IT IS A rare treat that I get to review a musical about which I know very little – consequently seeing ‘Waitress’ the musical, was a bonanza of a discovery which is still ringing in my ears the morning after.

Picture by Johan Persson. s

The show is based on a 2007 movie written and directed by Adrienne Shelly.

Jessie Nelson wrote the book for the stage and Sara Bareilles supplied music and lyrics.

It seems fitting that director Diane Paulus and choreographer Lorin Latarro completed this all female production team to take it to Broadway and the West End.

Why fitting? It was a pre-Covid show at the height of the ‘Me Too’ uprising, which features a misogynist baddy.

The baddy in question is the narcissistic Earl, an intensely brutish outing from Tamlyn Henderson, the loathsome husband of Jenna our waitress, as in the title.

As well as waitressing, Jenna is the baker of fabulous pies at Joe’s Diner. She loves her job – it is her only respite from an abusive marriage. Jenna wants, indeed, plans to escape from Earl but disaster strikes when she discovers she is pregnant with his child.

Picture by Johan Persson. s

Wendy Mae Brown and Evelyn Hoskins play Becky and Dawn – the other two waitresses in Joe’s Diner.

They are both equally superb in their roles as supportive friends to Jenna with terrific back stories in their own right.

Chelsea Halfpenny is simply a tour de force as Jenna, faultless to the core and endearing in all she does – the applause that greeted her solo ‘She Used To Be Mine’ was roof raising.

Michael Starke as Joe the diner owner is downright endearing – he’s the polar opposite to despot Earl, an aging, caring gentleman of worth.  His rendition of ’Take It From An Old Man’ brought a big lump to the throat.

George Crawford is scene-stealing as the eccentric Ogie who woos Dawn after meeting online and finding they are kindred spirits and re-enactment geeks.

Picture by Johan Persson. s

Matt Jay-Willis gives a masterful performance as Dr Pomatter in a company that is just full of them. Jay-Willis captures the vulnerability of a shy, set-in-his-ways medic who discovers an all-consuming wild side. Having your pie and eating it is my ‘go see’ spoiler for you to muse on.

Everything about this show is joyous from the slick setting by Scott Pask to the fabulous orchestra under the baton of Ellen Campbell.

The story is as powerful as it is raucous and raunchy – it delivers on so many levels and develops like peeling an onion, with a fresh layer with every scene. It has impeccable pace and pitch and will have you laughing one minute and weeping the next.

Joe’s diner was indeed a delight and the waitresses delightful!

The show runs at the Birmingham Hippodrome until Saturday, May 21. Click here for times, tickets and more information.

*****

Review by Euan RoseEuan Rose Reviews

WHEN the announcement came over the tannoy the show was going to be late starting due to ‘technical issues’, the audience waiting to get into the auditorium shared a smile – thinking it was all part of the performance.

For this is a comedy about a student theatre company staging a play that, as the title suggests, goes very wrong.

However, the technical issues were in this instance genuine and one can see why – this is a show that on the surface is all cleverly-timed slapstick, but underneath there are a myriad of props and staging that all have to be perfectly set in order that they can then go ‘wrong’ at the right moment. One prop incorrectly set can upset the timing of the whole show – and perfect timing is the key to getting the laughs.

The play is a play-within-a-play – The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society are setting the stage for their production of ‘The Murder At Haversham Manor’ and even as we enter the auditorium, things are not going well.

The company dog has escaped resulting in a search through the theatre, some of the scenery is not in in place necessitating the assistance of an unsuspecting member of the audience and the stage crew are panicking as curtain-up time approaches.

These antics have the audience giggling from the start. Once the play itself – a corny ‘whodunit’ – begins, we are treated to two hours of breathless entertainment that has the audience roaring with laughter.

The timing is perfection as everything on the stage begins to fall apart, actors are injured by falling sets, lines and cues are mistimed, props misplaced and the director has a breakdown as what should’ve been his theatrical triumph disintegrates around him. His actors take the ‘show must go on’ mantra to the max and this is what drives the comedy.

The writers of this piece of manic genius are Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, the set designer is Nigel Hock and the tour director Sean Turner.

