There are few things more magical than a classic Hollywood musical: a lavish spectacle with characters to adore and songs to die for. And there are few more beloved than My Fair Lady, one of the last golden age musicals, in which a snooty phonetics professor vows to transform a Cockney flower girl into an English rose. Based on George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play Pygmalion, the film starred Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle and Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins and featured iconic Lerner & Loewe songs like ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ and ‘Wouldn’t It Be Loverly’. It’s a classic for a reason – and, direct from the West End, the Lincoln Center’s dazzling new revival is here to remind us just how loverly a show this is.
Charlotte Kennedy and the My Fair Lady ensemble (photo credit: Marc Brenner)
Lerner & Lowe also brought us the musical delights of Camelot, Gigi, and Brigadoon (not to mention the vastly underrated Paint Your Wagon) – but it’s easy to see why My Fair Lady is their most beloved work. Directed by Bartlett Sher (helmer of the critically-acclaimed revival of The King and I), this new production – the first major revival in fifteen years – comes with revitalised sets, costumes and musical arrangements. The score has never sounded as magnificent does here under the musical direction of Alex Parker, and you won’t find a finer chorus this side of the Edwardian era.
Michael D. Xavier, Heather Jackson and Charlotte Kennedy (photo credit: Marc Brenner)
Having made her professional debut in Les Miserables in the West End, Charlotte Kennedy puts her own instantly-iconic spin on the beloved character of Eliza Doolittle. Her powerful voice and equally powerful performance makes her the beating heart of every scene she’s in – and her hilarious conversation with the aristos in Ascot is truly one for the ages.
Michael D. Xavier, Charlotte Kennedy and John Middleton in My Fair Lady (photo credit: Marc Brenner)
Two-time Olivier Award nominee Michael D. Xavier (who performed opposite Glenn Close to great acclaim in Broadway’s Sunset Boulevard revival) brings a haughty charm to Henry Higgins, pitched somewhere between David Tennant and Dickie Attenborough. Xavier brings a beautifully self-aware silliness to the totally oblivious Prof, especially in ‘An Ordinary Man’ and ‘I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face’. His rapport with Emmerdale’s John Middleton as Colonel Pickering is especially fun to watch – and their ‘Eureka!’ moment with Kennedy during ‘The Rain in Spain’ is a joy.
Adam Woodyatt and the My Fair Lady ensemble (photo credit: Marc Brenner)
EastEnders’ Adam Woodyatt is perfectly cast as the lovably roguish Alfred P. Doolittle, a role he was born to play – in his hands, ‘With a Little Bit of Luck’ is delightfully puckish, but it’s the barnstorming ‘Get Me to the Church On Time’, culminating in an exceedingly camp can-can, which really brings the house down. Woodyatt flexed his dramatic chops the last time he performed in Cardiff, to great effect – but it’s brilliant to see him really let loose here.
Lesley Garrett, Michael D. Xavier, Charlotte Kennedy and John Middleton in My Fair Lady (photo credit: Marc Brenner)
Tom Liggins brings a boyish charm to Freddy Eynsford-Hill (and a sublime rendition of ‘On the Street Where You Live’) while Heather Jackson, known to many as the West End’s Madame Giry (The Phantom of the Opera), brings gravitas even in just a few scenes as Mrs Higgins, as does world famous soprano wonderful Lesley Garrett, who – if slightly under-utilised – brings warmth to the role of Mrs Pearce, and lends her beautiful voice to some of the show’s best numbers. And kudos to Tom Pring for stealing scenes as a sardonic butler.
The My Fair Lady ensemble in full swing (photo credit: Marc Brenner)
Michael Yeargan’s sets are nothing short of an architectural marvel and make an ingenious use of the Millennium Centre’s impressive stage. Especially extraordinary is the way in which Higgins’ luxurious London townhouse rotates during musical numbers to show off an elegant hall, a stylish study, a chic bathroom and a leafy alcove within which an amorous young couple meet by midnight. The sets transport you from the East End to the Embassy Ball, aided by Catherine Zuber’s exquisite costumes which capture every inch of the scale and grandeur of the classic film.
