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Friday 3 August 2018
Evita (UK Tour), Grand Opera House, Belfast | Review
Evita (UK Tour)
Grand Opera House, Belfast
Reviewed on Wednesday 1st August 2018 by Damien Murray
★★★★
When the idea of a musical based on the life of Eva Peron was first suggested back in the 1970s, many people were dubious about its chances of success… fast forward to today and it has become a modern classic with major theatres like Belfast’s Grand Opera House playing host to an extended run of Bill Kenwright’s 40th Anniversary Touring production of the show.
As last week marked the 66th anniversary of her untimely death from cancer at the age of 33, the show has not only been a success, but has already outlived the real Evita by quite a few years.
A sung-through musical story of her short life, the show takes us from her humble beginnings through to a life of wealth and power, dubbed as the ‘spiritual chief of the nation’ by the Argentine people.
From its dramatic opening with Eva’s funeral juxtaposed with Che’s angry and cynically mocking song, Oh What A Circus, and going full circle through her eventful life back to her lying in state, this must be one of Bill Kenwright’s best ever productions.
Jointly directed by Kenwright and Bob Tomson, this excellent touring revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice’s relatively early musical about the former Argentine dictator’s wife – which, like Jesus Christ Superstar, originated as a concept album – may be slightly scaled down from the original… but, you would never realise it.
For this was a classy staging boasting basic, practical, but opulent, settings in a well-dressed and extremely well-lit production, which also included some child performers for added realism.
Strong tango rhythms encouraged fiery and passionate performances, especially in choreographed ensemble pieces like Buenos Aires as the hard-working ensemble brought the ideas of Choreographer, Bill Deamer – ranging from passion-filled tango to militaristic movement – to life.
Thanks to Musical Director, Tim Whiting, and his 10-piece orchestra, Webber’s sung-through format threw up many memorable musical highlights, including: great vocal clarity from young Cristina Hoey as the teenage Mistress in Another Suitcase In Another Hall; and from Oscar Balmaseda as the nightclub tango singer, Magaldi, during On This Night Of A Thousand Stars, while the rousing chorus of A New Argentina also stood out, as did the young girl’s beautiful singing of Santa Evita; Che’s expressive interpretation of High Flying Adored and the ailing Eva’s heartfelt and moving rendition of You Must Love Me.
Mike Sterling provided a commanding Peron, while Glenn Carter really impressed in the demanding role of the ever-present Che, the self-styled narrator of the story.
Carter’s diction, clarity and, at times, almost patter-style of delivery were vital to this show, as – being sung-through – those new to the story or with any hearing difficulty needed such clarity to put everything in context, especially during songs like Oh What A Circus and High Flying Adored.
In addition to her beautiful singing voice (particularly in the show-stopper, Don’t Cry For Me Argentina), The Voice finalist and musical theatre songstress, Lucy O’Byrne, turned in a very confident performance as the ambitious backstreet actress whose ascendancy was unstoppable, because she was so loved and adored by so many that she almost rose to the dizzy heights of sainthood.
My only small criticism was that, as Eva Peron was enigmatic, manipulative and charismatic; I would have liked to have seen a little more charisma throughout, as it did take a little longer than usual to warm to the character of Eva.
This may have been because O’Byrne was more operatic in style than some others I have come across in this role, although her display of humanity during You Must Love Me at a time of critical physical weakness was heart-breaking and probably the best and most moving ever, as was the touching death scene.
All dressed and decorated in a rich tapestry of sumptuous sets, authentic costumes and wigs, and attractive, mood-inspiring lighting, this production was a visual treat with some beautiful theatrical pictures at the end of most songs.
Forty years after its West-End premiere, this fast-moving production is a high standard revival of a passionate and powerful piece of musical theatre.
Evita runs at the Grand Opera House, Belfast until 11th August before continuing it's tour.
photo credit: Keith Pattison
Friday 8 December 2017
Peter Pan (Pantomime), Grand Opera House, Belfast | Review
Peter Pan (Pantomime)
Grand Opera House, Belfast
Reviewed on Tuesday 5th December 2017 by Damien Murray
★★★★
With over 70,000 tickets having been sold even before press night, Peter Pan is already set to become one of Belfast’s most successful pantomimes yet.
