The Jewish Legends
Upstairs at the Gatehouse
2nd September
3 Stars
One of the biggest challenges that reviewers face is how to make effective comparisons and ratings between shows. For example, how can you credibly compare a West End spectacular to a small community play?
Well, this week the task has been made a bit easier; fresh after seeing the brilliant revue You Can’t Succeed On Broadway Without Any Jews last week, I was off to see The Jewish Legends, another tribute to Judaism’s finest musicians.
Despite the fairly similar thematic ground, the songlist was almost entirely different to the show I saw last week, with the only overlap being a few tunes from Fiddler on the Roof. The Jewish Legends focused on Jewish singers rather than songwriters and drifted towards chart music rather than stage musicals .
This meant the night covered several Jewish singers, most notably Al Jolson, Bette Midler and Burt Bacharach. The artists, spanning nearly a century, were chosen as they have all influenced each other, meaning there was a nice narrative thread running through the evening. Whilst it’s never easy to choose a list like this, surely a Dylan or Manilow would rank higher than the (admittedly great) Groucho Marx when it came to musical talent? Still, de gustibus non est disputandum…
The Jewish Legends is a strange beast, with some excellent musical moments emerging in spite of a script which is in dire need of judicious editing. First, the positives; the cast of four are brilliant and can’t be faulted at all. Martin Milnes was a particular highlight, a man with a truly remarkable singing voice, a sort of highly nasal soprano. He had fantastic stage presence and the most natural manner out of the cast and he gave the performance of the night with a sterling performance of Alfie.
Joanna Lee was also superb, with emotive renditions of Don’t Rain on My Parade and Where Is It Written?, both by Barbra Streisand. Her delivery of the spoken parts of the script was slightly jarring however, with her frequent gesturing and enunciated delivery reminding me slightly of a children’s TV presenter. Martin Neely and a heavily pregnant Molly Marie Walsh both put in solid performances to complete the quartet.
Whist the script for Never Succeed was punchy, humorous and concise, The Jewish Legends is lumbered with an overly long text which seems to get in the way of the musical action. Some biographical background is necessary but there seemed a lot of fat to be trimmed; in the first ten minutes there were more words spoken than sung. A good place to start were the scores of wisecracks and comedy asides which littered the piece (some quotes from the musicians profiled, some original gags). They very rarely landed as intended and the whole piece would have been much stronger (and quicker) if they’d been consigned to the bin.
The second half was certainly the strongest segment of the show, with a series of big hitting songs, including The Rose, Matchmaker and Don’t Rain On My Parade. It was a much more static performance overall than the frantic and hyperactive Never Succeed, with very little in the way of serious choreography. The crowd was fairly low energy (I was the youngest person on my row by a good forty years), but the quartet were having fun on stage and seemed to eventually win them all over.
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!
