Six The Musical @ Oxford Playhouse - August 2021

As soon as theatres were allowed to operate again (albeit socially distanced), the producers of Six bought it straight back out on the road, making it one of the first musicals back on tour in the UK as we emerge from lockdown.

Now playing to full capacity, it's currently at the Oxford Playhouse, where I was lucky enough to catch the show. Originally booked in for a week in August 2020, the show sold so well that Six is now running for a fortnight, and is sold out for its entire visit.

Now, I'm no stranger to Six: I originally saw the show in a cow-shaped tent in Edinburgh at the Fringe Festival in 2018 and fell head over heels in love with it's genius, inventive way of essentially giving a history lesson in an hour and fifteen minutes. 
Since then, I've seen the show multiple times, in both of it's London homes (The Arts and The Lyric) and out on tour in 2019. For me, it's one of the best British musicals of the past decade, and it's stratospheric rise to being a Broadway show just before the pandemic hit is unbelievably deserved. I don't think there's another show in recent memory that has had a journey as fast from 'Fringe show' to 'Broadway smash-hit' - eighteen months from Edinburgh to New York - it just doesn't happen! Writers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss really have tapped into something with this show - it's got masses of broad appeal, but with some brilliant hidden nuggets for the hardcore musical theatre fan (the reference to Little Shop of Horrors in the opening number makes me smile every time I hear it...)

 

One of my favourite things about seeing this show multiple times is getting to see different women's interpretations of the Queens. One of my favourite things about theatre is how differently people can portray a role with the same source material, and it's so true with Six. 
There's no 'lead' in this show - all six actresses have an equal cut of the show and that's just a great thing. The plot follows the women's search for which of them had the worst time married to their mutual husband, and that Queen shall lead the girl-band they are forming.

It's useless to try to compare the Queens as they're all so different, but it's worth highlighting them all just for a moment. 

Lauren Drew's brilliantly Welsh Catherine of Aragon kicks off the show with fire, sass and attitude, whereas Maddison Bulleyment pulls every ounce of comedy out of Anne Boleyn's brilliant number 'Don't Lose Your Head'.
Caitlin Tipping has the emotional height of the show with 'Heart of Stone' and does great work with it, and then Shekinah McFarlane smashes Anna of Cleeves' no-nonsense 'Get Down' out of the park.
Six superstar Vicki Manser (who started out her journey with the show as a swing and ended up covering and playing all SIX of the Queens at one point or other) plays the queen we arguably know the least about - Katharine Howard - and her account of her life is probably the most harrowing, and Manser hits every beat of the nearly 7 minute 'All You Wanna Do'.
Rounding off the show is Elena Gyasi as the one who survived. Catherine Parr wants no part of the contest by the end of the show: who had the worst time sort of becomes irrelevant once you sit and realise that these women are better together than trying to tear each other apart. Gyasi's 'I Don't Need Your Love' isn't about winning the contest: its about survival and it's really moving.

There really isn't a lot left to say.

Six is a sensation, and it's success in mainstream musical theatre is a real boost for new British musicals. We have so many wonderful composers and lyricists making new work that isn't yet on this scale (in the West End or in large touring venues like this.) 
If I could make one suggestion, it's to seek them out. Go and see shows at places like Southwark Playhouse or The Other Palace (I am there tomorrow to see the new musical Operation Mincemeat on the recommendation of lots of friends and can't wait!) or go to a local 'scratch night' and find these new artists and support them. 

Six is touring nationally, reopening at the Vaudeville at the end of September, and reopening on Broadway later in the Autumn.
Don't miss it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat @ London Palladium - August 2021

 

So listen.

When it was announced that the 2019 revival of Joseph was returning to the Palladium, I had no real desire to see it. I saw the production with Sheridan Smith, and had a nice enough time, but unlikely the rest of my generation I wasn't raised on the Donny Osmond movie and find Joseph to be quite 'meh'.

But then, the legend that is Linzi Hateley was announced to be returning to the production as the Narrator for some 'special performances' when Alexandra Burke (who took over from Smith in this year's production) was otherwise engaged.