The ensemble cast work so brilliantly together that it would be churlish to single out any one performance. Each role requires huge amounts of physicality – not least when parts of the ‘set’ collapse, leaving them hanging literally on the edge as the audience gasp.

In fact, there were many ‘gasps’ mixed with the laughter as we marvelled at the technical wizardry – not so much a ‘whodunit’ as a ‘how did they do that’?

The Play That Goes Wrong runs at the Alexandra Theatre until Saturday, May 21. Click here for times, tickets and more information.

****

Review by Johannah Dyer.

Euan Rose Reviews

BASED on true events concerning the brutal murder of a 14-year-old teenage girl, Alice Sebold’s 2002 novel of ‘The Lovely Bones’ quickly became a modern classic.

This fast-moving stage version by Bryony Lavery proved an excellent choice for Birmingham Ormiston Academy’s young stars of tomorrow under the creative flair of tutor and director James Lees.

Picture by Steve Gregson. @stevegregsonphotos

The play is set in Norristown, Pennsylvania, in 1973 and the following eight years. It’s not a ‘whodunit’, because we see him do it – George Harvey the hideous perpetrator that is.

The uniqueness of the story is that it is told through the eyes and protestations of the dead girl, Susie Salmon who is stuck in some form of pre-heaven in a teenage strop trying to come to terms with the fact she will never achieve her rite of passage.

She also tries hard to communicate with her family and to tell them where her body is and who mutilated and defiled her.

In truth everyone suspects Harvey’s guilt but so cleverly has he covered his tracks that all that is left of Susie to discover, is her elbow.

Picture by Steve Gregson. @stevegregsonphotos

As with all plays in this BOA season, some of the parts in the show are double-cast. This shares the leading role opportunities and provides discussion points of the experience for the students.

In the company I saw, Lucy Johnson faultlessly carried the role of Susie Salmon on her young shoulders. She made us shed tears – both of sadness and laughter as we shared her journey.

Dexter Robinson was excellent as loathsome serial killer George Harvey. Robinson walked the crooked line well – making the skin crawl as he crept around, reveling in the chaos he caused to the Salmon family. He was akin to an incubus feeding on the stuff of other people’s souls.

Josh Smith makes much of the role of Susie’s father Jack Salmon and his all consuming descent into depression.

Kareena Sangha captures Susie’s mother Abigail’s desperation as she becomes estranged from her husband. She tries to move the family on with life after the tragedy but to no avail. Failure leads to her betrayal and infidelity.

There were more engaging performances too from Kathryn Duffy and Ria Francis as Susie’s sisters Lindsey and Lynn.

Lucy Ribbands was compelling as Susie’s spirit guide Franny, Poppy Scruton made a good frustrated sleuth as Detective Feneman and Anoura Gbingie was exultant Ray – Susie’s schoolgirl crush.

Picture by Steve Gregson. @stevegregsonphotos

I’d like to give a special shout-out to the two ‘Holiday the Dog’ puppeteers Dasha Simakina-Foster and Lois Stevens. If only dogs could talk, Harvey would have met his demise in the chair they still use to this day in Pennsylvania.

Having got more females than males to tread the boards it is clever casting from Lees to make this a gender-fluid production.

That, coupled with some very impressive ensemble work, including the shocking but brilliant ‘Slaughter of the Innocents’ end to act one ensured his own personal stamp.

I am always delighted to see BOA and once again there was a wealth of talent on display – it warmed the heart to observe the next generation in action.

Review by Euan Rose

Euan Rose Reviews

IT’S NOT been intentional that I’ve been a little late to join the party that is the smash hit Benny Andersson/Bjorn Ulvaeus musical ‘Mamma Mia!’

Seems I was the only one in the packed hippodrome auditorium that was a Mamma-virgin.

“I just can’t wait for the bit at the end when we all get up and dance” said the lady next to me. Now did that mean the best bit about the show is the walkdown?

Picture by Brinkhoff-Moegenburg. s

In actuality it was all a joy – what’s not to like? Certainly not the Abba songs, which have been part of more drunken tomfoolery nights than I can care to remember.

Of course the show is wall-to-wall Abba and with a cast that sound – dare I say – in some cases better than the originals.

