One Man, Two Guvnors; Wales Millennium Centre

One Man, Two Guvnors was lauded on its original London run and welcomed with open arms on Broadway even though its humor is (largely) British. It's probably safe to say that this is the most successful stage farce in recent years, so a tour would seem obvious.

The only farce I can think that I've seen is the sitcom Frasier, all eleven series, many episodes consisted of hilarious misunderstandings, lies and people hiding in rooms; all being said this is a classy farce whereas OM,TG is just out and out farce, but it was just as hilarious non stop hilarious at that.
Being a farce the plot is not exactly easy to explain, but I'll have a go: Francis Henshall works for both Roscoe Crabb and Stanley Stubbers; motivated by hunger Henshall has to keep his 'guvnors' from finding out about each other. Crabb is in fact Rachel, Roscoe's twin sister, whose fiance is actually Stubbers who's hiding out in Brighton after killing Roscoe Crabb - hilarity ensues... I don't think I've explained it very well, I definitely haven't done it justice!

Through all of this is the performance of Welshman Owain Arthur as Henshall, I now understand the meaning of phrase (comedic) tour de force! James Corden, who originated the role, won Olivier and Tony awards for his performance, but while watching Arthur I honestly couldn't imagine anyone else in the part! The rest of the cast certainly held their own in the comedy stakes and while I imagine 95% of the ad libs and audience interaction were scripted, they made them seem totally improvised.

As well as the acting each of the cast took part in the skiffle band's interludes in between scenes. The band, The Craze, added an entertaining change to the usual scene changes in a play, and also acted as pre-show and interval entertainment, with original songs written for the play.

I loved the set, it seemed to be both simple cardboard cutout backgrounds and at the same time effectively conveyed the 1960s Brighton seafront, they were how I imagined how the sets actually might have been like in the plays of the 1960s.

Slapstick is funny but clever slapstick is hilarious!

Medea (Sherman Cymru)

I admit that a Greek Tragedy about an abandoned wife who murders her child as revenge on her husband did not immediately appeal to me. The most serious piece of theatre I've seen is Hamlet, and Shakespeare is comparatively modern when put next to Euripides, who wrote Medea in the year 431 BC. For me all the appeal was in the actress playing the title role - Rachael Stirling, daughter of Diana Rigg who played the same role to great acclaim just twenty years earlier. I have been a fan of Stirling since she made her name on TV in 'Tipping the Velvet' (I was 18, of course that particular drama was going to make me a fan of both Stirling and Keeley Hawes!) so I couldn't miss the opportunity to see such a good actress perform at a local(ish) venue.


I imagine if Mike Leigh ever made a film of Euripides' Ancient Greek tragedy it would be something like this updated  version. The play deals with Medea, the wife of Jason (and the Argonauts), who is filled with anger towards her husband after he leaves her to marry a younger woman; in the original play Medea is a barbarian woman and the 'other woman' is daughter to a King.
Mike Bartlett moves this version of Medea from ancient Greece (Corinth) to a generic middle class suburbia, complete with an Ikea-style, dolls house-like set. Stirling's Medea is now a sweary, smoking city girl who the other characters, and audience, are slightly scared of. Her performance is brilliant, Medea goes from depressive to truly disturbing scene where she plunges her hand into a pan of boiling water, a scene made even more shocking by Medea's son watching in still silence; to pathetic, when she offers to have a baby for her childless male neighbour. Towards the end she becomes really worrying and scary, particularly when she pretends (as it turns out) to be amicable towards he ex-husband and his soon to be wife, these scenes are truly worrying because we know things are about to turn very dark. Even at the end the fact that I still felt some sympathy towards Medea was a testament to the performance of Rachael Stirling.
The majority of rest of the cast were just as good at their parts, Amelia Lowdell was instantly dis-likable as Medea's snobbish work colleague, Pam, as was Christopher Ettridge (Reg from Goodnight Sweetheart) as the landlord; Lu Corfield, as the put upon neighbour (and childminder), and Paul Shelly as the childless neighbour, Andrew were both suitably sympathetic in their performance. On the other hand Jason, I thought, was a little two-dimensional in the character of cheating husband. The only thing I didn't understand was who the builder character was supposed to be, was he a supposed to be in place of a Greek chorus?

After my initial reservations about about Ancient Greek tragedies, and after seeing this production I'd quite like to see a more classical version as well. And I'm never going to be able to listen to David Bowie's Aladdin Sane in the same way again!

Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap

So I've been waiting 60 years to see The Mousetrap... not really as I'm only 28, but I have wanted to see the play for quite a few years, ever since I was that geeky kid reading Agatha Christie books - I first read Murder on the Orient Express when I was in Junior School.
There's not much to say about the plot, the less known the better, but it's a archetypical drawing room whodunnit; nothing has been changed in the 60 years it's been going, even the set is almost unchanged. That being said I have, for some strange reason and I don't know how, have always known who dun it; I once went to see an Eddie Izzard show where he joked about doing his first gig in the London theatre next to The Mousetrap and he joked about the killer saying everyone's knows, I thought it was one of those things people just know without knowing how they knew. None of this though spoiled it for me, I know who-does-it in Murder On The Orient Express but that never takes away any of the delight I take in watching the film/TV-movie or reading the book again.