 

Returning to the part she originated thirty years ago - of COURSE I was going to have to be there!

At the end of watching this show, I instantly text someone saying "I never want to see Joseph again, because it will never be done better than this," and there is one reason for that.

Linzi bloody Hateley.

Now, it's sort of the dream entrance for any character. Stage goes dark in the middle of the overture, and two spot lights hit a figure facing the back of the stage. That figure turns round, smiles and the audience ERRUPTS. The look of joy on Hateley's face as the wall of love and support was just wonderful to see (I absolutely cried - I am ridiculous).

I had forgotten that the Narrator essentially doesn't leave the stage for the entire show (and quite how hard that means Hateley has to work!) but the woman does not break a sweat and gives a incredible performance.

There's a LOT going on in this production for the Narrator - multi-roling, tap dancing, playing the spoons just to start - but Hateley knocks every element of this character out of the park. It's very "nudge nudge wink wink" comedy (as opposed to Smith's loud and outright humour that she used in the 2019 production) and it works a lot better in my eyes; the Narrator is in on the humour of it all, rather than the slightly bonkers alternative that we've seen before.

But the thing that really shines in this production is Hateley's sensational voice. Whilst I don't listen to Joseph regularly, if I do it's the Prologue from the 1991 recording - there's something really magical about THAT voice, and the way it elevates the material. 
Thirty years on, and the voice sounds exactly the same. There's been some tinkering with keys here and there because of the Narrators before her in this production don't have the incredible range needed, but it doesn't stop Hateley from really getting to belt her face off in moments like Pharaoh's Story and Go Go Go Joseph (I literally shouted 'go on Linzi' at the end of Act 1 as she's doing 'ahead of your time' up the octave!) 

There's something quite emotional about getting to see Hateley reunited with Jason Donovan - this time taking on the role of Pharaoh. Their friendship has been well documented across the years, and it's great to see them together on stage. In the fleeting moments the two characters spend on stage at the same time, you can see they're having a ball.

Add into that mix Jac Yarrow, back again as Joseph and better than ever. That man is really going to one of our biggest leading men in the next few years and it's great to see. He properly stops the show with a truly wonderful rendition of Close Every Door 

So the production itself is essentially still the same as it was in 2019. 

The Narrator is now more of a Pied Piper character, who uses the children that she's telling the story to bring it to life. You've got kids playing Potipher, some of the brothers, the Butler and Baker and so on. 
It's an approach that I still don't think fully works on every level. There something a little odd having Potipher played by a child, and Mrs Potipher by a grown woman - I know we suspend all belief in theatre but it still doesn't gel with me. But I cannot deny there's something really wholesome about the kids being some of Jacob's sons, and them just generally being around and fully in the story.

It's a week or so until the end of this revival, but I really don't think I'll see it again. I've seen the ULTIMATE Narrator, and an absolute top notch Joseph in the same production - short of casting Lady Gaga as the Narrator I don't think I'd get anything else out of it other than what I've already got.

My suggestion though?

Try to get in to see it - if you can get in to see Linzi please do, but it's a really fun couple of hours and a  great way to get back into the theatre after such a long time away!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

South Pacific @ Chichester Festival Theatre - August 2021

 

The annual pilgrimage to Chichester's summer musical is one of my favourite days of the calendar. It's nearly a 10 hour round trip in a day, but usually worth it for a really brilliant revival in the glorious Festival Theatre.

2020 denied me of my trip, but last weekend I made the journey, to see the wonderful revival of South Pacific. 

Boasting one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's finest scores, South Pacific is lead to perfection with a truly astonishing cast, who really are an embarrassment of riches.
As Ensign Nellie Forbush, Gina Beck delivers a beautifully complex performance of a woman struggling with her inbuilt prejudice. She has the hopeful and joyous sides of Nellie with her glorious, glistening soprano voice, and then emotionally delivers in the climaxes of the two acts. Opposite her as Emile de Becque is the magnificent Julian Ovenden. Ovenden is unquestionably one of our finest musical theatre actors, and it's showcased to perfection here. His voice is like hot chocolate, and his performance of 'This Nearly Was Mine' (centre stage, in a spotlight, stood still), is the definition of a showstopper and the emotional highpoint of the piece.