Especially in Act two when sound levels had been adjusted – but the sound level is my only criticism in a night of unabashed hedonism.

If there are any of you out there who don’t know, it’s a story about a wedding with a ‘Who’s–ya-Daddy’ sub plot all set on a Greek island.

Sophie Sheridan, a charming outing by silver-voiced Jena Pandya, is the bride-to-be who wants her father to be there. Trouble is, having read her mother’s diary, it seems she can perm any one of three contenders in her mother’s summer of passion 21 years ago. So what else is there to do but secretly invite all three?

Her mother Donna Sheridan is played by Sara Poyzer and is the real deal. I’m sure Meryl Streep was brilliant as Donna in the movie (haven’t seen that either) but she couldn’t do a better job than Poyzer- she’s hypnotic and has an amazing vocal range.

Her rendition of ‘Slipping Through My Fingers’, which she sings to her daughter, packs passion with a capital ‘P’.

Picture by Brinkhoff-Moegenburg. s

From the minute they arrive on the island the would be daddies make a great trio – that’s Daniel Crowder as Harry Bright Phil Corbbitt as Bill Austin, Richard Standing as Sam Carnichael. The banter between them is delivered with panache and comedic mastery. They can also strut their stuff pretty well in the dance routines and belt the big numbers with the best of them.

Donna’s chums Tanya and Rosie – Helen Anker and Nicky Swift respectively – make great foils for Mamma Donna bringing mirth, merriment and some downright magical moments.

Toby Miles is Sky an energetic groom-to-be and he’s well supported by an acrobatic bunch of beach bums, including Pepper – a frenetically funny contribution from James Willoughby Moore with his toy-boy fixation on Tanya.

Choreographer Anthony Van Laast has set some jaw-dropping routines from the exoticness of  ‘I Had A Dream’ to the hilarity of the boys ‘flipper and snorkel’ dance

Phyllida Lloyd’s direction is big, bold and all inclusive and the band do full justice to the Abba catalogue under the baton of Carlton Edwards.

It was all quite a delight from ‘Dancing Queen’ to ‘Take A Chance On Me’ and back again. Yes the walkdown was quite something; hands in the air and folk dancing in the aisles. I thoroughly enjoyed the party – sorry I was late!

Mama Mia runs at the Birmingham Hippodrome until next Saturday, May 14. Click here for times, tickets and more information.

*****

Review by Euan Rose

Euan Rose Reviews

THIS MULTI-media production is no Disney-fied, sugar-coated version of ‘The Jungle Book’ – instead it is a full-on assault on the senses, employing every conceivable effect to engage and enthral the audience. Taking inspiration from Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book series of stories originally published in 1894, this production is set in a post-apolcalyptic world when global warming has caused lands to submerge, forcing the human population to search for higher ground.

A young child finds herself separated from her family and ends up in a land where animals of all shapes and sizes have taken over and formed an uneasy alliance as they try to navigate the new world order without humankind.  The child is taken in by a wolf-pack and named Mowgli. The wolves are under threat by another human, a hunter, who keeps them in constant fear. Mowgli is kidnapped by the Bander-log – former lab-monkeys on whom humans had inflicted all kinds of experiments and who now want Mowgli to teach them how they can become human themselves.

With the help of Kaa, a python, Mowgli is rescued by the panther Bagheera and Baloo, a dancing bear and returns to the wolf-pack. But as the hunter gets closer to their territory, they realise the fragile peace the animals have forged is under threat once again – can Mowgli save them?

Director and Choreographer Akram Khan cleverly brings together a soundscape created by  composer Jocelyn Pook with digital animation by Adam Smith and Nick Hillel and live action from his extraordinary dance company to create a compelling and thought-provoking piece, with imagery that pops into your head long after the curtain has come down.

The stage is fronted by a barely visible gauze, onto which are projected beautifully animated line drawings. This effect allows the performers to dance seamlessly within the animations enabling them to interact with giant elephants, birds and other creatures, create stormy seas and fire arrows across the stage.