Staged amid visually attractive cut-out sets that transported the audience to a world of wonder in such locations as The Darlings’ nursery, Neverland, Crocodile Creek, on board a pirate ship and beneath the sea, this production had a lot to offer with a talking bra, some super soakers, a giant gorilla and jokes about a mermaid’s shell phone all proving popular with the young audience.
Boasting production values as high as its flying sequences, this impressive show was spectacular with its pyrotechnics and special effects such as a colossal crocodile that moved right out over the front seats of the stalls in the Act 1 finale and a scary 3D underwater journey on film (but, be warned, it is, perhaps, a tad too scary for smaller children as I learned from this, my grandchildren’s first pantomime visit).
With super sets, costumes, dance routines and lighting, this production had cross-generational appeal with the double entendres, political jibes and topical references keeping the adults happy, while the silly one-liners and slapstick comedy made the children laugh loudly throughout.
Celebrating 28 consecutive years as the pantomime dame at Belfast’s Grand Opera House, May McFettridge (aka John Linehan) again proved that he truly is the ‘Grande Dame’ of the local pantomime stage.
This year, playing May Smee, this seasoned dame appeared to go into auto-pilot mode each time he took to the stage as his quick-fire one-liners and audience put-downs now come as natural to him as wearing female clothing each December… they are both part and parcel of his annual residency at the prestigious theatre.
Aided by a strong support cast, his partner in crime was again local actor and regular pantomime performer, Paddy Jenkins (as Smee), who, despite his laid-back approach, always delivered with perfect timing in the comedy routines, while television soap star, Claire King, kept telly fans happy as Mimi the Magical Mermaid.
One of the stars of this production was Britain’s Got Talent impressionist, Paul Burling (as the ship’s entertainer, Starkey), who made a good impression on everyone (in more ways than one) with a wide range of voice impersonations of such famous and celebrated characters as Michael McIntyre, Harry Hill, Alan Carr, Popeye, Top Cat and The Simpsons.
However, the brightest star of this show was the multi award-winning, David Bedella, who’s demanding stage presence, precise diction and perfection of performance was such that he could play such a believable ‘baddie’ as Captain Hook, yet remain such an extremely lovable rogue to those who can appreciate his theatrical talents and skills.
All were joined by Mikey Jay-Heath as a flying Peter Pan, Hollie O’Donoghue as the rude, roller-skating Tinkerbell, Natalie Windsor as a commanding Tiger Lily and Kweeva Garvey as a likeable and popular Wendy, while talented young performers from the McMaster Stage School comprised the children’s ensemble with an amazingly good break dance from one tiny little boy.
From reworded and reworked pop songs like Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You to show tunes like Cell Block Tango from Chicago and popular favourites like Blondie’s One Way Or Another, The Village Peoples’ In The Navy and Frank Sinatra’s My Way, the music was well-varied to suit all and, under Mark Dougherty’s musical direction, had a surprisingly big sound for such a small band.
It may be the festive season, but Christmas songs were, wisely, restricted here to a comic rendition of The Twelve Days Of Christmas (I say ‘wisely’ as I always think it must sound odd for audiences in the latter stages of a pantomime run to be singing about Christmas in a show that continues well into January).
On their first ever visit to a Grand Opera House pantomime, my grandchildren really enjoyed the experience… and there is no better test to prove that this big production is another big hit from the Grand Opera House!
Photo credit: Aaron McCracken
Friday 24 November 2017
Son of a Preacher Man (UK Tour), Grand Opera House, Belfast | Review
Son of a Preacher Man (UK Tour)
Grand Opera House, Belfast
Reviewed on Tuesday 21st November 2017 by Damien Murray
★★★
With its combination of an all-star line-up of principals and the timeless music made famous by the late Dusty Springfield, this show looked and sounded promising as a good night out at the theatre and expectations were high.
However, incorrectly referred to by many as ‘the Dusty Springfield musical’ (totally not the fault of the producers), this show is neither the Dusty Springfield story nor a bio-musical about her, but rather a style of juke-box musical that features her many hits held together by an unnatural and most ridiculous of storylines.
The complex and convoluted plot revolves around a cross-generational trio of individuals with relationship issues, who, by coincidence, arrive at the same time at a Soho coffee shop (formerly The Preacher Man record shop) in search of an answer to their respective lonely heart problems.