Joanna Ampil is a different Bloody Mary to anything I've seen before - she's a driven mother wanted the best for her child rather than the usual shouting islander she is sometimes portrayed to be, and it works an absolute treat.  Zack Guest (standing in for Rob Houchen) gives a strong yet subtle performance as Lt Cable, the young man who joins the war and is the one to cut through the racism with the excellent 'You've Got To Be Carefully Taught'.

Chichester's Artistic Director Daniel Evans has produced a production of the highest quality, with performers and creatives at the top of their game. Ann Yee's choreography is gritty and cuts to the heart of the piece right from the start, with the use of Bloody Mary's daughter Liat as the thing to pull the show full circle. Cat Beveridge conducts a wonderful orchestra of 17 (including a harp!) which make this sumptuous score soar to the it's fullest potential. Add in an almost constantly moving revolve, and a set design from Peter McKintosh that continues to surprise at every turn, and you have all the ingredients come together for a first rate revival.

There are conversations that have begun to occur as to whether we should still be putting on productions of musicals that we find to be 'problematic'. Shows like Showboat, Carousel and South Pacific deal with difficult topics and issues like  racism and domestic violence. They are shows that would, in today's society, more than likely not be made. And that presents a wider discussion as to how we present these shows when we want to revive them. 

Regent's Park have revived Carousel this summer, in a radical new setting, arrangement and ending. People are loving it, but I didn't. What they have done with their tampering with the ending is fundamentally change what Carousel is. Being clear, I take nothing away from the performances in this piece - Carly Bawden and Joanna Riding particularly knocked it out of the park (if you'll pardon the pun!) 

However, the creative team obviously aren't happy with the message of the original ending, which honestly is fine. But they have radically changed the final 30 minutes so much that it no longer bears any resemblance to what Rodgers and Hammerstein actually wrote, and the story they were trying to tell. If you're not happy with the ending of a show, to the extent that you want to change it so much... do a different show! 

Going into South Pacific, I was worried what Evans might have done to the piece to address this. What he has cleverly done, is present it in a completely traditional way, as a period piece. It's set firmly in it's original time and location, and whilst you can feel echoes of it's relevance because of the context of political and world movements over the last few years, it's presented in the way it was intended, and thus it works perfectly. 

There's a moment at the end of the first act, where Nellie's ingrained racism is put on full show when she is introduced to Emile's mixed race children. When she reacts horrified at discovering they are the children of the man she loves, over half of the upper middle-aged, middle-class, white audience at Chichester laughed. It was enormously uncomfortable that, 70 years on since the premiere of this masterpiece, audiences are still having reactions like that...

Revivals are the way to my heart, and they don't come much more grandly cast and presented than this. There are a few houses it'd fit nicely into in the West End, if Chichester wanted to line up a transfer...!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

John and Jen @ Southwark Playhouse - August 2021

Almost 30 years after it was first performed, Andrew Lippa and Tom Greenwald's two-hander musical has made it's way to the UK. Having previously been led in earlier productions by Carolee Carmello and Kate Baldwin, the show is now in the hands of a third redhead: the wonderful Rachel Tucker, alongside newcomer Lewis Cornay. The first half centres on brother and sister John and Jen and their childhoods. Following a tragedy, Act 2 follows Jen and her new son John (who she named after her brother.)

The piece has changed setting slightly since it's original outing and spans 1985-2022 (rather than the original 1950-ish to 1990), but its story and score, as far as I understand remain largely the same.

It isn't very often that you get to sit in somewhere as intimate as the Little at Southwark Playhouse and see someone as talented as Rachel Tucker up close, but that's exactly what we are being treated to at the moment. 

Tucker (soon to be jetting off back to Broadway to reprise her Olivier-nominated performance in Come From Away) takes Jen on a real journey across the two hours. Starting as a child playing the full range of one character up to being a mother of an college-headed son, her Jen is both head-strong and gentle. It takes until the 11 o'clock number for Tucker's signature belt to really get a time to shine, but 'The Road Ends Here' really is a moment in which  she is able to fully let rip and its thrilling to watch.

