42nd Street

Review by Paul Towers, 23/5/23

42^nd Street by Michael Stewart & Mark Bramble, music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Al Dubin

Directed by Jonathan Church

Produced by Jonathan Church, David Ian, Curve and Sadler’s Wells

At Curve til Saturday 3^rd June 2023

“Come and meet those dancing feet”

After the lacklustre winter we have had it is a joy to be sitting watching the gaudy glitter that is 42^nd Street at Curve. As the song says “Come and meet those dancing feet” and boy can those feet dance. This show is wall to wall tap dancing right through to the end.

This is the ultimate backstage story of the girl, straight off the train, landing a chorus line job and then having the good luck to take over the leading lady’s part when she breaks her ankle. As director Julian Marsh (Adam Garcia) says to ingenue Peggy Sawyer (Nicole-Lily Baisden) “Sawyer, you're going out a youngster but you've got to come back a star!” and she does.

Originally a 1933 film the stage version debuted in 1980 and opened in London in 1984. The stage production used all the songs from the film with additional ones from the soundtracks of other films the songwriters worked on.

Utilising Curve’s huge main stage and extensive video facilities the curtain goes up on chorines milling about rather than the iconic row of tapping feet. However choreographer Andy Lee (Alyn Hawke) soon marshals the line into their audition routines and the show, Pretty Lady, starts to fall into shape. Arriving just after the auditions have ended Peggy Sawyer thinks she has missed her chance. Fortunately tenor Billy Lawler (Sam Lips) takes a shine to her and persuades Julian Marsh (Adam Garcia) to see her. The show’s writers and co-producers Maggie Jones and Bert Barry (Josefina Gabrielle and Les Dennis) are frantically doing last minute additions to the show when Dorothy Brock (Ruthie Henshall), a faded leading lady and diva extraordinaire sweeps in with her sugar daddy Abner Dillon (Anthony Ofoegbu) who is financing the show. To further complicate matters Brock also has in tow her penniless boyfriend Pat Denning (Michael Praed). As they say, chaos ensues.

While there is a lot of sniping and some stinging one liners flying around we are all waiting for the actual show in a show to take off and those dancing feet to start flying. We are not disappointed. The choreography by Bill Deamer is spectacular as are the costumes by Robert Jones, who also designed the set, a beautiful art deco-esque confection of sweeping lines.

Both Ruthie Henshall and Nicole-Lily Baisden have fine comedic timing and make the most of their lines while the ensemble of extraordinary dancers/singers fill the stage with the requisite glamour of a Broadway show.

This show is musical heaven to me.  42^nd Street runs at Curve until 3^rd June and then goes back into London before touring. Full details on the website.

 

www.42ndstreettour.com

www.curveonline.co.uk

www.ptheatre.blogspot.co.uk

 

Road

Review by Paul Towers, 18/5/23

Road by Jim Cartwright

Directed by Cara Nolan

Produced by DMU and Curve

At Curve til Saturday 20^th May 2023

“unremittingly downbeat and depressing”

Jim Cartwright’s first play, Road, is set in an unspecified northern town in the 80’s, a time and place of austerity and widespread unemployment. Cartwright went on to pen the highly acclaimed Little Voice.

The set (designed by Abby Clarke) is an ingenious representation of a street; house fronts on two levels slide back and forth, up and down to reveal various households.

The first half is unremittingly downbeat and depressing as various characters duck and dive trying to get by on the very basics of life, fags and cheap lager. Fortunately the second half was a bit lighter, especially an hilarious scene where a middle aged woman is trying to seduce a drunken soldier (Jake Winter) she has picked up. However the tone dived back into gloom with a monologue by Joey (Amirah Abimbola Alabere), well acted but depressing.

Throughout the production narrator Scullery (Ella Gibson), looking like a Kevin & Perry tribute, drifted on and off stage to push the narrative along. This brings me to, for me, a problem with this particular production. Gender blind casting seems to be the current thing. I am not sure whether this is through necessity or choice but it makes things difficult at times for the audience (me) to work out whether the character is supposed to be male or female.

I found the writing erratic, one moment quick-fire character moments and the next big monologues. However, one thing I did take away from the production was that people living in poverty seem to choose to handle it in one of two ways. Either they embrace their victimhood and wallow or, like some of the characters in Road, they make the best of what little they have.

Road is not an easy watch, despite the attempts at levity, especially of those of us who lived through the 1980’s. However it does give a large cast of 18 a chance to show off their acting chops.

Road runs at Curve until Saturday 20^th May

www.curveonline.co.uk

www.ptheatre.blogspot.co.uk

 

Home, I'm Darling

Review by Paul Towers, 8/5/2023

Home, I’m Darling by Laura Wade

Directed by John Ghent

Produced by Leicester Drama Society

At The Little Theatre 8-13 May 2023

“Who wouldn’t want to be a perfect 1950’s housewife?”

Wouldn’t it be nice to live an uncomplicated life? No computers, no wall to wall TV stations, no mobile phones? It would be bliss, wouldn’t it? Or would it?

Judy and Johnny have decided to do just that. Well, almost. Johnny goes out to work while Judy stays home and is the perfect 1950’s housewife. Of course 21^st century living has to impede to some extent. Online shopping for vintage clothes and props for their 1950’s house is essential. But apart from that it is all authentic 1950’s at home. Judy has Johnny’s supper and slippers waiting for him when he gets home. Judy spends her days cleaning the house in a selection of impractical frocks and waits for her husband to return from the office. Life is perfect.

Except, of course, it isn’t. Back when they both worked Judy was the highest earner and, with Johnny under performing at work, the money is running out. A crisis looms. As it turns out it is Judy who has bought into the whole domestic submissiveness idea rather more than Johnny.

For those that were actually around in the 1950’s life was not a bright, pastel coloured round of cocktails and domestic harmony. It was post war privation, dirt and grime from the factories and filthy steam trains belching soot everywhere. It was grim. Judy’s stylised fantasy never existed.

Before the show started there was a wonderfully condescending announcement requesting all phones to be turned off. It put us all in the right mood to laugh.

A small tight knit cast of six took us on the reality trip that Judy (Caitlin Mottram) and Johnny (Gary Hunt) needed to travel. Neighbours Fran (Tracey Holderness) and Marcus (Laurence Jackson) swooped in and stirred things up while Judy’s mum Sylvia (Elaine Rook) tried to make her daughter face reality. The final fly in the ointment was Johnny’s new boss Alex (Becky Orton) providing frustrated Johnny with a fantasy strong woman.

The clever set by Al Davis manages to represent an entire house on the stage while lighting design by Andy Crooks, Alex Crooks and Martin Scott ensures our attention is always in the right direction.

The script is full of snappy one-liners and moves at a pace with the experienced actors

Home, I’m Darling is at Leicester’s Little Theatre until Saturday 13^th May 2023

www.thelittletheatre.co.uk/

www.ptheatre.blogspot.co.uk