The animations are stunning in their simplicity – birds that fly, leaves that float gently to the ground, water that rises, a herd of elephants that cross in front of our eyes. It’s all so believable that I found my eyes watering when the hunter shoots Chili – the Kite who has watched over Mowgli – and a flock of birds come to carry him skyward.

The animated scene at the beginning has the child floating on a raft in stormy sea with her parents, echoing the journeys made by migrants. When the child fell off the raft and down into the depths of the ocean, the audience collectively held its breath until she struggled to the surface. Later, the hunter is ‘drowned’ in a sea which brilliantly combines live action with the animation so that you cannot see where the digital effects end and the ‘real’ action begins.

Pook’s sound track is utterly mesmerising – mixing music and sounds from different cultures including Indian song, chants and, at one point, Latin with words and phrases relating to global warming such as activist Greta Thunberg’s famous ‘How dare you?’ speech. Interspersed with the sounds of the jungle are news announcements about the global warming catastrophe as well as dialogue that tells the story.

Khan’s dancers use this soundtrack as their ‘music’ – moving to the rhythms created by the voices and dancing through the dialogue. Costumes are minimal and the dancers are dressed uniformly, relying on their movements to convey which animal they are portraying. For the most part, this works well – the physicality and synchronicity of the dancers is  breathtaking, but occasionally I found myself struggling to work out who was whom – when there was so much to take in visually, some of the more nuanced, subtle elements were lost.

The technical requirements of this production are huge – hats off to the whole team behind the scenes for making it all work.

Jungle Book Reimagined is a unique collaboration not just between different creative media, but also between a veritable who’s who of production partners, all of whom should be congratulated for their vision in supporting this innovative and ground-breaking production.

 ****

Review by Johannah DyerFor Euan Rose Reviews

Bromsgrove Editorial1^st May, 2022Updated: 1^st May, 2022

DIRECTING a ‘best-loved musical’ is not necessarily the simplest of productions to undertake – mainly because the majority of your audience will have seen it before and will demand more of the same.

Director Kevin Middleton didn’t tread on too many toes in his interpretation of ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ at Birmingham’s Crescent Theatre last night, but managed to add his own footprint by bringing a semblance of realism to the silliness.

With his subtle references to misogyny and anti-Semitism, Middleton enlists our sympathy for Mushnik, the nice old Jewish flowershop owner and for his young shop assistant Audrey who allows herself to be a punch bag for her dentist boyfriend Orin’s sick pleasure.

It’s a clever bit of scripting that makes the most odious character not the person eating plant Audrey II, but Orin the dentist.

Let’s face it dentists already get a bad press – a seat in their chair is the least favourite outing for young and old.

So in ‘Little Shop’ Orin does for dentists what Sweeny Todd does for barbers – three cheers for the plant when he gobbles him up. Oh shucks, that’s a spoiler!

Martin Sadd makes a believable and likable Mr Mushnik – that is once he emerges from behind a very awkward opening state of a large frame on his desk, which left me searching for where the nebulous voice was coming from.

Audrey is played with little bo-peep sweetness by Helena Stanway and is complemented by Daniel Parker as her love struck co-worker Seymour. They gel together exquisitely, in words, action and song.

Kimberley Maynard, Hannah Lyons and Becky Johnson – Crystal, Chiffon and Ronnette respectively make up the Skid Row chorus. From the moment they literally jump through the opening curtain they sparkle. Whilst others struggled to kick-start their roles on opening night, this dynamic trio owned the stage from the get-go. Maynard has the added bonus of golden tonsils.

The big set piece everyone waits in anticipation to see grow from a pot to a monster is Audrey II, the heinous plant from outer space. The Crescent’s version is a clever design and construction by Jenny Thurston and Marlyn Romer – their Audrey II is a sprawling , living, breathing colossus. Thurston also acts as on-stage puppeteer. Mark Shaun Walsh voices the carnivorous botanical freak.

Keith Harris adds another notch to his top-boy set designs this season, Colin Lang adds some rock move choreography and Chris Arnold waves a baton over a talented band.

The first night nerves will no doubt be replaced by ‘growing’ confidence – there is much to enjoy here for ‘Little Shop’ aficionados and newbies alike. Well worth going into town for.

Little Shop of Horrors runs until Saturday, May 7, at the Crescent – click here for times, tickets and more.

