Monthly Archives: January 2022

Review – Dear Evan Hansen, Noel Coward Theatre, London, 30th December 2021

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We’d originally planned to see this as part of my big birthday celebrations in April 2020 – but guess why it had to be cancelled…?! Anyway what’s a 20-month wait between friends? #Youwillbefound says the ubiquitous hashtag, which erroneously had led me to believe that this show was to do with finding (or not finding) a missing person, but it’s not quite as straightforward as that.

In fact, I’m really glad that I didn’t know the story of the show until I saw it, because that’s its most fascinating and rewarding aspect by far. And if you haven’t seen it yet and are planning to go, may I suggest you skip the rest of this paragraph and the next. You’ll thank me in the long run! Evan Hansen is an extremely anxious and nervous 17 year old, with a hard-working but frequently absent one-parent mum. His therapist has recommended he write himself regular letters, telling himself how today has been good or I did this well or I had fun doing this, etc. Unfortunately, when he prints off one of these Dear Evan Hansen letters at school, the printed copy is taken, read and kept by school bully and drug addict Connor Murphy. Connor teases and torments him about what he might do with the letter, particularly as Evan has referred to Connor’s sister Zoe as a potential love interest.

Connor doesn’t come into school for a few days, whilst Evan is left to fret about it. Then comes the bombshell – Connor has taken his own life, and signed the Dear Evan Hansen letter as though it were his suicide note. Connor’s parents now think that Evan was a good friend to Connor and want to know more about their friendship – and Evan can’t bring himself to tell them the truth as it would be so hurtful. As a result an entire myth is created at school and online about how great a guy Connor was – there’s even a memorial fund set up in his name, and Evan’s videos about Connor go viral. But will the truth ever come out, that this is all a lie and that Connor was cruel and unliked, and that Evan is a fantasist? And what will Zoe think? You’ll have to see the show to find out!

And if you’ve jumped the last two paragraphs, welcome back. Suffice to say, it’s a creative and highly inventive story that sets up some fascinating moral dilemmas – although I can’t help but think there should be trigger warnings a-plenty! Most of the characters are essentially good people with their hearts in the right place, and even those that aren’t have some redeeming features. The trouble is, the characters overstep the mark. Evan himself can’t put an end to spinning his stories of a good relationship with Connor, because that would be cruel to his parents. Family friend Jared likes the fact that Evan relies on him for computer/Internet security support, and milks that reliance for all it’s worth. Alana, who sets herself up as the Co-President of the Foundation, becomes more and more power hungry as she sidelines everyone else involved so that in the end she wants to take all the glory. Even Connor’s parents step in to assume a quasi-parental responsibility for Evan, much to the suppressed fury of Evan’s real mother, as revealed in a delightfully cringey dinner party scene that gives you goosebumps with awkwardness.

The combined scenic and projection design by David Korins and Peter Nigrini is incredibly effective and stuns you with its attention to social media detail, as it bombards you with Twitter feeds and status updates. The interaction between the projections and what the characters on stage are seeing or writing on their screens works extremely well. I was, perhaps, a little surprised to see Microsoft Word on the projections in a relatively early incarnation – it’s pretty obvious that Evan Hansen hasn’t upgraded to Windows 10 yet. Matt Smith’s band plays Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s score with attitude and pizzazz, and although I didn’t find the songs particularly memorable, I thought the arrangements were tremendous.

I was very much looking forward to seeing Sam Tutty in the leading role as I had heard such good things about him, so was a tiny bit disappointed to find that Evan Hansen was played by the alternate Evan, Marcus Harman, in his professional stage debut. I shouldn’t have worried; his performance is terrific. Expressing the character’s nervousness and anxiety to perfection, he commands the stage with an immensely likeable presence and is definitely a name to watch for in the future. Also on her West End debut, Iona Fraser is brilliant as the pushy Alana, a superb study of someone who allows success and attention to go to her head, so that what originally was an endearing character becomes a big-headed nightmare.

On yet another West End debut, in the role of Zoe we saw understudy Samantha Mbolekwa, who was excellent showing the transition from difficult, sulky, bereaved teenager to the warmer, more mature Zoe who allows Evan into her affections. It’s a sensitive and endearing performance. And Rebecca McKinnis is great as Evan’s mother Heidi, trying to juggle all the different elements of her life in order to keep a roof over their heads. But everyone gave a great performance, and the audience gave it a massive reception.

However… such a fascinating set-up might inevitably lead to an anti-climactic ending, and for me I was disappointed with how the story turned out; too easy, and too unrealistically charitable. The show is a little overlong and gets bogged down with a lot of schmaltz and self-indulgence. It appealed very much to me on a cerebral level, but I missed out on the emotional attachment to the show in which clearly almost everyone else in the packed audience was revelling. Somewhere along the line I found myself unable to buy into the story’s conclusion – so whilst I really enjoyed the production and the performances, I just couldn’t accept the ending. Hey ho, it’s probably me. I’m sure the show will continue for a very long time to come!

