Tell me on a Sunday

 

Review by: Paul Towers, 12 October 2021

Tell Me On A Sunday by Andrew Lloyd Webber & Don Black

The Watermill Theatre production

Starring Jodie Prenger, directed by Paul Foster

At Curve: 12-16 October 2021

 “A girl's loves found and lost in America”

 The original score for Tell Me was premiered, as so often with Lloyd Webber shows, at his Sydmonton Festival in 1979 starring Marti Webb. The positive reception was so good that it was filmed in a theatre and broadcast on the BBC. This led to the soundtrack album becoming a chart topper. The score , all songs and no dialogue, only ran for less than 60 minutes so Lloyd Webber, after advice from Cameron Mackintosh, decided to create a dance piece to create an Act 2. This went out as Song and Dance with a variety of singers and, starting with Wayne Sleep, a selection of dancers.

In 2003 5 extra songs were created and the story rewritten by Jackie Clune to enable the show to stand alone. In this format it has been touring off and on ever since. Jodie Prenger starred in the Watermill Theatre revival in 2016 and has been touring it bringing it to Curve for a week.

Emma, the girl of the story, is a naïve young woman from Muswell Hill who has moved to America in search of love. In New York she discovers her boyfriend has been tom- catting it around the city. Walking out on him she soon falls for Hollywood producer Sheldon Bloom and tries to change to become what he wants in a trophy girlfriend. But Sheldon is way too busy being in the film industry to give her the attention she deserves so once again she goes back to the Big Apple. One after another she hooks up with guys who only want one thing, only to have it rubbed in her face by her so called friends.

A series of conversations with various people and letters to her mother back in Blighty fill out her experiences.

Alone on a stage Jodie Prenger fills Curve’s studio space without amplification. Her full voice reaching the back stalls with ease. As she acts out the various emotions it is immediately obvious what is going on. A minimum of props and several (very quick) costume changes show Emma’s criss crossing of America as she chases another possible Mr Right.

A band of 4 live musicians lurk behind a set depicting the New York skyline.

I remember seeing Marti Webb in this show and Jodie Prenger more than matches her performance and is well worth seeing

Tell Me On A Sunday is at Curve til Saturday 16^th October.

 

Curve https://www.curveonline.co.uk/

www.tellmeontour.co.uk
http://ptheatre.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Matthew Bourne's The Midnight Bell

Review by: Paul Towers, 11 October 2021

Matthew Bourne’s the Midnight Bell

A New Adventures production

At Curve: 11^th to 16^th October 2021

 “30’s Soho in all its shabbiness”

 Any Matthew Bourne production is something to be savoured but a brand new piece is to be hotly anticipated and embraced. The Midnight Bell does not disappoint.

This, Bourne’s latest dance show, centres around a shabby Soho pub in the 1930’s. With the Great War well and truly over it was thought hostilities were behind us. Little did we know what was lurking at the back end of the 30’s.

Inspired by Patrick Hamilton’s painfully personal stories of his experiences in the acutely observed world of Soho, The Midnight Bell is where an array of characters love, lose or fall apart. Each relationship tells a complete story, some successful, others not so. Often the stories overlap and this gives a realistic edge to the narrative.

As with many of Bourne’s works the cast are integral in the choreography process.

The set by long time collaborator Lez Brotherston is a masterful piece made of sections that place the action in various hotel rooms, cinemas, dance halls and squares. Lez’s costumes perfectly chime with that inter-war period when austerity was starting to drift away.

Lighting by Paule Constable, another regular artistic associate of New Adventures, highlights the action and provides focus on the characters as their stories unfold. The soundtrack by Paul Groothuis is especially inventive with, unusually, songs that characters mime to.

Of course none of this would work without the incredibly talented dancers, most of whom we regularly see in other Bourne productions. It is the actors who, staying in character, shift props and scenery. This further cements their characteristics.

The Midnight Bell is at Curve until Saturday 16^th October and then continues on tour

 

Curve https://www.curveonline.co.uk/
http://ptheatre.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Festive theatre this Christmas

 

 FESTIVE THEATRE THIS CHRISTMAS

We all missed a theatrical Christmas last year so Leicester’s theatres have really pushed the boat out for 2021

Curve has, as usual, programmed two festive shows for the holidays. First up is the hotly anticipated revival of a classic of musical theatre, A Chorus Line, starring Adam Cooper, Carly Mercedes Dyer (Shug in the recent Curve production of The Color Purple and Anita in West Side Story) and directed by Nikolai Foster with choreography by Ellen Kane. This runs from 3-31 December. Especially for the younger members of the community is The Smeds and The Smoos. Adapted from the book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler this is a nice bite sized 55 minutes running from 1-31 December. Full details https://www.curveonline.co.uk

Over at DeMontfort Hall last year’s pantomime, Sleeping Beauty, has been rescheduled. If you had tickets from last year then they are valid for this year. Full details are on the website. The panto runs from 11 December to 3 January and stars Wendi Peters (Coronation Street), Martin Ballard, returning illusionists Matthew Pomeroy and Natasha Lamb and a whole host of Leicester favourites. For tickets and times https://www.demontforthall.co.uk

The Little Theatre also has its annual pantomime back this year. Devised and directed by John Bale the ever popular Cinderella will grace the stage in Dover Street from 10 December to 2 January. More info https://www.thelittletheatre.co.uk

Finally The Y Theatre, in amongst its usual bands and comedians, has a special family show, Santa’s Best Ever Christmas, on 10^th & 11^th December. Tickets at https://leicesterymca.ticketsolve.com