2020: Performance Highlights

Well ladies and gentleman, I think we can all agree that 2020 has been one giant clusterfuck.

I began writing this post earlier this week, as my usual top ten performances of the year. But I’ve had a change of heart as to how I should go about it this year.

Essentially, this last week has been fucking mental and everything changed again. Once again we are back to having to live one day at a time, as this country goes up the spout. My change of heart is thanks to a friend who also reluctantly did a roundup of the year actually, but I guess the sentiment is for everyone.

Basically, it feels wrong to put shows in an order. It’s been a devastating year for the Arts, and it just feels wrong to rank from 10 to 1 like normal. Everyone who managed to make theatre happen in this godforsaken year was, frankly heroic, and they deserve to be recognised as such. It just isn’t fair to pit people against each other right now.

So, I’m going to group together people in the same show in no particular order. You’ll still get the same thoughts from me that you’d normally get, just in a slightly different way

Gavin Creel and Sara Bareilles  in Waitress

It was no secret that I had issues with the London transfer of Waitress - literally none of their casting/marketing decisions made sense, or had any real logic behind them.

But then, at the end of January, two Broadway stars arrived in the West End, and everything changed.

Getting to see Sara Bareilles play the part that she wrote the voice for was hugely moving. Whether or not she is the greatest actress in the world is sort of beside the point, because she pours every piece of herself into the score that she wrote and makes it come alive in a way no one else possibly could. Whether it's in the scenes where she's funny or feisty, or in one of her soaring ballads when she is singing for her LIFE, there isn't a moment that doesn't have a purpose.
Joined on stage by one of her best friends (the utterly delightful Gavin Creel), the audience is treated to one of strongest connections between two people that I've seen for a long time. The material between the two goes beyond a clique, and they show that in spades.

Hadley Fraser and Rebecca Trehearn in City of Angels

When I say City Of Angels assembled the best cast we've probably ever seen in the West End, I don't know that I am exaggerating. It's sort of criminal that they never made it to their opening night, and only got a couple of weeks of previews. But the two people I always think of when I think of the show are Hadley Fraser and Rebecca Trehearn.

Hadley Fraser holds together every show he's a part of, and none more so here as the leading writer, Stine. Ever present, even if not directly involved in the scene, he is shaping the narrative, holding  the focus, and singing up an absolute storm. 
As usual, Rebecca Trehearn walks away with the show with one number. You Can Always Count On Me is the show highlight and Rebecca gets to show just how funny she is. 

I can only hope that more people will get to see this group of people deliver this material in the future. City of Angels is never with us for long enough, and this production is too brilliant to not get the full run it deserves.

Jodie Jacobs in cabaret at the Hippodrome

When we came out of the November lockdown, my first thing back was Jodie Jacobs' cabaret at the Hippodrome. It was literally the stagiest night you've ever seen - I sat down with my pal (socially distanced before you all bark) and realised I knew the people infront, behind and across from me. All the stagey gang were in for a brilliant night.

The fact that Jodie Jacobs isn't one of our biggest musical stars and that she doesn't just have the pick of the West End is CRIMINAL. Her voice is outrageous, her comic timing is second to none, and she can emotionally sucker-punch you when you're least expecting it. 

She's just an absolute star and I frigging love her. 
WRITE SHOWS FOR JODIE JACOBS AND GIVE HER ALL THE ROLES.

Janie Dee in A Little Night Music

If I hadn't put this in, the person I sat next to at this show would have personally hunted me down and murdered me (with good reason let's be real.)

Janie Dee is one of my favourite performers and she basically single-handedly pulled me from a deep depression (cause by this this godforsaken year.)

The first thing to happen post-lockdown was a concert production of A Little Night Music at Holland Park Opera, produced by Dee and Alex Parker. It was another chance to see lots of the 2015 cast (I'll talk about this all in my other post) but I really have to just briefly mention Janie.

We sat in the torrential rain for nearly two hours, and watch Janie Dee deliver a masterclass. Stepping out from under the canopy into the rain to deliver Send in the Clowns took on such a different reading. We laughed until we cried, as did most of the cast. We almost caught hypothermia but man it was worth it.

Andrew Scott in Three Kings

I didn't watch an awful lot of streaming theatre, because frankly it hurt too much to not be able to be in a theatre watching these shows.

But you make an exception when Andrew Scott decides to do a play.

One man shows are difficult, especially when it's streamed. Trying to hold an audiences attention for nearly 90 minutes is hard. But then you have Andrew Scott, who could honestly read his way through the phone book and we'd probably all still give it a standing ovation.

He's just...incredible. He's funny, he's dramatic, he's moving and he's honest. That's the thing with Andrew, it's his honesty. It makes him one of our finest actors.

Ricardo Afonso in Jesus Christ Superstar: The Concert

Seriously though gang, Ricardo Afonso is one of the absolute best male vocalists working in musical theatre. When we reopen I have a list of shows for him to lead.

Getting to see him rip his way through the score of Jesus Christ Superstar was really bloody special. It was one of my first shows back post-lockdown, and the first time I'd had some singers belt in my face for a while. And it reminded me how much I've come to rely on it. 

Ricardo bookends the show with Heaven On Their Minds and Superstar, and just gets more and more vocally outrageous as it goes along. On top of that, his performance becomes more moving, more desperate and more intense. I saw him in We Will Rock You about 12/13 years ago and he was UTTERLY BRILLIANT. It's just thrilling to watch - I'm really glad that I caught it.

 Carly Bawden and Marc Antolin in Romantics Anonymous

God, where on earth do you even start with these two?

I've talked a lot about why this show means a lot to me (see here: What If We Tried Something New? - Thoughts on Romantics Anonymous (hardtoseethelightnow.blogspot.com) ) but it essentially was the first time I saw myself staring back at me from the stage. In both Carly Bawden and Marc Antolin's performances I saw an introverted person who's questioning their right to love.

Watching Marc Antolin sing 'If She Loved Me' was like being unable to breathe. The journey in the space of two minutes that he takes you on is so moving, I get chills just thinking about it. Add to the mix the slow burner performance of Carly Bawden who begins to flourish as the show goes on and you have two leading performances that you'll never forget.

I saw this show live 3 times in January (twice in a day...!)  and then live again in September when Wise Children bought it back for one night to the Bristol Old Vic. It was a strange bookend to the first lockdown, and getting to experience it with lots of friends was just so wonderful.

The complexities of the performances these two give will stay with me for a long time, and I hope we are allowed to have it back in London again soon...

2020 wasn't what anyone expected, but the one thing it did do was cement to everyone just how important the Arts are.
No matter what the Government say, or don't say, or don't do, we have to keep the faith. Performances like these are going to be part of the healing of the country in 2021 and beyond. The Arts will be there to help the country, and the world, make sense of what we have been through, and be able to put ourselves back together again...