 

4-starsFour they’re jolly good fellows!

Review – Come From Away, Phoenix Theatre London, 29th December 2021

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We spent most of the Christmas period playing that touch-and-go game of will the shows go ahead or will Covid get the better of us all. Amazingly, all three shows that we had booked for between Christmas and New Year managed to stay sufficiently Corona-free and they were all thoroughly pleasing theatre trips, so praise be to the Vaccine and Booster!

First of those three was a show that I had high hopes of seeing early in 2020 but it wasn’t to be because of you know what. The first major work written and composed by husband and wife team Irene Sankoff and David Hein, Come From Away first opened in various locations in the US in 2015, before arriving in Toronto in 2016, Broadway in 2017 and the West End in 2019. It’s the longest running Canadian musical on Broadway, and has won many awards, including the Olivier for Best Musical in 2019. Does it live up to its hype? Oh boy, yes it sure does.

Everyone knows the tragic story of the hijacked planes that were flown into the Twin Towers on September 11th 2001, resulting in almost 3,000 deaths. But I’d never thought about – and I bet you hadn’t either – the 38 flights that were headed for New York at the same time and which had to be diverted to the small town of Gander, in Newfoundland. Approximately 7,000 passengers and crew, expecting to land in the Big Apple, suddenly found themselves in the back of beyond, nearly doubling the population of that tiny town. What a logistical nightmare that must have been – how to feed, house, and clothe these people; how to take care of their medical needs, how to get them in contact with friends and family (no one had mobiles in those days), and how eventually to get them back to where they needed to be, once the danger had passed. And who would give that help? The kind, generous and welcoming inhabitants of Gander, that’s who.

If ever we lived at a time where we need a good news story it’s now, and Come From Away overflows with kindness and compassion. It boasts a brilliant eight-strong band who deliver the catchy, Irish-folky score with huge enthusiasm and infectious rhythm. Beowulf Borritt’s simple but terrifically evocative set, combined with Howell Binkley’s subtle lighting design, provides a sparse, rustic backdrop to all the scenes, from a super-friendly Tim Horton’s to a chaotic airport.

The cast of twelve play dozens of characters, the majority based on real-life people and their genuine experiences at the time. There’s never been a time when theatre has needed and valued its amazing swings and covers as much as now, and for our performance we had three understudies. But the whole cast worked together superbly as a true ensemble, seamlessly moving in and out of different characters with as little as a simple walk around the stage, or change of a hat. And although the show emphasises the good things, it’s not to say that there aren’t of course many crises, heartaches, petty antagonisms and reconciliations along the way; but everything reaches a positive conclusion. So many mini-dramas are played out in this show, like the arguments between James Doherty’s Mayor Claude and Mark Dugdale’s union leader Garth, who decides to suspend the bus drivers’ strike to help with the emergency; or the relationship deterioration between the two Kevins – Mark Dugdale again and superb standby Ricardo Castro, who is also excellent as the initially distrusted super-chef Ali.

Jenna Boyd is brilliant as teacher Beulah, but also hilarious as the terrified/drunk scouser passenger who breaks into Celine Dion at a moment’s notice. She has very touching scenes with Gemma Knight Jones’ Hannah as both characters share the concern about having a son as a firefighter. I loved Alice Fearn’s smart pilot Beverley, and Harry Morrison’s constantly enthusiastic cop Oz. The heart-warming romance that kindles between Kate Graham’s Diane and standby Stuart Hickey’s Nick is beautifully observed and gets more and more charming as it progresses. Another standby, Jennifer Tierney, is excellent as the kind-hearted Bonnie, in charge of the SPCA, and who treats the 19 animals who suddenly arrive in Gander with the same respect as everyone else treats the humans – especially her beloved Bonobos!There are also great performances by Emma Salvo as newbie reporter Janice and Sam Oladeinde as the partial to Irish Whiskey Bob. The music is uplifting and emotional, and the band get their own sensational curtain call at the end with a fantastic demonstration of their individual musical skills in a finale hoe-down.

Everything about this show is a delight. A tonic for the heart and a balm for the mind. No wonder it’s been so successful. Absolutely superb from start to finish.

 

Five Alive Let Theatre Thrive!

Review – West Side Story, Northampton Filmhouse, 24th December 2021

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LOADS OF SPOILERS SO BE WARNED!