The legendary record-shop owner, the long-dead Preacher Man, had been a sort of agony uncle with an ear and a solution for those with relationship problems back in the 60s and the coffee shop is now under the control of his less-confident son, Simon, played with great experience by Ian Reddington.
Representing the older generation, Michael Howe played Paul, the first of the three troubled individuals, with assurance, while Debra Stephenson’s middle-aged widowed teacher, Alison, was good, but the awkward script didn’t allow her the same opportunity to develop her character to the same extent as the others.
However, the undoubted star of this show was young Diana Vickers, as Kat from the mobile phone generation, who brought a nice balance of humour and great vocals to the show.
Indeed, due to her young age, Vickers was probably the least familiar with the music of Dusty, which makes it even more surprising that she was the one who did the greatest justice to her songs in this show.
The set’s authentic and realistic-looking Soho coffee shop, complete with scene identifying neon signs, was impressive and was, generally, well-used by the talented cast of multi-instrumentalists in the form of on-stage actor musicians, aided by other hidden musicians.
Musically, this was good, but the combination of dodgy vocals from some performers and a few new song arrangements may have disappointed die-hard Springfield fans.
However, it was the efforts of the majority of the cast and those great songs that saved this show, especially the already mentioned vocals of Vickers and the stand-out harmonies of the three Cappuccino Sisters, played by Michelle Long, Kate Hardisty and Cassiopeia Berkeley-Agyepong.
However, despite its attractive lighting plot, good cast of principals and creative team, this production was sadly let down by its overall slow pace, its weak narrative and Craig Revel Horwood’s unsubtle choreography.
I am led to believe that on-going changes are being made to improve on its weak points … we can only hope that such improvements are in place long before the end of the scheduled tour.
Wednesday 25 October 2017
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (UK Tour), Grand Opera House, Belfast | Review
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (UK Tour)
Grand Opera House, Belfast
Reviewed on Tuesday 24th October 2017 by Damien Murray
★★★★
The major appeal of this extremely popular biographical musical is that its subject, Carole King, really is a cross-generational artist, performer, singer, songwriter … and her eventful – but not always successful or happy - life provided a human story that connects to many of its audience every bit as much as her commercial and popular songs.
As a jukebox musical, this show can’t fail to impress with a score composed of classic hit after classic hit from all periods of King’s phenomenal career as both a writer/co-writer and, eventually, as a performer.
While the bulk of the hits are from her younger days, this show is a particular crowd-pleaser for anyone born in the late 40s and early 60s, but – so commercial are the songs – it also manages to successfully cross the generations to engage even with the youth of today who may be hearing them for the first time.
However, there is a bit more depth to this musical than just the songs, as King’s story is that of a young and ambitious teenage girl, who never set out to be a singer and who was as surprised as everyone else by her own success.
According to music impresario, Donnie Kirshner – perfectly played by Adam Howden as a no-nonsense boss who knew the business and who demanded results– the key to her success as a writer was that she was a teen who wrote songs for teens and she was a girl who wrote songs for girls… and it was teen girls who were buying most records at that time.
Like a typical Brooklyn teen with no fear, King – played so well by understudy, Leigh Lothian, in the absence of Bronté Barbé (due to a family bereavement) – jumped head first into the competitive music game as a staff writer for Kirshner’s songwriting business, 1650 Broadway, where she met her perfect husband and co-writer, Gerry Goffin, plus life-long friends and fellow song-writing team, Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, with each providing friendly rivalry measured in ‘hit’ scoring over one another. This, of course, was a great excuse to also feature many of this duo’s hit successes, too, including You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling, Walking In The Rain and We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place.
In the lead role, Leigh Lothian, captured all of King’s emotions, moods, weaknesses and strengths, from being an ambitious and fearless teen, to coping with a teenage pregnancy, an unfaithful husband, her husband’s nervous breakdown and the eventual breakdown of her marriage, displaying strength, patience, forgiveness and loss of confidence before re-inventing herself as one of the world’s most successful female singers.
Kane Oliver Parry, as Gerry Goffin, didn’t quite convince me that he was so troubled by his domestic and work pressures that they drove him into the arms of other women, but he displayed the kind of charm that the character must have had to keep King by his side for so long after his first affair and to be able to initiate so many affairs in the first place. I loved the chemistry between Amy Ellen Richardson’s pushy, confident and patient Cynthia Weil and Matthew Gonsalves’ Barry Mann; the impatient and always ailing hypochondriac.