The My Fair Lady ensemble dressed to the nines for a day at the races (photo credit: Marc Brenner)
While there are a few aspects that might benefit from a modern touch – the decision to keep all of Higgins’ unpleasantness towards Eliza does threaten to undercut the budding romance and has an impact on how you view the ending – the sheer talent on display makes My Fair Lady an unmissable night of sumptuous entertainment. With a little bit of luck, you’ll not only have a bloomin’ loverly time, but you’ll dance all night too!
Touring throughout the UK, My Fair Lady is performing at the Wales Millennium Centre for 3 weeks only from 9 – 26 November. For more information and to book tickets, click here.
Get the Chance Community Critic Barbara Hughes-Moore speaks with actor Robert Wilfort, who plays the title role in SPIKE, a new play by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman which charts the rise of Spike Milligan and The Goons. Milligan was the head writer and one third of The Goons, a working-class British comedy trio which also comprised Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe (and, later, Michael Bentine), who took the nation by storm in the 1950s. Despite frequent run-ins with the BBC, The Goons’ avant-garde silliness inspired countless comedic greats from Monty Python to Mischief Theatre. The UK tour ends its run in Cardiff, playing at the New Theatre from 22 – 26 November (you can find out more about the production and book tickets here). Robert chats about what it’s like to play such a beloved icon of British comedy, and why Spike aficionados and newcomers alike will leave the theatre laughing!
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today, Robert!
Thank you for having me.
Tell us a little bit about SPIKE.
The Spike of the title is Spike Milligan, played by me. It’s a new play written by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman written about Spike and The Goons, particularly focusing on the time round about when they were starting to become popular in the 1950s. For those of you who don’t know who Spike Milligan is, he’s a hugely influential comedian, writer, poet, performer who burst onto the scene in the early 1950s with this anarchic radio comedy show called The Goons which was quite unlike anything that came before it. It was hugely popular and hugely influential, so this play is exploring the development of that time and a celebration of his work.
How surreal does the play get? The Goons toyed with that kind of comedy.
They did! They were absolutely mad; they took these huge surreal logical leaps. We’re not too surreal: we try to tell the real story of his life, but we do have some fun surreal moments in the playing of it. Spike breaks the fourth wall and talks to the audience quite a lot, and the staging is quite fast and fluid, and funny, strange things happen; we mix scenes together. There is a nice surreal thread running through the show.
How do you bring that into the creative process: is the comedy quite regimented or do you keep it quite loose?
We keep it fairly loose – if we interact with the audience we do have room to go off a bit, but we do tend to stick to the script! It’s a great script – the play is very fast and snappy so that was the thing we were trying to capture the most, because The Goons have a huge energy to them. Most of their clips are on BBC Sounds. They’re fast, snappy, they don’t let up with the jokes and we try to capture that energy in the play. If you don’t like one joke, there’s always another one along in a minute! I think what Ian and Nick wanted particularly to capture is that, when we see things on tv that talk about comedian’s life it’s often quite dark, tears of a clown – and Spike did have that side to him; he did have that side to him. He got shell shocked in WWII and had serious mental health issues throughout this life which he was always very honest about. We deal with them but we don’t dwell on them: the tone of the show is joyful and silly and happy, because I think that’s what people need at the moment.
Was it important then to bring those two tones together in the show?
That’s been the big challenge: finding when Spike is ‘on’, which he kind of always was. He was always funny and always telling jokes, he just couldn’t help it. But he could also be quite argumentative and difficult to work with and worked himself into a breakdown. He used to write an episode a week, thirty episodes in a series, and he pretty much did it on his own. It was his passion project, so he would just work and work and work. We showed the effect this had on his marriage. For me as a performer it was about finding the moments of being real as opposed to the jokes.