Tour cast. Photo from http://www.newtheatrecardiff.co.uk/what%27s-on/mousetrap/

As with most Christie plays most of the action takes place in one room, this means that the cast is everything. I couldn't fault most of the cast. Corrie's Bruno Langley, at first appearance, seemed miscast; I'm not sure how much theatre he has done but he seemed to be shouting for the beginning of his performance (instead of projecting *sounding like I know what I'm talking about*) though he did seem to tone it down as the play went on, but I think that he was maybe too young for the part- or it I might just have a prejudice against soap stars in the theatre. The older cast, Graham Seed (Major Metcalf); Jan Waters (Mrs Boyle) and Karl Howman (Mr Paravicini), were clearly the more experienced theatre performers; playing pure Christie characters, and as Waters has played the same part serveral different times she fits the role like a glove (a black leather glove ;-). Steven France as Christopher Wren turns from screamingly camp (a bit too much) to the pathos and angst of what is clear but never stated. The standout performance was that of Thomas Howes as Sgt Trotter, with two series of Downton Abbey he should be comfortable wearing a period character and in some parts of the play he is, as the 'detective' character he has to carry some of the scenes and he does this well, as if he's been in theatre all his career.
The set, characters and plot - there's a reason why this has lasted so long. All the elements are present and correct: the black leather glove, the lights going out - murder, the red herrings; all that you would want from an Agatha Christie play, this will probably run for another 60 years!

Sweeney Todd! (Happy Birthday me)

Most years around my birthday my mother complains that she doesn't have a clue what to get me, not to mention my sister waiting only a few days before to ask what I want, so this year I let my mam and dad know well in advance what they could get me - a ticket for Sweeney Todd. Even when there were rumours of a West End transfer of the Chichester festival production, I wondered if I'd get to see it, so it was just my luck when the limited run included August.
For anyone who doesn't know the story, Sweeney Todd arrives back in London seeking revenge on the judge whose trumped up charges sent him to Australia so he could have his way with Todd's wife. Along the way on this course for revenge he slits a few customers' throats and sends them downstairs for Mrs Lovett to make into pies... You know, the usual jolly musical fare!
I've wanted to see Sweeney live for years, I own both the Patti LuPone cast recording and live NY Philharmonic concert CD (as well as watching the video of the original production starring Angela Lansbury) but as much a fan of LuPone that I am, her cockney accent is only a few syllables away from Dick Van Dyke's! So it made a good change to hear Sweeney Todd sung in convincing accents. Both Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton were brilliant, Staunton seemed to be channeling Julie Walters for her Mrs Lovett, but that's not to take anything away from her performance, it's fair to say she provided all the comedy. Ball was excellent as usual, scarily brilliant considering the last time (and first time) I saw him in a musical he was in a dress playing a working-class mother in Hairspray! Ball's performance was the best that I've heard this musical sung, Epiphany being the stand-out number of the show, with Ball's vocals and acting, and even the set which rolls out so close to the front of the stage that he could almost give the audience a shave with the razor he swings about! The rest of the cast were just as excellent but it's probably true to say that this is Ball & Staunton's show, I wouldn't mind betting on Oliviers for them next year!
The set is interesting to say the least, and with it being so big and the main actors and ensemble being spread around it it was sometimes slightly hard to know where to look. I thought the setting being moved to the 1930s instead of Victorian London was going to be the only part of the show wouldn't work but it didn't take anything away from the story or the music, and of course the first half of the 20th Century had its murderers too! A brilliant show even if you don't come out singing any of the numbers, but that probably has something to do with Sondheim being notoriously hard to sing along to!

Legally Blonde

Just as I was about to, begrudgingly, book three of the cheapest tickets for Legally Blonde at the Wales Millennium Centre (honestly, the actors look like ants it's so high up) I happened to notice a Facebook email telling me I had won 4 tickets. I'm never that lucky!

The musical, based on the 2001 film starring Reese Witherspoon, deals with a seemingly stereotypical blonde sorority girl who gets in to Harvard law school to follow her boyfriend who's dumped her for someone serious. While there she learns to use what she has (brains and fashion knowledge) to win a big murder case, and teaches others that old lesson of judging a book by its cover! That old stuff!