****

Review by Euan Rose

Euan Rose Reviews

A HUGE buzz of anticipation exuded from the packed house at Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre last night as they waited for the slightly delayed curtain to go up.

With many of the audience dressed in 80s retro-kitsch to celebrate the arrival in town of the all-new stage musical version of the iconic 80s film ‘Footloose’.

If you were old enough to dance in the 80s (and most of last night’s audience were) then Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer were your ‘movie messiahs’.

Amazingly (and I recall getting this as a Balderdash ‘true or false’ question) Footloose is based on a real-life almost 100 year period in Elmore City, Oklahoma where dancing was banned as a lewd pastime  – punishable by jail.

It was overturned in 1980 by a high school student revolt.

In the stage show, Ren McCormack (Joshua Hawkins) along with his mother Ethel (Anna Westlake) arrives from the glitz of Chicago to the tumbleweed town of Bomont.

Having been abandoned by their husband/ dad, they are here to start a new life.

However, the rose tints drop from the spectacles when Ren discovers that in Bomont, dancing is banned.

This is by order of the town council because of a fatal accident some years previously, in which local teenagers had lost their lives.

Calling the shots is head of the council, the Reverend Shaw Moore – an outstanding performance by Darren Day.

Day brings stage-sage to a largely ‘fresh from drama school’ main company.

The Rev has a rebellious and beautiful daughter Ariel – joyously played by Lucy Munden – she displays layers of passion, frustration and fragility which get peeled away as she kindles a relationship with Ren. They bring out the best in each other as they aim to change their little town’s insularity.

Hawkins fairly rocks it up as Ren and aside from his romance with Ariel, makes a great duo with rebel with a cause Willard Hewitt, (Jake Quickenden).

Most of the cast multi-tasked playing a profusion of guitars, brass and woodwind instruments alongside, dancing, singing and story telling.

A special doff of the cap to Oonagh Cox as a stand out Rusty.

After a shaky start due to what I presume was settling in after a late set up (the scenery pantechnicons were only just leaving as the audience were entering) the company gelled and excelled.

The sound from designer Chris Whybrow wasn’t always balanced and mics sometimes annoyingly absent – first night lack of tech time, which I’m sure, won’t happen again.

Overall, this is a slick stage adaptation by writer and lyricist Dean Pitchford of his own screenplay. Director Racky Pews brings it to life in a fast moving montage.

Sara Perks keeps the interest bubbling with a multi-layered set offering interesting spaces for intimate romance and conversation and full on dance spectacles.

The song list is a nice balance of energy and empathy; which outside of the classic title song includes the iconic ‘Holding Out For A Hero’ and ‘Let’s Hear It For The Boy’.

At the walkdown the audience were on their feet and enjoyed a full on 80’s party with the cast.

Footloose is frothy and infectious fun – it sends you home happy with a big grin for everyone around you. In these sad news days, it’s just the ticket.

****

Review by Euan Rose

Euan Rose Reviews

CASEY Bailey is the Birmingham Poet Laureate 2020-2022 – ‘Grimeboy’ is his first major play, directed by Madeleine Kludje with a tight hand on the pulse.

The story concerns Grimeboy and Blue, two grime MCs, both moving rapidly up the rap-ladder. They meet whilst competing at a local ‘battle’. Kindred spirits with mutual respect for each other’s talents makes them decide to become a duo.

Whilst Blue is hot-headed and quick to explode, Grimeboy is more even-tempered. Grimeboy does his best to change the thinking of his new best buddy, explaining violence is never the answer. He lets him into his dark secret that he stabbed someone himself and that an innocent person took the prison rap for knife possession for him.

Blue takes a vow to be less aggressive and the two start cutting an album together in a bedroom studio. However events dictate differently as Blue is mugged and murdered by jealous rivals.

A grief-stricken Grimeboy almost gives up music permanently but is persuaded to perform his completed album ‘Forever Blue’ to a packed stadium in triumph and tribute.

Keiren Hamilton-Amos is the full package as Grimeboy, compelling narrator, credible in character and abundant in talent. The intimacy of The Door meant his performance was as personal as it was complete.