This was a well-dressed production with authentic fashions of the day stretching right down to the girls sporting ‘Alice Bands’ on their heads, while the well-used, dual-level set helped to keep the pace fast with slick and quick scene changes.
The performance of the actual songs throws up some interesting observations – firstly, some are just parts of songs, and, due to the nature of the story about songwriters (as opposed to performers), some are raw or early rough examples of the finished and more polished hits that we have grown up to love.
So, although you will enjoy the story, don't expect to hear the songs as you would know them from the records as they are often performed ‘in context’ and do not always sound like the hits – I feel if you are pre-warned about this, then you won't be disappointed!
However, one small criticism/observation about this show was the overly exaggerated choreographic moves that could best be described as ‘dodgy dancing’ by ‘the Drifters’ These were greeted with laughter leaving me confused as to whether this was a comical send-up of the ‘dancing’ of the male vocal groups of the era or simply questionable choreography that didn’t get the desired result.
It was genius to stage a bio musical of this chart-topping music legend who penned material for the likes of Aretha Franklin, The Monkees, The Drifters and The Shirelles as this totally hit-filled show features many of those songs, including Take Good Care Of My Baby, You’ve Got A Friend, So Far Away, It Might As Well Rain Until September, Up On The Roof and The Locomotion with ‘character’ performances by The Drifters, The Shirelles, Little Eva, The Righteous Brothers and even a Neil Sedaka cameo appearance.
It is true, Carole King wrote songs that girls, and women, can relate to and the final two in this show – (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman and Beautiful – proved to be popular and inspirational anthems for the mostly female audience.
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical runs at the Grand Opera House until October 28th before continuing its tour.
Thursday 19 October 2017
All Or Nothing (UK Tour), Waterfront Hall | Review
All Or Nothing – The Mod Musical (Tour)
Waterfront Hall, Belfast
Reviewed on Wednesday October 18th by Damien Murray
★★★
Having missed its planned opening night due to cast travel problems caused by Storm Ophelia, the touring production of All Or Nothing – The Mod Musical blew into town for its Belfast debut a night later than expected.
Combining the story of a popular music-linked culture with the more personal, tragic and human story of one of its main bands, The Small Faces, who not only spear-headed the movement but also encapsulated its dress style, attitude and music, All Or Nothing is a jukebox musical … with a twist.
For, in the role of the ‘older’ Steve Marriott, Chris Simmons narrates what is essentially Marriott’s own story from beyond the grave as he guides us chronologically through the group’s history in flashback to give us a raw account of what being the front-man of this important British pop group was really like… warts and all.
Apart from Simmons’ believable performance as the ever-present ‘older’ Marriott and the show’s nostalgic and hit-filled score, the key to the success of this show is that it was written by Carol Harrison, who – as a friend of lead singer, Steve Marriott – had real insider knowledge of the man, the Small Faces as a group, their musical and business frustrations and of the Mod movement during its early days.
Named after the group’s biggest hit and only chart-topper (which knocked The Beatles off the chart’s top spot), All Or Nothing is a biographical piece of 60s nostalgia about a generation of free spirits.
Although the set was relatively basic, it was functional and the production not only boasted that most coveted of Mod essentials, a Vespa scooter, but also authentic costumes, hairstyles and dances, with some great choreography, incorporating the trademark 60s moves of the dancers in various television pop shows of the era.
However, this musical is not so much about the Mod movement as it is the disturbing story of a young pop group, covering its many non-glamorous moments from being mismanaged and vigorously exploited by the ‘Al Capone of pop’ – Don ‘I’ll exploit you for all your worth’ Arden – to the slow demise of the group and from Marriott being a trouble maker at school through to his tragic and untimely death.
We learn: how the group got its name; why they were the only group to be banned from performing on Top Of The Pops; why there was a change of style from Mod to Hippie; of Marriott’s relationship with P.P. Arnold; how his ego got too big; and how he got Rod Stewart’s girlfriend … while Stewart got his band.
