Garyswordz

The King of Reggae- The man- The music- Birmingham Rep

*****

‘The King of Reggae- the man- the music”  Is a  production by the Rush Theatre Company celebrating the life and music of Bob Marley. It features  live onstage musicians , the JA Reggae Band,  who  have played alongside the likes  of  Edwin Star, Jimmy Cliff, Aswad,  and Steel Pulse. Written and narrated by Jannette Barrett, aka Lyricist B, this new production follows a  narrated concert  format .

Marley has the definitive canon of reggae music, a canon which has transcended its origins like no other Reggae artist. No-one has bettered songs in the form since. “Get Up Stand Up” has evolved into one of the great protest songs, “I shot the sheriff” is a defining outlaw lament made famous  by Eric Clapton, “No Woman No Cry”  has become a classic love song with its lilting,  intro movingly  and faithfully recreated played by Mathew Graham.  I was fortunate enough to see Bob play at the Rainbow  Theatre in London in 1977, I had no idea that his songs and impact would be around 45 years later. Tonight did not simply capture the sound of Bob, it captured the spirit too.

We travel on a journey from a  Trenchtown to  worldwide Rastafari Icon, taking in his personal, spiritual and political life . Its style is self effacing, acknowledging the  role of backing band the Wailers, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh , Island Records’ Chris Blackwell, Jimmy Cliff and Desmond Decker on his road to fame.

His prodigious love life, and prolific resulting offspring, are warmly and gently remembered by Lyricist B on a back screen which   is skilfully used for atmospheric effect throughout an evening which features over 20 of his songs  with a running time in excess of two and a half hours. We are reminded  of how much great material he recorded during a recording career of under a decade  cut short by his premature death, of cancer   in May 1981 in Florida USA.  

The fourteen piece band of musicians were superb with  lead singer IKA taking on the role of Bob . A  brass section (Adrian Gibson, Trumpet, Anne Tinsley, Saxophone) and  fabulous backing singers contributed to the signature sound with which we are all so familiar courtesy of musical Director Reedbass.I t was a sound which drew the audience onto their feet from early on until the tumultuous finale  of “Three Little Birds” and “One Love “.

It was a wonderful show played to  a multicultural audience ,some of whom , by dint of their age, had clearly been devotees from the beginning. I had forgotten many of the songs, but was delighted to be reminded of them,  and was surprised by how immediate, and relevant they all were. Songs from the past, to be enjoyed in the present which will endure into the future – runs until Sat 24^th Sept

Gary Longden

It Runs in the Family – Highbury Theatre

“It Runs in the Family” is a classic  British farce written by Ray Cooney in 1987 in the mid Elizabethen era. Highbury Theatre  itself is well appointed and intimate making it an ideal setting for comedy.

The action is set in  the Doctor’s common room at St Andrew’s hospital London . We arrive   as chief protagonist physician Dr. David Mortimore  prepares to deliver the  prestigious Ponsonby lecture to a room full of visiting neurologists. A promotion and knighthood  is an impending  reward for a successful presentation.  However, things are not going smoothly. A past lover appears with shocking news of a love child. It is news he wants hidden from both his wife, and everyone else, including the hospital.

All the Cooney ingredients are here, mistaken identity, double entendres, surprise revelations, sexual innuendo, physical and visual gags,   windows, and lots of doors. Chaos ensues which probably makes this an accurate reflection of the 21^st century NHS where poverty is claimed  to the visiting junior health minister, but not so much poverty as to affect the excellent job the doctors  are doing… Aficionados of the genre will not be disappointed by this excellent choice of production which is the  first play of the 2022/23 season, and is often regarded as Cooney’s best.

Phil Astle directs, and takes the principal part of Dr Hubert Bonney, Dr Mortimore’s friend and confidante, two responsibilities , an onerous and demanding undertaking, which he  acquits well. He is ideal as Bonney in an unusually well chosen cast. Suave, accommodating and urbane, he also has the satisfaction of the final plot twist. Richard Constable plays opposite him as a smug, angular, neurotic, Mortimore, who unwinds in front of us as events spiral out of control in a memorable comic performance reminiscent of John Cleese’s Basil Fawlty. But it is Jake Collyer,  playing Mortimore’s now grown up son Leslie, who steals the show. Physically imposing, emotionally needy, Collyer is outstanding as he desperately tries to comprehend the incomprehensible around him.