Picture by Graeme Braidwood. s

Alexander Lobo Moreno also puts in a strong performance as Blue. He is feisty and moody with a dollop of dry humour thrown in.

Corey Weekes as Jay and Auden Allen as DJ complete the company both in gifted individuality and as necessary synergy in the fast moving story.

Designer Ebrahim Nazier gives us a set comprising speaker columns which break down and build up to form intriguing spaces and as all-seeing observers. They even become knives in the death scene.

Ryan Joseph Stafford, LX designer, creates a world of half light and moody shade, where shadows walk alongside the narrative.

Clive Meldrum’s sound does full justice to Auden Allen’s musical composition.

Casey Bailey’s script is much more than a story about grime rappers – it’s a comment on young black life struggles – where peer pressure rules, you’re never fully dressed without a knife and the desire to achieve may not be a beacon, but it is an inextinguishable flame.

Bailey’s lyrics are clever, biting and often beautiful – undoubtedly he is a huge talent and is served well here by the Rep’s company of top-boys.

Grimeboy runs at The Door until next Saturday, April 30. Click here for times, tickets and more information.

****

Review by Euan Rose

Euan Rose Reviews

BILL Kenwright, one of the most successful theatrical producers in the UK, has made a fortune in theatre where most ‘would-be’ impresarios fall at the first hurdle. That is of course putting ‘bums on seats’.

As PT Barnum, the greatest showman once said: “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the people.”

Kenwright is the man who took a play, which failed in the West End, reinvented it and turned it into the phenomenon that is Blood Brothers the musical. He also, along with his producer chum Laurie Mansfield, more or less invented the jukebox musical – that is a catalogue of  chart-topping  songs with the thinnest of scripts sandwiched in between them.

It seems Kenwright has done it again – Malvern was packed on press night for his latest touring production – an intriguing, thriller-romp entitled ‘Catch Me If You Can’.

Picture by Jack Merriman. s

For the record, it has nothing to do with the well-known ‘Catch Me If You Can’ thriller romp Steven Spielberg film starring Leonardo DiCaprio but is a play written in the 1960s by the late Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert.

It is difficult to put this production into a genre – there’s nothing much here to chill-thrill, it takes liberties with credibility but is undeniably great fun from curtain up to the walkdown.

The story is set mid-60s – in a hunting lodge complete with a giant moose head above the fireplace in the Catskill Mountains, New York State. Here we meet newly wed ad-man Daniel Corban – played by silver-haired Dallas heartthrob Patrick Duffy in a brilliant piece of casting.

Duffy uses his velvet whispery voice to full effect as he drinks the state near dry with a tumbler of bourbon permanently attached to his right hand. He can of course be forgiven for his over indulgence as his wife of just a few days has gone missing.

There are blind alleys aplenty as we meet the beautiful Elizabeth who claims to be his wife– a full on feisty outing from Linda Purl, Inspector Levine – a dead-ringer for Peter Falk’s Colombo complete with raincoat contribution from Gray O’Brien – and your local neighborhood priest Father Kelleher played with a nod to the shamrock isles by Ben Nealon.

Picture by Jack Merriman. s

Complementary little cameos come in Act Two from Hugh Futcher as Sidney the sandwich man and Paul Lavers and Chloe Zeitounian aka ‘The Parkers’, the Lodge owners.

It is directed with pace and humour by Bob Tomson and designed with a sense of silliness by Julie Godfrey – where did she get that moose’s head?

This is not classic theatre in any sense of the word, it is formulated stuff where most of the thinking is done for you – but in fairness it is highly entertaining and well-performed. It comes with a bevy of surprises – including a dynamite final denouement which I would not dream of giving away.

‘Build it and they will come’ as another famous quote pronounces. Well, once again Kenwright, the modern day great entertainer has staged it and they are coming. A booming box office for a play is a rarity amidst a sea of musicals.

Naturally a trip down young Bobby Ewing memory lane is a major factor in pulling in the crowds, but it is a team effort that’s sending them home with a happy heart.

Catch Me If You Can runs until Saturday, March 26 – click here for times, tickets and more information.

****

Review by Euan Rose,

Euan Rose Reviews.