Playing live and loud, the actor musicians playing the members of The Small Faces – Samuel Pope (young Marriott), Stanton Wright (Ronnie Laine), Alexander Gold (Ian McLagan) and Stefen Edwards (Kenny Jones) – were all exceptionally good, not only at recreating the group’s many hits, but for perfectly capturing the personality, physical appearance and even the individual playing/performance styles of their respective characters.
The show is peppered throughout with humour and references to and appearances by other celebrities from the era like Andrew Oldham, Robert Stigwood, Rod Stewart, David Jacobs, Cathy McGowan, Stanley Unwin and Tony Blackburn (and even including performances from such characters as Sonny and Cher, Dusty Springfield and P.P. Arnold), as the group appears on such iconic television pop shows as Thank Your Lucky Stars, Juke Box Jury, Ready Steady Go and Top Of The Pops.
Ahead of its transfer to the West End for a limited run, it is easy to see why this touring production has been building up quite a cult following. However, offering, perhaps, too much detail (particularly in early scenes), this show could benefit from some cuts and, with such basic sets and sound balance issues between the pre-recorded extracts and the live music, a higher degree of production values could easily make this cult piece the mainstream hit it deserves to be as a biographical/jukebox musical.
This raw, true and sad story has a moving and emotional ending with a heart-breaking solo acoustic extract from All Or Nothing by Chris Simmons before the mood changes in an up-beat hit-filled finale.
All Or Nothing runs at Waterfront Hall until October 19th
Photo credit: Phil Weedon
Thursday 5 October 2017
The Addams Family (UK Tour), Grand Opera House | Review
The Addams Family (UK Tour)
The Grand Opera House, Belfast
Reviewed on Tuesday October 3rd by Damien Murray
★★★★
This Irish and UK premiere tour production of the musical comedy, The Addams Family was an entertaining and fast-paced production of Andrew Lippa’s funny musical about a less than conventional family and its ancestors.
Right from the off, it was obvious that this was not going to be ‘One Normal Night’, as – during the overture – a finger-clicking hand appeared through the letter box; the hand of an unknown person (in this case, probably a ‘stage hand’!!).
Mainly played out on the superbly old and run-down eerie mansion befitting to such a weird and spooky family, the functional set designs, with moveable staircases and great use of the two side balconies, helped greatly with the good pace of this production.
Despite the family’s appearance, values and lifestyle, this atmospheric piece is not so much scary as it is a funny musical with great one-liners that, thankfully, are never just throw away lines for the experienced cast.
We were then introduced to a mixed bag of weird ancestors who looked almost normal when compared to the central family of the piece.
They made up a well-used ensemble, which, despite its relative lack of numbers, produced some excellent harmonies during choral pieces (e.g. 'One Normal Night' and 'Move Toward The Darkness') and provided solid support throughout in vocals, dance, movement, visuals and as a distraction during scene changes.
While the Act 1 finale, 'Full Disclosure' (Part 2) was a great production number, the orchestra and cast rose to the challenge here with the varied and difficult score, which - apart from the variety of tempo changes from one song to the next - had to cope with a degree of musical fragmentation caused by lots of start/stops throughout many songs and challenging underscoring.
While the great musicality of the tango rhythms made numbers like 'Trapped', 'Secrets' and 'Not Today' stand out here, it was the orchestra’s sheer accuracy of performance and the visual impact of the dancers in the production number, 'Tango De Amour', that combined to make this an irresistible musical highlight.
'Pulled' was another highlight because of Wednesday’s strong vocal performance, while the flamenco flavoured music of 'Let’s Live Before We Die' impressed and 'But Love' provided a little vaudeville-style distraction between scenes.
There were some soft ballads in the varied score, including the gentle, 'The Moon And Me', while 'Move Toward The Darkness' was unusual in that it is rare that a ballad is used as a finale number, but it did allow for some great choral work.It was good to see the reprise of the up-tempo, 'When You’re An Addams', being used to send all home happy after the ballad finale.
Choreography was a strong element in this production and the concepts were well-executed right from the opening production number, 'When You’re An Addams', when we knew that there was going to be no problems with dance, as this song’s varied choreography included lots of arm movements and samples of line dancing, the bunny hop and the twist. The moon ballet was well-staged ('The Moon And Me'), while it was a nice touch to use a ‘young’ Wednesday to highlight the emotions of the song during Happy Sad.
