Matilda the Musical (18th May 2016)

Matilda the Musical 

(May 18th, 2016 Matinee)

I’ve reviewed Matilda a LOT, so this is just a few quick little comments on bits and pieces I liked or disliked.

Clara Read (Matilda)

I’d heard mixed reviews of Clara, and she was the new Matilda that I was most excited to see, so it was really great to have her on. She was also my 10^th Matilda! Her singing voice isn’t the strongest, but it’s adequate – she hits all the notes and sounds very cute. She also had a few line fumbles in the multiplication scene, but she stayed calm and continued on as if nothing had happened like a true professional. But her acting is what made her stand out as a Matilda; it was very intelligent and thoughtful, yet not forced. She had clearly considered how Matilda would react to the world and people around her – most Matildas are, individually, strong actresses, and what sets them apart is their ability (or lack thereof) to thoughtfully react to other characters). Clara isn’t a stoic Matilda; she’s very engaged, and very reactive. Definitely a Matilda that strongly feels that urge to ‘put things right’, because it’s the ‘right’ thing to do, not because she’s just messing with people. She was also a likeable Matilda; she wasn’t showing off her knowledge, but rather, showing off how much she loved books and learning. This made her a very sympathetic Matilda, which I loved. Acting aside, she’s the cutest little munchkin, and she has hair like mine – dead straight, and no matter how much it was teased, it was nearly completely straight by the end of each scene. I thought that was a funny little thing, anyway. A final few things; Clara’s “Big Fat Bully” got the best reaction. It was dead silent for a long time, then there was a rumble of “oooooooh”s, and then the cheering started (and went on for quite a bit). It was epic. Clara is also an excellent dancer; her Ninja moves were some of the sharpest and cleanest I’ve ever seen. Her dancing in Bruce was very strong as well. A great Matilda all around, and totally one of my new favourites.

Miria Parvin (Miss Honey)

Stunning as always; beautiful voice, great acting. I love how she changes her portrayal subtly to match the Matilda; she can be quite in awe of some Matildas (Lara), uneasy around some (Lizzie), or more of a friend/mother figure to others (Evie/Clara). She also does a full tour sauté at the end of Bruce, and it’s epic.

Oliver Brooks (u/s Miss Trunchbull)

Oliver is on as Trunch all the time, which is a bit odd, but great for him as he gets more experience. I expect he might be made principal after Craige leaves. I don’t find Oliver’s portrayal particularly interesting, nor has it evolved much in the last while. He’s good, but nothing spectacular.

The Kids

Carla Dixon (Alice) is incredible; great acting, great dancing. You can’t take your eyes off of her; she’s a stellar performer and never loses energy. Superstar in the making. Harrison and Jamie Wilding (Eric and Nigel) both need haircuts, and both had zero energy. Ellie-Rose Eames (Amanda) is ridiculously adorable and a great little performer. She lost energy a bit, but was all-around good. Ynez Williams (Lavender) was apparently ill, and it showed. Oliver Llwellyn-Williams (Bruce) has a good voice, and is hilarious in Revolting Children, but he’s very tall and stick out quite a lot.

Other Notes

There was a big messup in Loud; I’m not entirely sure what happened (I don’t like Rebecca’s Loud to begin with – her voice is fine but her dancing isn’t strong). The choreography looked like it may have been changed (I suspect Rebecca may have an injury of some sort; she’s been skipping the back walkover about half the times I’ve seen her), but something definitely went wrong. Rebecca nearly got dropped at one point, which was a bit scary. I do love Tom Muggeridge as Rudolpho though; he's so much better than John Brannoch. 

Michael also flubbed the beginning of Telly; he somehow got off the music, and was glaring at the conductor until they managed to sync up. It was pretty funny. 

Frankenstein (May 18th, 2016)

The Royal Ballet's

Frankenstein

May 18th, 2016

I’d been very excited about this ballet since it was announced, and I’m very pleased I finally got to see it. As with any brand new work, there were strengths and weaknesses, and there are definitely a lot of kinks to be worked out. I wasn’t overly fond of some of the casting, so I hope that in the future, Frankenstein will be presented with more than two casts. So I’ll comment on most areas of the ballet, both what I liked and didn’t like. Enjoy!

Seat/Venue Review: I sat C36 in Stalls Circle Left, and it was £35. The view is incredibly restricted and therefore slightly overpriced. But the ROH is always a nice venue and generally pretty comfortable.

(The Guardian)

I really enjoyed Federico Bonelli as Victor Frankenstein. He’s obviously an incredibly solid technician, and his turns are textbook perfection, but he also succeeded in executing the emotional aspects of his character too. Victor was a spritely young man turned into a tortured, slightly mad inventor, and Bonelli found the line between under and overplaying it. I liked how during the ‘lightning’ scene, you could see and feel his desperation as his brilliant idea seemed to be failing, and then his absolute fear and disgust at what he had created. It was sort of the final realization that his mother was absolutely gone, and there was no way to bring her back.

