(NB trailer does not feature the cast from this production)
90s San Francisco is swapped for 70s Philadelphia as the musical version of the Whoopi Goldberg film Sister Act comes to Oxford.
I say musical version of the film, but this is perhaps misleading. The story is the same: A lounge singer, Deloris Van Cartier, witnesses her gangster boyfriend kill someone, so the police hide her in a convent to keep her protected until she can testify against him. Whilst there she teaches the nuns how to sing, they teach her about herself, the Pope gets involved, it’s all very uplifting. Add a bit of extra romance, an entirely new set of songs, and enough glitter to fill St. Paul’s Cathedral, and you’ve got the musical.
I was a little dubious when I heard that none of the songs from the film were going to be used in the musical. They were such a huge part of the film, I couldn’t see how any version of the story could work without them. But the shifting of the setting back to the 1970s is a brilliant move on the adaptors' part. As the film played with well-known motown songs, the musical remarkably achieves the same effect with completely original songs. By basing the new songs on the familiar sounds of 70s funk, soul, and disco, it still sounds like old favourites are being transformed into unexpected songs of religious worship.
The melodious jokes were great, but I did feel that quite a lot of the ‘normal’ jokes fell a bit flat. I didn’t really see the point of the comedy henchmen, but then there were many people in the audience who would have loudly disagreed with me, so I guess it’s just a matter of taste. Also character development was not exactly subtle, but with this kind of high energy romp I imagine that believable character arcs aren’t really a priority.
The cast were all excellent but the highest praise must go to Cynthia Erivo as Deloris, whose voice is amazing and who easily fills the habit left by Whoopi Goldberg.
As long as you don’t go expecting the film directly transposed to the stage, you will not be disappointed. With stained glass disco windows and a song involving the line ‘shake it like Mary Magdalene’, it would be a sin not to enjoy yourself.
Original review here
Showing posts with label Musical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Musical. Show all posts
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Saturday, 12 March 2011
Sweeney Todd - Pembroke College, 8-10 March
I went into Pembroke College to see Sweeney Todd with low expectations. I was sure that a student production of Stephen Sondheim’s complex musical, the notoriously gory story of the demon barber of Fleet Street, was bound to be a fake-blood-splattered disaster. Never have I been so pleased to be so completely wrong.
The musical tells the story of Sweeney Todd, newly returned to London after 15 years in Australia, due to transportation on false charges. After he discovers that his wife poisoned herself after being raped by the judge who wrongly transported him, he vows revenge.
From the first scene it is clear that this is not going to be a shambling amateur production. It starts with just the piano, joined by the double bass, then solo singers build up until the full company is singing on stage, handling the intricate harmonies and rhythms with apparent ease. This powerful opening scene sets a high standard that the cast manage to maintain throughout.
In a stellar cast, extra special mention must go to the two leads. Both hold the audience’s sympathies, despite their dark deeds. Amanda Williams plays Mrs Lovett as a savvy business woman, just as immoral, and just as cunning, as the man she foolishly, and hopelessly, loves. Mrs Lovett’s song ‘Beside the Sea’, where she imagines the couple retiring by the seaside, presumably on the money they make from their human pies, is a definite highlight.
But star of the show, undeniably, is Liam Steward-George as Sweeney Todd. His presence on stage as the vengeance-obsessed barber is remarkable in its confidence and intensity. A very talented individual who I look forward to seeing in productions in the future.
Clever staging means that there are no awkward set changes, clever lighting means that there is no ridiculous gore (a trap too easy to fall into with this sort of play), and all in all this is the best student production that I have seen in Oxford by far. In fact, to call it a student production is to do it a disservice, as it could hold its own against the professionals easily. Catch this razor sharp show while you can!
Original review here
The musical tells the story of Sweeney Todd, newly returned to London after 15 years in Australia, due to transportation on false charges. After he discovers that his wife poisoned herself after being raped by the judge who wrongly transported him, he vows revenge.
From the first scene it is clear that this is not going to be a shambling amateur production. It starts with just the piano, joined by the double bass, then solo singers build up until the full company is singing on stage, handling the intricate harmonies and rhythms with apparent ease. This powerful opening scene sets a high standard that the cast manage to maintain throughout.
In a stellar cast, extra special mention must go to the two leads. Both hold the audience’s sympathies, despite their dark deeds. Amanda Williams plays Mrs Lovett as a savvy business woman, just as immoral, and just as cunning, as the man she foolishly, and hopelessly, loves. Mrs Lovett’s song ‘Beside the Sea’, where she imagines the couple retiring by the seaside, presumably on the money they make from their human pies, is a definite highlight.