The nightmarish family in this macabre musical was effortlessly brought to life by the talented principals, including Cameron Blakely as the Latino-looking and hen-pecked husband, Gomez, who supplied some touching moments in the song, 'Happy Sad', yet also managed to deliver the song’s humorous lines on cue, while always maintaining the right comic timing to get the laughs when needed.
Samantha Womack as the very much in-charge and matriarchal Morticia was both tall and elegant and looked the part in her long black ankle-length dress and long black hair like Crystal Gale. Boasting dead-pan looks that could kill, this was a very confident performance from a total all-rounder with a great voice and good stage presence who perfectly captured her character’s dry wit. She also proved to be a most impressive dancer, especially in the song and dance number, 'Just Around The Corner', which allowed her to show her macabre emotions of joy.
However, for me, the star of the show was Carrie Hope Fletcher’s manipulative daughter, Wednesday. This amazingly talented girl is a strong performer with a great voice and real stage presence and this was highlighted in her performance throughout, but especially during the ‘coming of age’ song, 'Pulled'.
In the absence of Les Dennis, due to illness, his understudy, Scott Paige, was more than deserving of this role and impressed greatly both in his acting, comic timing and vocal ability, especially as he was acting so much ‘out of age’ in this part. Despite playing the loveably crazy uncle, Fester, he provided lovely vocals during his gentle ballad, 'The Moon And Me' and as the show’s narrator character.
Dickon Gough had a dream role as the ever-growling zombie-like butler, Lurch, and played one of musical theatre’s great non-speaking parts exceptionally well, while Grant McIntyre, as Pugsley, played the younger brother with a grown-up attitude well.
There was good support from Charlotte Page’s fully-disclosed Alice, Dale Rapley’s typical American parent, Mal, and his college student son, Lucas, played by Oliver Ormson, while Valda Aviks’ eccentric Grandma was good, but I would like to have seen more of her character’s outspoken and irreverent attitude.
Perfectly-timed sound effects and special visual effects like the thunder and lightening, the monster in the box and the use of individual ancestors in the portrait painting all added to the success of this slick production.
Thanks to the brilliant lighting, costumes, props, make-up and hair, this was a visually stunning show from its strong opening to its unusual ballad ending … absolutely ‘finger-clicking good’ throughout!
The Addams Family runs at the Grad Opera House, Belfast until October 7th.
Photo credit: Matt Martin
Thursday 14 September 2017
Hairspray (UK Tour), Bord Gais Energy Theatre | Review
Hairspray (Tour)
Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Dublin
Reviewed on Monday 11th September 2017 by Damien Murray
★★★★
Despite highlighting serious issues such as prejudice and intolerance, this show remains a popular, light-hearted and fun night of musical theatre and this latest touring production – courtesy of Mark Goucher, Matthew Gale and Laurence Myers – certainly kept it in this now famous ‘feel-good’ vibe.
Set in Baltimore in 1962, against a backdrop of racial segregation, the simple scenario of wanting teenagers of all colours to be able to dance together on a local TV dance programme with a campaign for integration on the show reflects the wider problem of racial segregation and to a welcomed social change at that time.
Opening with a look down at teenage Tracy in bed before hitting hard with one of the show’s most popular songs, 'Good Morning Baltimore', this production got off to a bright up-tempo start in a busy street scene with the dancers quickly establishing the two main communities of the piece, and – under Paul Kerryson’s direction – this theme was reinforced throughout (e.g. there was the telling line that “the TV is black and white” and the costumes in the jail scene were all black and white for the protesters as opposed to the colourful costumes that were used in the rest of the show).
Staged with a practical and realistic brick house set at either side, this production used mobile trucks and effective projected scenery throughout to keep its fast-moving pace in place, while Philip Gladwell’s bright and colourful lighting plot brought a lot to the show and I loved, at the start of each Act, how the audience was flooded in moving coloured lights to create a fun atmosphere.
As a dance-orientated show, Drew McOnie’s choreography and movement was always slick, lively, entertaining and of its time and it was a brave decision to do a routine at one stage with several basketballs being thrown about on a crowded stage.
While the costumes were overly bright (probably for staging purposes to increase the fun and escapism elements of the production), they – like the hairstyles – were authentic for the era.
