passionate story of a man killing for love. Flora Mcintosh's Carmen is not the sexy and in control woman that we have come to expect and instead quickly becomes a woman who is abused by Don José, played by Philip Lee at the performance I attended. His José is convincing in yet unsympathetic however there are times when he slips into his falsetto that feels like the melody is too high for him. Of the rest of the cast, there are some stronger singers and weaker singers but overall, the experience is a fantastic alternative to the opera house experience even if it is in no way a replacement for it.