But star of the show, undeniably, is Liam Steward-George as Sweeney Todd. His presence on stage as the vengeance-obsessed barber is remarkable in its confidence and intensity. A very talented individual who I look forward to seeing in productions in the future.
Clever staging means that there are no awkward set changes, clever lighting means that there is no ridiculous gore (a trap too easy to fall into with this sort of play), and all in all this is the best student production that I have seen in Oxford by far. In fact, to call it a student production is to do it a disservice, as it could hold its own against the professionals easily. Catch this razor sharp show while you can!
Original review here
Thursday, 21 October 2010
Hairspray - Oxford Playhouse, 12-23 Oct
Hairspray is quite easily one of the cheesiest things I have ever seen. In my entire life. Baltimore, where the musical is set, looks pretty different in The Wire, it has to be said. But it is utterly aware of its campness, playing up to the fact constantly. In a musical where Brian Conley plays the main character’s mother, I think campness can hardly be a surprise.
The basic story is that Tracy Turnblad is considered too fat to dance on TV. She makes friends with some black people, they make a stand and then everyone is allowed to dance together. The politics are handled with the sensitivity of a sledgehammer. A notable line was “We’ll set off sparks like Rosa Parks”. Had this been the type of show to have an important, ‘serious face’ message, it would have been cringeable (thank you The Apprentice series 6 for a handy new word). But the contagious sense of joy means that whilst the message of equality and ‘oneness’ is conveyed, it is made far less clunky by show tunes and jazz hands.
All the cast are excellent, but special mention has to go to Brian Conley and his ‘daughter’, Laurie Scarth, for their unflagging energy and infectious enthusiasm. It seems unfair to put a spotlight on mistakes, but the highlight for me had to be the duet between Les Dennis and Brian Conley as husband and wife, where we experienced lost slippers, giggles, and highly disturbing bodily contact that I think will give me nightmares for weeks.
My main warning: Go to this with your children and they will want to be in musical theatre when they grow up. Correction: Go to this and you will want to be in musical theatre when you grow up.
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Spend Spend Spend - Oxford Playhouse, 5-9 October 2010
Spend Spend Spend!, on at the Oxford Playhouse all this week, is a musical of two halves. Two utterly entertaining, equally terrific halves, but two halves nonetheless. It is based on the true story of Viv Nicholson, a miner’s daughter from North Yorkshire, who in 1961 won the biggest sum ever won to that date on the pools.
The first half is a riot, and hilariously follows Viv on her way from rags to riches, with coarse humour taking in bunny girls, a fireman with dancing pecs, and a song incorporating an impressively wide variety of ways to say sex. This gives way to a more moving (though no less funny) second half as riches return to rags, the raucous energy quieting a little to reveal a very timely message about the true value of money.
The real strength of the show lies in the multi-talented cast. They create all of the music themselves, and the incorporation of the instruments into the staging is really well done. I also found myself humming the title song on the way home, and that is always a good sign.
If I had to be find fault with anything, it would be that Karen Mann as senior Viv’s Yorkshire accent isn’t always perfect, but the heartbreaking performance she puts in as a woman full of regret, living on memories, more than makes up for it. I was also ready to complain about choreographer and director Craig Revel Horwood’s vanity in inserting a quick Strictly Come Dancing reference, but I have since learned that Viv and her husband Keith did actually receive their big cheque from Bruce Forsyth! What a small world.
So, I urge you to spend spend spend your money on a ticket this week. Ba dum cha. Yes, if I were as talented as the cast and were holding a drum right now, I would say that was deserving of a rimshot. I thank you. I’m here all week. As is Spend Spend Spend
The first half is a riot, and hilariously follows Viv on her way from rags to riches, with coarse humour taking in bunny girls, a fireman with dancing pecs, and a song incorporating an impressively wide variety of ways to say sex. This gives way to a more moving (though no less funny) second half as riches return to rags, the raucous energy quieting a little to reveal a very timely message about the true value of money.
The real strength of the show lies in the multi-talented cast. They create all of the music themselves, and the incorporation of the instruments into the staging is really well done. I also found myself humming the title song on the way home, and that is always a good sign.
If I had to be find fault with anything, it would be that Karen Mann as senior Viv’s Yorkshire accent isn’t always perfect, but the heartbreaking performance she puts in as a woman full of regret, living on memories, more than makes up for it. I was also ready to complain about choreographer and director Craig Revel Horwood’s vanity in inserting a quick Strictly Come Dancing reference, but I have since learned that Viv and her husband Keith did actually receive their big cheque from Bruce Forsyth! What a small world.
So, I urge you to spend spend spend your money on a ticket this week. Ba dum cha. Yes, if I were as talented as the cast and were holding a drum right now, I would say that was deserving of a rimshot. I thank you. I’m here all week. As is Spend Spend Spend
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