The mostly up-tempo score was varied with 60s Pop, Rhythm & Blues, Doo-Wop and Gospel influences, and Musical Director, Ben Atkinson, and his 7-piece on-stage band did well in keeping things moving at a lively pace and with such a full-on sound, despite this show being written for a much larger instrumentation line-up.
While the comic duet, 'You’re Timeless To Me', proved popular with audiences, songs like 'Mama, I’m A Big Girl Now' and 'I Can Hear The Bells' were well staged; the latter having a particular magical feel to it.
However, the big production numbers that really stood out were: 'Welcome To The 60s', complete with the female vocal trio’s sparkling dresses and the floor gobos and wallpaper displaying a popular pattern of the era; the glorious piece of Gospel, 'I Know Where I’ve Been', which almost lifted the roof; and the all-singing, all-dancing finale, 'You Can’t Stop The Beat', with its totally infectious feel-good factor.
Sometimes there is something about the way a particular show is written, or cast, that is simply annoying and, for me, it is why there is a tradition of playing Tracy’s mother, Edna, as a ‘drag-role (i.e. always played by a man), as the character is not a drag queen, but was first played by one).
I feel it adds nothing to the show and is unnecessary … maybe it is just me and I am missing something obvious, but I just don’t get it.
However, that said, this is certainly no reflection on the talents of Matt Rixon, who played the role of the large, kind and shy Edna superbly in what could best be described as a towering performance, especially against the physically smaller, Norman Pace, as her ever-joking but loving husband, Wilbur (maybe that is the reason for the ‘drag-role’?).
Brenda Edwards’ super soulful vocals made her perfect for the part of the sassy and determined Motormouth Maybelle, while the experienced performance by Gina Murray, as the producer and controlling mother, Velma, was a show-stealer here and this scheming villainess must surely be the most glamorous ‘baddie’ of them all.
If Velma was the baddie, then young Rebecca Mendoza was a real ‘goodie’ here, making an impressive professional debut as the big-hearted and teenage Tracy.
All were well supported by the lively ensemble and others like Jon Tsouras’ self-loving Corney, Layton Williams’ energetic and popular, Seaweed, Edward Chitticks’ heart-throb pop star, Link, Aimee Moore’s not so talented and selfish wannabe, Amber, and Annalise Liard-Bailey – another recent theatre graduate – as the dim but beautiful, Penny.
Hairspray is at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre until September 16th before continuing on its tour.
Photo Credit: Darren Bell
Thursday 24 August 2017
Jane Eyre (Tour), Grand Opera House | Review
Jane Eyre (Tour)
Grand Opera House, Belfast
Reviewed by Damien Murray on Tuesday 22 August 2017
★★★★★
The National Theatre and Bristol Old Vic’s joint production of Jane Eyre is astonishingly good … and it is far from being what one would expect!
It may be based on Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel, but this work – devised by the original company – is modern in its approach, in its styling and in its staging and manages to retain Jane Eyre’s core characterisation of being a free spirit and a strong-willed individual who strives for equality and for the right to be herself.
I am not a Brontë fan, yet I was blown away by this riveting production and gladly sat through over three hours of it without any loss of interest. Everything about this visually-stunning production is praise worthy, from its innovative direction and inventive staging to its exceptional and intense ensemble playing (complete with strong elements of physical theatre), and from its faultless lighting and sound plots to its magnificent movement, which ranged from the delicate and the balletic to the furious and the frenzied throughout.
The trio of on-stage actor/musicians brought a lot to the table, with music that varied from appropriately ‘English’ style folk to gospel to what could best be described as atmospheric soundscapes, when required. Musically, I loved Melanie Marshall’s apt interpretation and arrangement of the Gnarls Barkley (CeeLo Green) hit, 'Crazy' – so unexpected, yet totally fitting.
Although performances were all faultless, I must congratulate Paul Mundell in particular for bringing the dog, Pilot, to life so well and with so much humour.
Years ago, the Belfast Festival at Queen’s used to bring some spectacular pieces of world theatre to Belfast and these were ‘special’… This production is of such a high calibre that it seems a shame that it is just another touring production, for it, too, is very ‘special’ and provides a fantastic night of theatre – Don’t miss it!
Jane Eyre continues at Belfast’s Grand Opera House until Sat 26 Aug, 2017
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