Stephen McRae was excellent as the Creature (and only a dancer of his caliber could pull off that costume). He portrayed the craziness believably; it was an interesting mix of childlike innocence and adult insanity. However, I did feel there were a number of moments where the ‘character’ was left behind in favour of a short ‘dance break’ that didn’t quite fit with the rest of the story.

Laura Morera, who played Elizabeth, was a technically solid dancer, but a rather uninspired actor. The girl playing young Elizabeth was more interesting to watch, and more expressive in body and face than Morera. It was a shame as Elizabeth had potential to be such a beautifully tragic figure, but Morera spent most of the show with a wistful smile on her face, and the rest overacting to the extreme. Her strongest moment acting-wise was in the PDD with the Creature; here you could actually feel some despair and fear (though I wanted to yell, “If you hadn’t stopped for that arabesque you would’ve gotten away!). Just a generally underwhelming performance; I would’ve preferred to see Olivia Cowley or Lauren Cuthbertson dancing that part. They would’ve brought the stellar technique along with intelligent character work. 

Alexander Campbell as Henry was just the most adorable little nugget on the planet. He’s so small, but a powerful dancer and great actor. He did an excellent job establishing his character in his first few moments onstage; Henry was sort of the loveable dork of the show, which Campbell portrayed wonderfully. I was quite bad for him when he was killed by the Creature; no way could this Henry ever shoot anyone. He was too gentle, and Victor knew this (and was a bit of an idiot to leave him alone with a gun).  

Stephen McRae (The Creature)(A. Muir)

I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that I can apparently identify my favourite dancer by one of her arms. I had a mega restricted view and wasn’t really paying attention to the side of the stage I couldn’t see, but I saw an arm wave off to one side and thought, “that was so elegant – must be Olivia.” I was right. As usual, Olivia Cowley exudes elegance and finesse. Gorgeous legs and feet (such lines!), and effortless flexibility. You can’t take your eyes off of her when she’s dancing; in the scene in the anatomy classroom she just exudes this dark, almost contemporary feel. I don’t know how she does it, but she captures and intensifies the mood of whatever scene she’s in. It’s wonderful (and I need to learn how to do that).

The choreography itself was ok. Liam Scarlett’s work has never been entirely to my taste, but this was probably my favourite of his pieces. I don’t like the constant repetition of the same turns and lifts; it gets monotonous quickly. As mentioned above, there were moments where it very much seemed “let me stop the action for a moment and arabesque/pirouette/jump,” which I find incredibly frustrating. Part of what I love about narrative ballets is their ability to smoothly blend dance and storytelling, and for the most part I didn’t feel Scarlett’s choreography achieved this. One scene I really enjoyed was the anatomy lecture. The choreography was very creative, yet still communicated the story of the scene (i.e. the students ‘sewing up’ the assistants). Wildly different choreography and dance styles (contemporary and classical) blended together to form a thoughtful, easy-to-follow scene. I also thought the opening was particularly poignant, though it was more acting-based than ‘dancey’; I loved watching young Victor and Elizabeth’s relationship grow through the opening sequence, and the kids were adorable.

I also really, really loved the costuming. The sparkly ball costumes at the end are my new favourite thing ever; the colours are perfect, the flow of the skirts are beautiful, and they’re very gothic and dark, yet still ‘pretty’. I also liked little details such as how Henry wore brighter colours than everyone else to make him stick out and the variety and balance of hats in the party scene. Each individual costume was beautifully conceived and created, as is usual with the ROH. The only one I didn’t like was Frankenstein’s mothers, as the dancer playing her seemed to be struggling with the length and weight of it. Another favourite of mine was the off-white costumes of the assistants in the anatomy scene

The Anatomy Lecture (The Guardian)

A final thing that stood out was the set. Certainly no expense was spared in this department; the stage was sumptuously decorated with the utmost grandeur. They were all so thoughtfully designed; they were all accurate and realistic, yet still opened up to the front as was necessary. An example would be the anatomy scene; the anatomy theatre was designed such that it extended outwards, yet it could still be visualized as a round theatre. It’s hard to explain, but it just worked. I also liked the outdoor set with the Frankenstein’s house, and the final ball set with it’s large, imposing, yet simple staircase. It was a nice affect.

The only other thing I didn’t like was the final resolution. There was such a dramatic build up, and I was fully expecting a huge, gruesome conclusion (I knew there would be multiple deaths, so I expected them to be quite bloody). As it were, the Creature simply strangled Henry and Elizabeth for a few moments, then left them lying on the floor. It was very anticlimactic. It would’ve been better if he’d ‘torn’ them apart, or raked fingers through their stomachs, or something. Fake blood is a wonderful thing (though I’m sure it’s appallingly hard to get out of costumes). It was just missing something.