Lewis Cornay matches Tucker at every turn with his excellent performance too. He slots into the younger side of John very easily, and manages to find all of the comedy that you'd expect to come out of a five year old, but give it some real heart too. 

It's a beautifully orchestrated piece, with an orchestra of 4 under the direction of Chris Ma. Lippa and Greenwald's score is expertly played by 3 strings and keys, and it enables it to be care-free to begin with, but then to really drive home the emotional numbers. Be under no illusion that this musical is light and fluffy; there are really adult themes of domestic violence, war and loss at play here. 

Whilst the score itself is a little hit and miss for a good portion of the first half, it really is the two performances that elevate the material above and beyond.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Baghdad Cafe @ Old Vic Review - July 2021

 

When faced with the prospect of what to come back in a full production with, I'm sure the Old Vic had many an option to choose from. 
Whether it was conscious or not, what they've chosen could not be more perfect to welcome back people into their auditorium for a full run of a show for the first time in 16 months: Wise Children's adaptation of the cult 1987 film, Baghdad Cafe.

It's a straight forward enough plot: following an argument, and subsequent separation from her husband, a German woman (Jasmin) arrives at the Baghdad Cafe, just as the owner (Brenda) is throwing out her own husband. Despite incredibly frosty first impressions and a lengthy altercation, the two women eventually become strong friends.

At this time, it's a really wonderful thing to see a story about isolation that is so full of hope. In this little place in the middle of nowhere, two people who are absolute opposites find a way of putting their differences aside and developing a real friendship that they wonder how they managed without. 

Sandra Marvin and Patrycja Kujawska give really special performances as Brenda and Jasmin. Marvin is very grounded in her matriarchal performance of Brenda - a mother who, in her own way, is trying to do the best for her daughters Phyllis and Salome, whereas the mystery of Kujawska's story takes a little while to become clear (possibly a touch too long). Le Gateau Chocolat puts in a solid supporting performance as Brenda's long suffering husband Sal, and Gareth Snook (a Wise Children staple) is sweet as Rudi, a longterm resident of the Baghdad Cafe.

Haunting the 90 minute piece is the beautiful 'Calling You' by Bob Telson. It is fragmentedly used throughout the narrative, showing the internal pain of the characters at various moments of the story, and culminates in a really moving moment at the end of the piece.

It's a gorgeously designed show by Lez Brotherson (in 'cahoots' with Vicki Mortimer). The stage is sparse to begin with, with a caravan on stage and a car in the audience (!). But through director Emma Rice's signature style of production, the stage is soon filled and the stage begins to feel like it's bursting at the seams. It unashamedly screams that it's a Rice piece of theatre, with all her usual devices used in a superb way. From seeing pieces like Wise Children and Romantics Anonymous, they're familiar, but there's something so warm about them, even when you know what to expect.

There's scope for an argument that this piece is an example of 'style over story'. Having not seen the film that it's based on, I can't really comment on whether they've sacrificed some of the story to enable Rice to really put her signature stamp on it. If they have, I still think it works. The relationship between Jasmin and Brenda could probably be fleshed out a little bit before they come to an understanding, and an eventual friendship, but in a 90 minute piece I think it worked well.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

"Times Have Changed!" Anything Goes @ Barbican Theatre Review - Summer 2021

There is absolutely no way that this 'review' is going to be coherent in any way, because it is days since I saw this show and I literally have thought of nothing else every waking moment. 

So let me tell you a story.

Ten years ago, sixteen year old Ryan fell in love with a YouTube video, of a Broadway star doing a performance at the 2011 Tony Awards. Repeatedly watching that video on at least a weekly basis, until that tap routine was so engrained in his head, that he knew every single beat of it (despite not being able to tap dance a step). He obsessed over it, and every piece of info about that production.
 Never, ever in his wildest dreams did he every think that he'd ever get to see that performance in real life, let alone a decade later.

But that's exactly what happened to me on Friday night, when I went to the first preview of Anything Goes at the Barbican, starring the one and only Sutton Foster.