The supporting cast is equally strong. Sharon Clayton is demure and sassy  as Nurse Tate whose liaison with Dr Mortimore eighteen years ago in the sluice room precipitated this sequence of events. Mandy Yeomans convinces,  and is assured, as Mortimore’s long suffering wife Rosemary, a wife who it turns out knew a lot more than her husband was aware of.

Bhupinder Brown ekes the maximum out of her part as Dr Connelly, linking the action neatly, but enjoying both the comic opportunities as organiser of the hospital pantomime director and her familial association with the investigating Police Sergeant ( David Weller) whose  Final Act closing summary of the nonsense that has gone before is a comic gem. Pip Oliver has great fun as the blonde battle axe matron who inadvertently receives a dose of sedative. She is always keen to keep standards high, even when her bloomers are low, and stars in the memorable defenestration scene which is the comic highlight of the evening.

The disintegration of the delivery of the Ponsonby lecture is faithfully recounted by the ever increasing exasperation of Martin Walker’s  pompous, bombastic, blustering Sir Willoughby Drake. Proceedings are mainly watched by the  dementia suffering, wheelchair bound, Bill, laconically and humorously observed by Rob Phillips, albeit in a part that probably would not be written in this way today.  Becky Higgs has the distinction as a  Nurse Sister of being the only sane protagonist,  Yvonne Lee relishes her walk on cameo at the end as Mother, as does the audience.

The single set design ( Malcolm Robertshaw)  of the Doctor’s common room is simple, well lit ( Steve Bowyer) functional and, crucially, has doors and a window which open and close at the right time. Andrew Birkbeck’s sound ensures that the telephones ring at the right time. The costuming is generically credited to Highbury Wardrobe who have done a fine job. It is easy in amateur productions to be lazy with contemporary wardrobe, but not here. The Doctors look the part, Sir Willoughby looks every bit a knight of the realm, Nurse Tate’s dress is prim but beautiful, Rosemary Mortimore’s shoes stylish and eye catching. The detail does matter.

Producer  Sandra  Haynes  has worked hard to ensure this show is  fast-paced, high-energy , and most importantly, very  funny. The audience lapped it up.  If you like farce, you will love this, and if you don’t,  come along anyway as you will be won over by this production which runs until the 24^th September.

Gary Longden

Blood brothers- Wolverhampton Grand Theatre

****

Somehow, over a period of time, a musical seeps into the national consciousness. It cannot happen overnight. A combination of word of mouth, and return visits create a critical mass, and for some very fortunate shows legendary status is bestowed. I have seen this  show several times over the past forty years. Of course I wondered beforehand whether the magic remained. I was not to be disappointed.

It is a musical. It is also  a powerful narrative whose ingredients are timeless.  Each new cast has the opportunity to stamp their own personalities on the characters  and offer generational shifts. The pivotal figure is Mrs Johnstone, played by  X factor protégé Niki  Colwell Evans. She is fabulous in this show following in a distinguished lineage of actresses who have played the role.

The tale of two brothers, separated at birth, then reunited with tragic consequences, it retains a comic warmth which sustains the show through the bleak moments of heartbreak, with a musical score which lifts the spirits. Directors   Bob Tomson and Bill Kenwright, never allow the pace to drop, or the mood to sink too low.

As our country says farewell to one monarch, and welcomes a new one, at a time of national economic crisis, the divide between the haves and have nots  captures the zeitgeist of the moment. It is a snapshot of a bygone age , a time when skirts were ubiquitous, and grinding poverty and crisp laundry  existed side by side with  the Tally Man always on the doorstep.

Richard Munday imposes a mysterious gravitas to the role of narrator, “ So did you hear the story of the Johnstone twins? As like each other as two new pins.” His chiming rhyming couplets doom laden from the start.

The vastly experienced , Paula Tappenden excels as (Mrs Lyons), a part she has played many times before, while the bug eyed Timothy  Lucas offers Sammy a zany scouse persona. Carly Burns is sassy and scintillating as the multi-dimensional   Linda. The shift from micro skirted schoolgirl femme fatale to adult is challenging but Burns moves from cocky kid to world weary adult with ease.

 The striking cityscape of Liverpool set is imaginatively presented by Andy Walmsley, the Liver building looming over everything. Cheekily, longstanding Everton fan ( and past Club Chairman)  Bill Kenwright ensures that it is Everton graffiti on the street wall. The lighting is atmospheric and portentous skilfully executed by Nick  Richings  particularly in the iconic closing scene. Yes, there was a standing ovation at the end, and yes, “Tell me it’s not true” brings tears to the eyes. But that was what you expected wasn’t it?

