Let's be totally honest, the only reason I went to see this show was my favourite actress was in it. Otherwise, I wouldn't've even given it a second thought. The tagline "For the show to go on, the clothes must come off!" is incredibly deceptive. Walking in, I expected jazz hands, cheesy stripteases, and creepy male audience members attending solely for the promised nudity. But I was so wrong. Mrs Henderson is so much more than its tagline; it is one of the most entertaining, heartfelt, and emotionally draining pieces of theatre I have ever seen. Two days later, I'm still totally overwhelmed just thinking about this show, so forgive me if the review is a little more scatterbrained than my usual. I'm still processing the details, so I may add more to this later.
Seat/Venue Review: This show was presented at the Noel Coward Theatre. I sat 2nd row centre stalls (D10, £67.00). All in all, I think the seats were pretty good value. The view was great, though there are certain scenes where it's quite uncomfortable to be that close! My only complaint about the NC Theatre is that it has only one women's bathroom, which seems like horrifically bad planning. The lines!
Where to start! I guess I should probably talk about the show a bit, or my ramblings about certain scenes and performers will make no sense.
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| Eddie and Maureen (The Telegraph) |
Mrs Henderson Presents is the story of one Mrs Laura Henderson (Tracie Bennett), who purchases the Windmill Theatre in 1937. She sets up Revudeville performances with the help of Vivian van Damm (Ian Bartholomew), and, in an effort to attract more audience members, decides to display nude girls (including assistant-turned-showgirl Maureen (Emma Williams) and former dancing girls at the Windmill). The show follows the characters at the Windmill Theatre through the war as we see how they cope with love, loss, and the struggles of keeping a theatre afloat during the war years. That's the most detailed summary I can give without giving too much away. I usually don't mind filling my review with spoilers, but I'm keeping them to a minimum this time as I want to encourage everyone to go see Mrs H. for themselves.
The show itself was beautifully crafted. The songs were incredibly well written and suited each character perfectly. I guess that's an actor thing as well; everything the songs told you about each character, the performers strove to emphasise in their performance (Maureen's indecisiveness, Vivian's sorrow and serious nature, et. al.). It's a difficult thing to explain, but it had a huge impact on the emotional execution of the show. I also liked that they sort of had a show within a show thing going on; the fourth wall was broken countless times and it really helped to draw the audience into the action happening 'onstage' and 'off'. Having their presence directly acknowledged made the audience (or me, anyway) feel more committed to and invested in the outcome of the stories. I really cared about most of the characters, which is not something that happens in a lot of shows.
There were definitely a lot of tears shed during this show. I was crying with laughter during the massive stripdown of about 90% of the cast, and about ten minutes later I was crying from sadness when Eddie left for war. In the second act, I started tearing up around 'We'll Never Close', full-on bawled during 'Innocent Soldier', and then sobbed quietly until the end of the curtain call (and lost it again briefly a few times before that). Rarely am I that emotionally struck by a show, especially one I'm not familiar with. The lyrics of some of the songs especially got to me, especially because of the delivery. Innocent Soldier shattered my heart, Ordinary Girl felt very relatable (So did Anything But Young if I'm being totally honest…), If Mountains Were Easy to Climb was tearful for me because it was quite inspirational. I guess I found the character of Maureen herself quite relatable and inspirational in a way, which is odd because the character is nothing like me. I can't really make sense of it, but there you go. On that note, I guess I can launch into my gushing over the brilliance that is Emma Williams.
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| Maureen (Emma Williams)(West End Wilma) |
As mentioned above, the only reason I came to see this show in the first place was the incomparable Emma Williams. I'd seen her in Zorro the Musical years ago (and, as it turns out, in Chitty when I was about 6!), and her portrayal of Luisa in Zorro was so moving that I still remember it to this day. Needless, to say, I had very high expectations of Emma, which were met, exceeded, then entirely surpassed. Emma's performance as Maureen in Mrs Henderson Presents was nothing short of spectacular (if she doesn't win the Olivier, it'll be a travesty). It's hard to know where to start; everything was just so perfect. I guess I'll start with the easy part: voice. Wow. Vocally, Emma is astounding. There is so much power and conviction in everything that she sings. Every note is clear and beautiful, yet she still manages to express so much emotion in her singing. She doesn't just sing the songs; she feels them and lives them. Her acting too was just beyond belief. I can't really describe it, but you could feel everything her character was feeling. She projected Maureen's emotions so wonderfully. My heart shattered into a hundred pieces during her part of Innocent Soldier and I haven't managed to reassemble it yet. I really like how 'real' Emma made Maureen; she wasn't the perfect, sympathetic, overemotional young lady. Emotions were deep and complex (I loved how conflicted and upset she was over Eddie, and over the decision to perform in the show), and she really explored all of the different character traits a single person could have. It didn't feel one-dimensional, which is often the case of roles like Maureen. As well, she didn't let the character get dragged around by the other character's whims which so often happens with female leads (looking at you, Miss Daae). Because Emma's the perfect triple threat apparently, she can also dance divinely. Fabulous technique, and very elegant. The fan dance deserves special mention; it was alluring without being cheesy, and I don't know how she pulls it of so confidently. It's the epitome of Maureen's character development really; just oozing confidence and 'look how fabulous I am!'