So, all in all, a good ballet. Definitely work to be done, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I look forward to seeing it performed again in a few years time, once it’s had some more time to develop.

Wicked (March 26th, 2016)

Wicked

Just a brief little review of Wicked; this was the first time I’ve seen it in more than a year (considering I used to see it at least twice a year, that’s a big deal). When I saw it on tour in Edinburgh, I was so disappointed I couldn’t face seeing any version of Wicked again for a while. But my friend had never seen it and wanted to go, so off we headed to the Apollo Victoria Theatre on a rainy Saturday night.

Seat/Venue Review: We sat P27-28 in the Circle, and it was £55 (slightly overpriced, imho). The view itself wasn’t bad; we could see everything except the very front of the stage. It is VERY far away though, so I could see no details or facial expressions. The AV itself is a huge theatre, but they clearly don’t plan for crowds as we waiting for 15 minutes in a line outside the theatre (in the pouring rain) to get our tickets. Bad planning. There is also a single women’s washroom for the entirety of the Circle. Within two minutes of the interval starting, the line was down the stairs into the foyer.

The production itself is obviously in great shape. Lighting design is spectacular, costumes look beautiful, etc. There were a lot of sound issues though; Elphaba’s mic went out during Loathing and As Long as You’re Mine, then she sounded very echoey during the cornfield scene with G(a)linda. It was weird. Theres really not a whole lot else to say about the show itself I guess. It really hasn’t changed at all since the first time I saw it (which isn’t necessarily a good thing; it would be nice to see it updated every once in a while as it can get a bit stale).  So I’ll just talk briefly about the performances, and call it a day!

Emma Hatton has a stunning, versatile voice, but I felt that she really overused that versatility. In every song she was jumping between styles every few words (pop, rock, belting, head voice) and it detracted from her performance. I couldn’t really appreciate her singing because I was so distracted by her voice. I also didn’t really see her establish a clear character for Elphaba; she was sarcastic and dryly humorous, but there wasn’t really a sensitive side. Ergo, she was much less likeable than many other Elphabas. Elphaba doesn’t necessarily have to be likeable, but there has to be a certain amount of empathy or she comes off as too bitter and distant from the audience.

After being wowed by her performance of Nessa in the UK tour, I was beyond excited to see Carina Gillespie play G(a)linda. She was quite a good G(a)linda, but I do think she was a stronger Nessa than G(a)linda. She hit all of the higher notes beautifully, but looked and sounded a lot more secure when singing songs like Popular, Loathing, and For Good. Her acting was generally good; I couldn’t see details unfortunately, but I liked how over the top she made G(a)linda at the beginning. It was very funny and her character was instantly likeable, despire being a bit obnoxious. However, I felt that towards the end, she was playing the more serious scenes just for the laughs. I prefer to see G(a)linda’s that embrace her character development and the change between her private persona verses her public persona as she grows and matures, and that’s what I missed from Carina. All in all, a good G(a)linda (pun not intended), but there’s definitely room for improvement. The one thing I thought she did better than any other G(a)linda was her mocking of Mme Morrible at the end. It was hysterical.

I loved Oliver Savile as Fiyero; he was suave and charismatic, and you could see why people were drawn to him. Loved the acting, loved the character development (you could see the character changing and growing just by the way he moved or spoke; most noticeably, his posture changed from first to second act, which sounds small, but makes a big impression - especially from so far back), and especially loved his voice. The first Fiyero that had no difficulty with the singing (especially in As Long as You’re Mine; many Fiyeros struggle with that song a lot and it can end up very squeaky). I think Oliver’s time as Raoul probably helped him in that regard; he just projected a lot more confidence in the singing than any other Fiyero I’d scene. I also liked that you could see the spark of intelligence in Fiyero from the beginning; Oliver didn’t play him as a complete airhead who had an epiphany of some kind during the lion cub scene. I noticed that Fiyero is one of the only people who ever bothers to talk to Elphaba, and he treats her just like anyone else, which must’ve been very important to her. Anyway, Oliver was fabulous. Would love to see him up close so I could pick up the details of his performance.

Mark Curry (as the Wizard) skipped an entire section of a scene at one point, but he’s new, so I’ll forgive that. He was fine, nothing particularly memorable. Katie Rowley Jones (Nessa) was forgettable. I’ve seen her in the role so many times and she never changes or develops or tries anything new. It’s very boring. Daniel Hope (Boq) was good, but his incredibly thick accent was very distracting and at times difficult to understand. It’s not hard to enunciate Gs, and it’s something he needs to try. Liza Sadovy as Madame Morrible was also nothing special; she wasn’t as menacing or threatening as past MMs.

So yeah, a bit of a mixed bag of performances. Wicked is certainly a show worth seeing and I’m glad I went, but I don’t think I’ll hurry back.

Mrs Henderson Presents (March 25th, 2016)

Mrs Henderson Presents

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.

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.

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!'

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).

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.

(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.