“Blood brothers” continues in Wolverhampton until 17^th sept and continues on nationwide tour

The Shawshank Redemption at Derby theatre

****

For most of us this story will be remembered as a 1990’s film, which, after a slow box office start, was reappraised, enjoying considerable belated success on video rental re-establishing it as one of the essential pieces of that decade’s movie history.  Prison dramas can be a tough sell, but, its genesis as a Stephen King novella, with Bill Kenwright behind this stage adaptation, gives it an unusually strong pedigree, and in Joe Absolom a talented and recognisable lead. The opening night was sold out , a delayed start increasing the anticipation, further delayed by a minute’s silence for the late Queen Elizabeth 2^nd, and an ovation for the national anthem.

The opening at curtain up is stark, three spot lit men stand naked, amongst them, Andy Dufresne, incarcerated for the  double murder  of  his wife and her lover, a crime he claims he did not commit. The play does not shirk the grim reality of prison life including actual and threatened homosexual assault, but it is the non sexual relationship between  Andy and veteran inmate Red which is at the centre of the story. Ben Onwukwe  ( of London’s burning fame) is  superb channelling the performance of Morgan Freeman who played the role in the film.

The ensemble, all male, cast is strong with gang members “the Sisters” providing the visceral  menace from the inmates, and the warden (Mark Heenehan)  providing the cerebral menace from the Prison authorities  as he pressures ex banker Andy into  manipulating  the accounting books.

 David Esbjornson’s   production is gritty, Gary McCan’s  set suitably austere ,and   Chris Davey’s  lighting monochrome with period music providing episodic breaks.

Whilst superficially the story is bleak, it is underpinned by a message of hope, friendship  and love. Andy is imbued with almost Christ like qualities. Turning the other cheek, eschewing violence and securing beer for his fellow inmates in return for offering a warder financial expertise in echoes of Christ and his disciples. Adapted by Owen O’Neill and Dave Johns, the dialogue is spattered with witty asides which ensure that the mood never becomes overbearingly heavy.

The second act whips along with plenty of plot twists, moments of tragedy but a satisfying ending to a pleasing production which continues on tour for the remainder of the year and plays in Derby until sat 17^th. It is a credit to Derby that it continues to offer high quality plays in an era dominated by contemporary musicals, the sold out first night and strong sales for the remainder of the run vindicates that artistic confidence.

n 2015  Derby theatre  staged “ Solace of the Road” the world premiere of Siobhan Dowd’s novel of loss and homecoming. “Home Girl” reprises an exploration of the Care system in visceral, essential style.

It is a new stage adaptation of Alex Wheatle’s  eponymous novel  and a collaboration between  Alex Wheatle MBE, Nathan Powell , Sarah Kolawole,  Anisa  Archer and a Derby Theatre creative team. The main cast, Lisa Allen, Andrea Davy, Martha Godber, Duane Hannibal, April Nerisssa Hudson, Helena Rimmer are unusually strong, augmented by an enthusiastic supporting ensemble.  Co directors Sarah Brigham and Bryn Holding have done a superb job to harness all of this energy to impressive effect. A “future creatives” young team have undertaken the  backstage  roles under experienced tutelage. Emma White’s set design, a versatile two storey interior is well lit by Sam Evans. Nicole Chang’s costume designs are fortuitously contemporary casual for a young cast used to wearing contemporary casual.

“You need to learn boundaries, rules are rules” is a maxim in any foster home.  Whether you are in Care, as young protagonist Naomi is ,or are a Prime Minister, adhering to it is just as difficult. The play explores, identity, belonging , love and what home is and means. Naomi’s circumstances  trace a familiar path within the system. She experiences personal loss then finds herself bounced from one person to another at a time when she desperately needs grounding and to be able to fit in, to belong, somewhere

Wheatle lived in a childrens’ home in Croydon. The production team have worked with children in the Derby  Care community to deliver a play with a powerful stamp of authenticity right across it.

Martha Godber is wonderful as Naomi, the counterpoint with foster parents Duane Hannibal  (Tony)and Andrea Davy ( Colleen) skilfully portrayed, embodying the precept that it is who you are, not what you are, that matters. Davy and Hannibal are terrific, Godber visibly grows in confidence opposite this formidably supportive duo.