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| The Fan Dance (The Telegraph) |
On that note, one of my favourite parts of Mrs H. was watching Maureen grow from shy, klutzy tea-server to a confident, sophisticated performer. In this aspect, I found the character herself quite inspirational. The 'ordinary girl' is plucked from obscurity to star in a show, and despite some (heartbreaking) bumps along the way, becomes this incredibly brave, confident woman. She faced all of her hardships with courage, but showed that it was ok to feel insecure and scared. I guess I related to it on some level. I can't fault any of Emma's acting choices in this aspect. You weren't watching a character onstage; you were watching Maureen's life unfold in front of you. It all felt very real, which I think is why I found her character so relatable and so emotionally destructive. I could go on for a while about how spectacular Emma's performance was, but I should probably stop myself now. Also turns out Emma herself is quite the inspiration; she's done so many interesting and innovative pieces of theatre, is clearly an superb all-around musical theatre performer, and fit in a university degree in English Literature (I think that's what she said it was). She's also one of the nicest people I've ever met (I was SO scared to meet her! But she's so sweet). Not only my favourite actress, but my role model as well (hey, everyone needs someone to look up to).
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| Peggy, Vera, Maureen, and Doris (West End Stage) |
A few other notable performances came from Maureen's three friends Doris (Lizzy Connolly), Vera (Lauren Hood), and Peggy (Katie Bernstein), as well as Bertie (Samuel Holmes). I'd loved Lizzy Connolly in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and I knew she was a fabulous dancer with brilliant comedic abilities. But she shocked me with how wonderfully she could portray a more serious character, yet still inject that incredible energy she has. Lizzy is really a joy to watch onstage; her dancing is entertaining and expressive (and she seems to be able to do any style, which is always impressive), and she nails every aspect of her character's emotional range. Doris was quite sassy and abrupt, but she also had a softer side which was beautifully illustrated. I really look forward to seeing Lizzy performing in more shows in the future; she excels at everything she does. Lauren (Vera) had a beautiful, soft voice that perfectly suited her character (her beginning of Innocent Soldier was heartbreaking). She played the shyest of Maureen's three friends and did so perfectly; she wasn't overdone or melodramatic, nor did she let herself blend into the background too much. Katie as Peggy was the most bold and confident of the three, and she really embraced this through all of her line delivery. All three did a perfect job at communicating the personalities of their vastly different characters to the audience. Samuel Holmes was hilarious as the flamboyantly gay Bertie. Great dancing, great voice - definitely a standout performance.
Tracie Bennett gave an enjoyable performance as the title character, Laura Henderson. It seemed to me like she operated as the facilitator of the show rather than Arthur. Her singing voice was solid, she was suitably comedic and serious when necessary. She really became her character, which I appreciated. I didn't doubt for a moment that I was watching Mrs Henderson. Ian Bartholomew was also very good as Vivian van Damm. He didn't have the strongest singing voice, but his renditions of Living in a Dream World and Now is Not the Time had me tearing up. They were beautiful and heartrending. Consistent and engaging performances from them both helped hold the show together.
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| (The Telegraph) |
And now, I must talk about the whole 'clothes must come off' bit of the show. Yeah. Not fun when you're sitting between your parents. As I said, I expected the nude scenes to be sleazy at worst, camp at best. I was shocked how sophisticated these scenes were; it really was like looking at a group of statues in a museum. Those girls are incredible; they stood completely naked in front of hundreds of people and didn't move a muscle. One of them was even blindfolded and on one foot during one tableau. I was so impressed. All of them are incredibly brave to be doing what they're doing (especially Emma - one scene at the end of the first act… I've no idea how she does it), and they pull it off so easily. Really, the only way to describe it is like standing in a room full of beautiful Roman and Grecian marble statues. Lighting, headpieces/props, and set all helped this effect. There was one nudity-involving scene (that I'm not spoiling!) which was absolutely hysterical (as in, doubled over in my seat laughing into my program hysterical) and very different from the tableaus, but otherwise, they were all so sophisticated and well thought out. So yeah, I thought I'd be cringing, but it was all very well executed. And as weird as it sounds, I'm really glad I saw this show partly for these scenes. I've been absolutely petrified of a very skimpy costume I have to wear for a show, but watching these scenes and seeing how brave these actresses were to do what they do gave me the confidence I need to get onstage on the costume I've been scared of. If they can perform in nothing, I can perform in an open-front leotard and be just as confident as they are.
Despite all of this praise, it's not to say the show was faultless. I was not fond of the unfunny 'comedic' interludes by Arthur (Jamie Forman) and felt that they detracted from the continuity and emotions of the show. Certain scenes felt a bit choppy, and I really struggled with the accents of some of the characters (especially Eddie; I could barely get a sentence here and there). I also didn't feel we got to know the character of Eddie beyond his ability to fix things and obsession with Maureen. It made it hard to feel bad for him when he died; I felt worse for Maureen and the girls than Eddie. There are definitely kinks to be worked out, and the transitions from scene to scene could be a lot smoother (and please, axe Arthur. He's not funny). Despite this, top-notch individual performances, beautiful songs, and incredible costuming, set, and lighting design set this show apart.
Mrs Henderson Presents is so much more than just its tagline. I would absolutely encourage anyone and everyone (especially if you're a teenager/young adult) to see this amazing piece of theatre. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll have your heart shattered, but it'll all be worth it to see this show. Also, we need a cast recording stat. I need to listen to these songs over and over again. As it is, I have Zorro on repeat until I start to feel less emotionally invested in a show.
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