This musical is actually funny, funnier than I expected it to be, and not just dialogue, it's also lyrically funny. The actors having to be able to sing and show off their comedy chops was given a prime example in the performance of Rhona McGregor as Paulette (understudying for Jennifer Ellison who had to pull out temporarily). The other surprise being Iwan Lewis as Emmett who's voice reminded me of Christian Borle who I'd seen in 'Smash' (on Sky Atlantic) and I later found out originated the role on Broadway! As Elle Woods, Faye Brookes must have the toughest time with two sets of boots to fill - that of Reese Witherspoon and Sheridan Smith (I unfortunately didn't get to see her in the role but her comedy acting even comes through on the cast recording) who won an Olivier award for her West End performance in the role. Brooks more than filled these with her voice and comedy acting. Gareth Gates, the other 'big' name in the show was the weakest link, he just isn't good (my opinion) but he wasn't awful that he ruined the show and the other actors around him were just so much better, and his part isn't really that big, that you didn't really notice him that much.

The music and choreography were exceptional, especially the second act opener 'Whipped Into Shape' which must be really hard to sing and do what are essentially exerciser dance moves and skipping. For a touring set the set itself is pretty good, and anyone (me) who didn't see the West End production the it sets the scenes of a Harvard Law school and Paulette's salon really well.

It's camp, frothy fun and it was better than I expected. It's entertainment at its best!

Sister Act - The Musical

Singing nuns in spangly habits in a musical based on the 1992 film Sister Act - what's not to love!?

I would argue that 20 years is long enough for a film to be considered a classic, not to mention constant showings on weekend afternoons, so I'm calling Sister Act a modern classic. As soon as there was a musical adaptation announced I knew I would want to see it, even without the songs featured in the original film. When the show's West End closing notice was reported I was disappointed that I would never get to see it, then a tour was advertised - I was excited, then disappointed again (Cardiff wasn't among the first venues), then excited again but with an air of impatience as the Cardiff dates were on sale but still a year away. So, I have waited 3 years to see this musical... it was worth the wait!

Michael Starke, Cynthia Erivo, Denise Black
(Photo © http://www.sisteractthemusical.com/tour/)

Apart from the retro setting of the 1970s and the original songs the musical rarely strays from the original film, albeit with added musical-style razzle-dazzle. As in the film the musical deals with the troubles of nightclub singer Delores Van Cartier who, after witnessing a murder by her gangster boyfriend, hides out in a convent as a nun, the total antithesis of her current lifestyle; clashes with the Mother Superior and eventually leads the choir into disco/soul success. Anyone (i.e. everybody) who's seen the film will know the plot, it's nothing new or revolutionary, it's basically 'Some Like It Hot', but with nuns; the old culture-clash, fish-out-of-water genre of comedy. What makes the film so iconic is the cast and the music, and the same can be said of the musical. Cynthia Erivo as Delores is both an astounding singer and comedic actress; as is Cavin Cornwall as the villian of the piece Curtis Jackson, a deeper voice hasn't been heard since the late Barry White left us! As well as singing, both their accents are so believable it's a surprise neither are actually American. Denise Black as Mother Superior is best when she really gets to use her voice, which sadly isn't often enough; and Michael Starke's (Sinbad from Brookie) Monsignor, while not a singing role, provided plenty of comedy. Of course it's the nuns that steal most of the show, and many of the actresses performances are reminiscent of the original film performances. Who can fail to laugh at a load of nuns in glittery habits singing disco 'hymns' or, even funnier, running Scooby-Doo style through doors from armed gangsters!?

Infectious music, impressive sets, funny and touching and incredibly camp! The only nun-based musical that matters! When it finished I could have sat through it all over again! 

p.s. I can't be the only person in the theatre that night who got the MASH joke/reference...?  

Scissor Sisters - Magic Hour

Since I'm not going to see anything for a while I thought I'd do this.

In an ideal, yet impossible world, a new album by your favorite band would be exactly the same and freshly different at the same time. It's probably fair to say that the Scissor Sisters are my favorite band so their new album, from a personal view, is the most eagerly anticipated release of 2012. A new album from them is preceded with a sense of excitement tinged with a little bit of dread; it's going to be too much of a departure or maybe too samey, that kind of thing. Coming only two years after their last album, which by contrast followed a four year gap, the worry is that it was too rushed. The input from Calvin Harris also brings worries of 'stunt collaborations'. The album opens with Baby Come Home, the second single, which is clearly the most recognisably Scissor Sisters' song. If there's anything wrong with this album it's that there is no clear musical style running through it. There's the pseudo rap of 'Shady Love', Ibiza anthem-like 'Only the Horses', calypso-styled 'San Louis Obispo' and the sort-of Will Powers-like, Ana Matronic-led bizarre brilliance of 'Let's Have a Kiki'. I think 'Year of Living Dangerously' is the song that most recalls their first album, in particular 'Laura' and Return to Oz' (which I love). I n short there were some tracks, on first listen, that I didn't give much thought about but I'm sure on my second or third listen to the album I'll love it all; after all, I loved their 2nd album which was critically their weakest.