The subject matter is weighty. Naomis’ mother committed suicide and her father was an alcoholic her placement as a white girl with a black family initially looks doomed, viewed  with  a mixture of  suspicion and scepticism . Yet despite her chaotic damaged history, with her  associated suspicion of those supposed to look after her, the narrative zips along  briskly underpinned by quickfire  dialogue and laced with humour to lighten a frequently heart-breaking story in which the human spirit can prosper in the most testing of circumstances. It is a story of struggle which is universal in its emotions. Underneath it all Naomi is an ordinary girl who likes horror films, drinking Coke, coffee with four sugras ,dancing and hanging out with her friends in the pupil referral unit and wants to belong in a world that seems to have abandoned her.

The play is delivered in two acts, the first of sixty minutes, the second of half that. The first culminates in an ebullient song and dance routine hosted by Tony at Naomi’s birthday party. It is superbly realised out of nowhere with a full primary cast and ensemble dance routine featuring the Disco classic “Car Wash”  thanks to movement directors Lucy James and Rukus. Its joyous effervescence brings the house down, credit to sound designer Thomas Massey.

 The second half seems to try to fit an awful lot into a brief space suffering marginally as a result It draws a parallel  between the estrangement from society of Tony’s parent’s Windrush generation and the alienation of Naomi’s Care home generation, both desperate to fit in, to belong , and to be accepted. It concludes with an “all you need is love” coda which Paul McCartney would be proud of.

This production was originally to be performed last year before being shelved due to Covid and its appearance  is a delight, well worth waiting for, and a credit to both the directing team and the young people who give their all. it finishes on Saturday 9^th July

*****

A jukebox musical of Queen hits with a libretto written by comedian Ben Elton. Since it opened at the Dominion theatre in London in 2002 it  has played to over 600,000 people there alone,  and over fifteen million worldwide. By any measure it is a popular success.

I took my seat as an admirer of Queen’s music, rather than a fan, the same being true of Ben Elton. As the show unfolded the reasons for its success were immediately apparent. The stage set, on two tiers, is imposing, the music is played by a live band and a cast of over 20 sing and dance with an unified, vibrant joy.

Visually the show is stunning courtesy of costumes by Kentaur. It borrows heavily from the look of the cast of the film, “Mad Max- beyond Thunderdome,” so much so that you half expect Tina Turner to pop out at any moment. The live band plays from the upper tier, sometimes behind screens, sometimes exposed for dramatic effect. They are excellent with bassist Neil Murray amongst their number, who is a stalwart of bands of Rocks’ illuminati.

The songs are not straight facsimiles of the original recordings, instead they are subtly adapted for their new dramatic context, and the various lead voices. Queen’s Brian May ensures that the original spirit is not lost, and doyenne of the West End Musical, and Royal Academy of Music associate, Stuart Morley ensures the songs work on stage. Morley deserves huge credit and appreciation for these arrangements which frequently bring some  songs of which I am not particularly fond to life.

Inevitably, Queen’s voluminous back catalogue results in a few personal favourites being omitted, I would have liked to have heard “Now I’m Here” , but that is more than compensated for by the inspired reimagining and reworking of so many songs as unlikely duets and choral pieces. It is the female lead vocals  which steal the show,  Jenny O’Leary as the Killer Queen and  Elena Skye as Scary bush (sic). Black Afro American DMJ is terrific as Brit, demonstrating both the personal versatility of his own vocal range and the versatility of the songs he sings to be reinterpreted.

Choreographer Jacob Fearey, who also acts as swing, eschews classic musical  dance shapes and forms in favour of bespoke ensemble gatherings , the gender ambiguous dancers are a brilliant invention, it doesn’t matter if they are a boy or a girl, they look great.

Vocally, the slower numbers work best, mainly because the lead vocalists  are so strong, “Who wants to live Forever?” and “These are the days of our Lives” are the pick of the bunch. The only relative dud was “Seven Seas of Rye” a great song hamstrung by poor stage direction.

As for the plot. Was there a plot?  Elton’s script, a succession of stitched together one- liners is preposterous, and  contrived,  but is occasionally quite funny, not least when the male and female leads reflect on the need for “protection” before going to bed. But it works as it holds together  a two hour show, even if the clunky eco aware and corporate phobic messages grate. However there is simple amusement to be had by identifying the numerous song lyric quotes which pepper the dialogue, which is handy, as there is very little real dialogue at all.

This is certainly amongst the very best of the jukebox musicals, essential for all Queen fans, and music fans, alike. A musical and visual spectacular, an evening of hugely entertaining musical theatre, playing at Wolverhampton  until 28^th May, then continuing on nationwide tour.