Whilst there are a few moments of quality, Dusty’s hackneyed script and awkward staging means not even the son of a preacher man could save it. The show is now on its third director and has seen nine cast members head for the exits; you can’t help thinking that they had the right idea.
This play can be seen as a saucy romp or as something rather more unexpectedly melancholy than that; but either way it is a thoroughly absorbing evening, and you really don’t feel the passage of time at all.
Absent is a bit like a night in a Travelodge – it does the job and gives you an interesting night but you leave feeling like you could have had something a bit more…
In the bout of the two Jewish musicals revues, I’d have to give it to Never Succeed on points, due to its more inventive staging and varied songlist. The Jewish Legends is a great vehicle for four very talented singers. However, the concept and script is muddled and bloated – as a famous Gentile once sang a little less conversation a little more action!
While this is a deserved revival of an intriguing show, the core material remains in some respects unsatisfactory, and the scale of the show is not a great fit with the location. If this sounds churlish, then that is only because in musical theatre – as in opera – for the whole to succeed to best advantage the list of parts that need to be in great shape is a long and exacting one.
And so to the culmination of the contemporary opera section of the Grimeborn Festival, a double-bill in the form of Peter Maxwell Davies’ The Medium and The Wanton Sublime, a new work by Tarik O’Regan, to a libretto by Anna Rabinowitz. Robert Shaw directed both operas and the Orpheus Sinfonia conducted by Andrew Griffiths accompanied the second half. The house was sold-out in anticipation of an evening of musicianship of high quality – an expectation that was by-and-large fulfilled.
What play should you see first in London? We have compiled this list to save you the trouble of working it out! It’s just our view – and everyone has one – based on our Reviewers’ thoughts. We will update the list regularly so new productions get on your radar and when original casts change that is factored in. Plays which have been running for more than three years are not included – this is a list for new or relatively new productions running in London. So go see them! 1. Briefs This gender, race and sexual politics canvas stretches across the entire platform of the performances, from the sharp opening patter of Fez Fa’anana which happily offends everyone equally, through the “pretty doesn’t mean dumb” antics of the cheeky Louis Briggs and the vignettes with an increasingly more naked Lucky Charm (Lachy Shelley) to the various satirical and ironic … Read more
What Musical should you see first in London? We have compiled this list to save you the trouble of working it out! It’s just our view – and everyone has one – based on our Reviewers’ thoughts. We will update the list regularly so new productions get on your radar and when original casts change that is factored in. Musicals which have been running for more than three years are not included – this is a list for new or relatively new productions running in London. So go see them! 1. Gypsy Everyone in this company is superb in their part, everyone can really sing, really dance and really deliver the goods in terms of dramatic and comic acting. This is that rare beast: an exquisitely cast musical where the requirements of the parts have more importance in the casting process than potential box office draw or Twitter popularity. It … Read more