“I didn’t cry, mum!” said the little boy in front of me as we got up to go at the end of seeing Steven Spielberg’s remake of the legendary West Side Story on Christmas Eve. His mum had obviously told him that he would cry, and he was truly proud to have kept a rein on his juvenile emotional reserve. To be honest, it never remotely occurred to me that I might cry either – and I have a tendency to get a bit emosh when the stakes are high.

West Side Story and me haven’t really seen eye to eye over the years. The Dowager Mrs Chrisparkle bought me the soundtrack album one Christmas in my early teen years, and I dutifully played it as I knew a lot of the songs; but it never really hit home. The only song that I did enjoy playing, because it stood out as a beacon of irreverent fun, was Gee Officer Krupke; and it was a delight to revisit it in this film. It’s always fascinating when you know a song from a musical but you don’t know how it fits into the musical – and when you finally find out you go “ahhh, so THAT’S how it fits”. Ah yes, that’s the other confession. I’d never seen the original film; and the only time Mrs Chrisparkle and I went to see a production of West Side Story on stage, we left in the interval because our seats were so far back in the Gods at the Milton Keynes Theatre that we might as well have been in a different county.

I expected to suffer a similar disconnection whilst watching the film; but in fact we were both totally engrossed with it. West Side Story is one of the best examples in theatre or film that confronts you with the strongest of juxtapositions. The most beautiful melodies and songs, photographed with the most beautiful cinematography, and the most delightful dance sequences; all set against the most horrible of stories. That contrast between beauty and ugliness hits you right from the start and never lets up – and it’s genuinely shocking.

I knew, obvs, that West Side Story was an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, but I didn’t realise quite how much the antagonism between the Sharks and the Jets was based on pure and simple racism. Of course, the Jets may pretend that it’s about territory, but that sounds like the equivalent of 1950s Brexit mentality to me. The Native New Yorker Jets are born no-hopers in the worst part of town, and whilst their previous generations worked hard to make a decent life for themselves, this bunch just resent the incoming Puerto Ricans and blame them for everything. On the other side, the Puerto Rican Sharks are taking what little the New Yorkers had, won’t integrate, and resent everything back. Acting out that antagonism through the medium of dance is incredibly effective and powerful; but nothing compares with the moment the knives come out and mutual destruction is the only certainty. Given its closeness to Romeo and Juliet I was completely surprised that the character of Maria does not take her own life at the end. That’s my lack of knowledge about the previous versions of the show – she never does. It’s a fascinating story decision taken by the original creative team and respected ever since.

The big numbers are sensational, where Justin Peck’s choreography all but steals the show. America, danced out in the middle of an intersection takes your breath away; Tonight flows with optimism and love; the simplicity and purity of Maria is just delightful; A Boy Like That/I Have a Love crackles with warring resentment and then reconciliation; Gee Officer Krupke brings out the humour and the fact that – just maybe – deep down inside them there is good. For me, only I Feel Pretty doesn’t quite work – even though its timing is hugely ironic as the gang leaders lie dead on a warehouse floor – but that’s purely my hang-up, I’m not that fond of the song. Somewhere is sung by Valentina and not by Tony and Maria as in the original film or by Consuelo in the original stage production. As someone who dislikes songs being given to other characters – What I Did for Love in the film version of A Chorus Line being sung by Cassie is simply unforgivable – if this change of emphasis with this song disappoints you, you have my full sympathy.

The performances are all excellent; Mike Faist is outstanding as the manipulative but over-reaching Riff, Ansel Elgort superb as the quietly optimistic Tony, David Alvarez a strong and intimidating Bernardo, and in a delightful doff of the cap to history, Rita Moreno is extraordinarily powerful as Valentina, having of course played Anita in the original film. It’s not polite to mention a lady’s age, but she’s 90 for crying out loud.

With a fascinating stroke of modern awareness, the peripheral, outcast wannabe-Jet, Anybodys, is played as a trans character by non-binary actor Iris Menas, which adds another dimension to that character’s relationship with the rest of the gang. Josh Andrés Rivera is excellent as the mild-mannered Chino, who becomes more self-assertive as the film progresses, with fatal consequences. But for me the real acting strength in this film came from the sisterly partnership of Ariana DeBose as Anita and, in her movie debut, Rachel Zegler as Maria. They shine in everything they do, and when they combine for A Boy Like That, the tension sizzles off the (virtual) celluloid.

Like the boy in front of me, I also didn’t cry at the end. You just couldn’t. They’re all as bad as each other and you could see a mile-off that they were all intent on self-destruction for the sake of their racially-skewed gang memberships. I really did hope, however, that after the cops come at the end of the film, they cart Chino away for a very long spell in the Pen. Coward, shooting Tony in the back like that. No excuse.

A superb film, immaculate in all departments. And with really, really, horrible content.