Jefferson is quicksilver Broadway magic – effortlessly creating 9 very different members of the same clan. He is a joy to watch and he chews the scenery as he goes, dying with considerable and hilarious effort time after time.
It was impossible not to feel anything but sympathy for this cast and nothing but irritation bordering on contempt for the “creatives” who think this is the way to present West Side Story to non-London UK audiences.
Rightly, the cast received a standing ovation at the RST – an unusual sight at Stratford Upon Avon. This is a startlingly clear and quite gorgeous production of a play which can seem convoluted and which, really, has no heroes.
It’s a worthwhile night at the theatre, quite engrossing, but it does not reach the level of excitement it ought.
The nine boys are, in an unqualified way, magnificent: the line-up here is better than the Vineyard line-up. Each of the nine can sing, dance and act. They are simply tremendous: with special, remarkable turns from James T Lane (seriously, just get the awards engraved now), Kyle Scatliffe, Clinton Roane and Carl Spencer. When they all sing together, it is unarguably thrilling.
Tom O’Brien’s production is a rare opportunity to see one of Ridley’s greatest works performed to such a high standard. Not for the faint of heart, and not to be missed.
The stage door of the Harold Pinter Theatre tells a hundred stories. A stage door keeper, literally the keeper of the stories, presides over a comfy nook covered in headshots, some yellowing, corners curling. A hundred stories, a hundred once-upon-a-times. Jenna Russell’s dressing room tells its own story. She shares with Merrily We Roll Along co-star, Josefina Gabrielle. Gabrielle’s side of the dressing table is covered in make-up, brushes and powder and paints, neatly laid out in readiness for the evening show. On Russell’s side, there are three or four photographs of her baby daughter, Betsy, blu-tacked to the mirror. She tucks her legs beneath her on her chair and begins to tell stories. Born in London, brought up in Dundee and a performer from a young age, she has plenty of stories to tell. She is delicate-looking, radiant, with huge, open, blue eyes that brim with tears when she talks … Read more