First previews of new productions are always special. The audience are always super-hyped, and the atmosphere is always superb. But because we've been starved of theatre for so long, this was a night for the history books.

I don't think I've ever been in an audience that has given two standing ovations mid-show before. Like, this stuff happens on Broadway, but it doesn't happen here. And yet, TWICE on Friday night. 

At the end of the title number, the audience leapt to it's feet (I mean I was yelling like a football hooligan before Ms Foster had hit the octave jump at the number) and the cast stood there with massive grins on their faces as the curtain came down for the end of Act 1. It's the definition of perfection. I've never seen anything like it.

My friends and I stumbled out of the auditorium at the interval and were in various states of shock... a mixture of admiration, sobbing, joy and shaking occurred, and I do not regret it in the slightest! No one could really speak at the genius we'd just witnessed.

But, what followed 30 minutes later was something I wasn't anticipating. The cast gave a sensational performance of Blow Gabriel Blow, which stopped the show dead in it's tracks. The number ended and the audiences went bananas. Because it's not the end of an act, we were able to go absolutely mental for as long as we wanted. And my god we did!
It's was minutes but it felt like weeks - the sheer bliss and euphoria that comes from a big production number is unmatchable and the adrenaline rush that comes from it is something I have missed an obscene amount.

Two words.

Sutton. Foster.

In 2008, I first discovered Shrek the Musical and fell head over heels in love with the woman playing Princess Fiona. She sang like a dream, she was funny AND she could tap dance - these are literally my three characteristics I look for (hence why I'm obsessed with the entire cast of Follies). But I never really thought I'd get to see her live.

I don't know really what my expectation was. The woman is a bonafide legend, has two Tony Awards, and one of them is FOR the role that she was about to reprise. Like, I knew she was going to be good, but honestly nothing could have prepared me for the performance that I witnessed.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a leading performer who can dance with the ease and coolness that Sutton has got. She gives real heart and grounding to Reno not just through her acting and her singing, but through the way she moves. The fun Reno is having during Anything Goes, as she's tapping with a bunch of sailors, is exhilarating, but with a real focus on the character we've grown to know over the 90 minutes that have led up to this moment.

She's just bloody wonderful, and I honestly haven't stopped talking about it to anyone who will listen since I walked out of the Barbican...

It's been a long time since I saw a cast that I universally loved this much too (not just cause we had hardly any theatre for over a year too...!)

Theatrical legend Robert Lindsay stars opposite Foster as Moonface Martin (public enemy number 13), who stows away on the ship. Lindsay's signature charm and comedic chops come into full play here. 
Samuel Edwards and Nicole-Lily Baisden are charming as the secondary couple of Billy and Hope, with the 'will they/won't they' storyline keeping you guessing right up until the end. Alongside them is the ever excellent Haydn Oakley as Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, a British socialite engaged to Hope. Oakley's big Act 2 number "The Gypsy In Me" is a real highlight of the show, which is impressive to be able to steal focus from the rest of the show!

Felicity Kendal and Gary Wilmot offer great comedic relief in small character parts, perfectly suited to their strengths, whilst Carly Mercedes Dyer (who pre-pandemic was a sensational Anita in West Side Story) is scene-stealing as the mischievous Erma, with a brilliantly ballsy number towards the show's finale.

Last night I went back to the Barbican for a second trip in less than a fortnight, and it's every bit as good as the first time I saw it. Foster seemed to be enjoying herself even more and the whole cast have relaxed into it even more. Even more on show was the brilliance of Robert Lindsay, and his sharp wit. He evidently changes a few lines each show (because you saw Foster properly laughing at some of his one liners) and it's a joy to see such a brilliant duo bouncing off each other.

In what other show, on a random Tuesday night would you see two mid-show standing ovations, other than this one? Well you just wouldn't.

Times truly have changed, but if you're wanting a show to go back to that is a proper warm hug, with some of the best dance numbers you'll ever see, and one of the tightest and most talented casts in recent memory,  you cannot miss this show.

I don't think I've ever given a show 6 stars before, but today I do. 
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Oh, and I think I'm going again on Sunday!