There are a lot of jokes, a lot of Spike’s jokes – Ian and Nick will freely say that they wrote this show because half of it was written already! We do also act out parts of Goons’ shows as well, with the microphones as if we’re recording them. So there’s a lot of original Spike material in there. It was all about finding the pattern, finding a real person in amongst all the jokes and the tomfoolery.
How do you even begin to approach playing a real person who is so eccentric, unique and beloved? What is your way into that?
When I was offered it, I thought ‘what a great part!’ then I started to get slightly worried because he’s one of the funniest people who has ever been – no pressure! I tried not to let that worry me too much. It helped that I was a fan and I knew his work, my dad was a big fan and he grew up listening to it first time around. I felt like I knew the style of the comedy and then I read and watched a lot about him. I knew his performing style but I wanted to try and find footage of him from the time. I think a lot of people have an image of him as a grumpy old man figure, but he was quite young when he started. So it was about trying to capture his energy and essence without trying to do a picture perfect impression. It’s our version of Spike, our story we’re telling. Ad it was really good fun to research – lots of silly videos!
How do you interact with the other cast members playing The Goons, and get that sense of camaraderie?
Luckily, everyone in the company is really lovely and naturally funny themselves, so it hasn’t been that much of a challenge to look like we’re having fun. It’s about getting the speed and the timing right so it feels like it’s flowing. We have some scenes where they are just messing about in the pub, because that’s how it started (and how a lot of great comedy starts: good friends messing around together in a pub!) Jeremy who plays Harry Secombe is fantastic; Paddy Warner who plays Peter Sellers is fantastic too – so it’s not been hard, we just kind of keep throwing things around and see what works. We still try and play around with it, never try to do it exactly the same every night but tweak it a bit and catch the other person off a little bit. It’s about trying to make other people laugh!
Is that one of the joys of touring this kind of show? That you not only play the different interpretations on the stage every night but different audiences react differently?
They do! That’s the fun: that every theatre presents a new challenge, and a different space and size. You have a different experience depending on where you are. We definitely notice that different towns have different feelings to them – I’m sure Cardiff’s going to be the best, though!
All my friends and family are coming to the Cardiff shows – I’m from Porthcawl so I grew up only half an hour down the road.
Have you ever performed in Cardiff before?
I haven’t performed onstage in Cardiff since I was in the National Youth Theatre – I’ve done TV and radio in Cardiff since but never a play, so I’m really looking forward to it. We’re there the last week in November, we finish on the 26th.
Just before Christmas!
Come and do your Christmas shopping on Queen Street and then see our show – it’s a great day out!
The Goons in 1956
Even if people didn’t grow up with The Goons, they will have grown up with those who were influenced by them, like Monty Python, Mischief Theatre and the Horrible Histories crew.
We acknowledge that at the end of the play, actually: just how many people have been influenced by him. The Goons started in 1950, so you had people like John Lennon and Paul McCartney listening to it, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, as well as all of the Pythons. I don’t think you would have had Monty Python and all of these people without Spike. You can hear the influences in later classic sketches, like ‘Don’t tell him your name, Pike!’, there’s a version of that on The Goons twenty years before Dad’s Army. People would gather round listen to it on the radio. It was like the rock and roll of comedy: the parents didn’t understand it, but they did. I think Ian and Nick thought Spike may have been forgotten – I’ve actually explained who he was to a lot of people my age.
Is that part of the impetus behind the show: to find out more about this person who influenced so much?
Yes! Also, it was an interesting and important time: all the Goons were in the army, and they would go and entertain the troops. The Second World War helped to create this whole generation of working-class actors, writers and performers. I can’t think of the same happening now: three working-class lads having their own sketch show seems like it would be rare now. It was an interesting and important time, and we want to celebrate that. Spike died 20 years ago, a whole generation have grown up not really knowing him, other than maybe doing his poems at school. We have had all ages in the audience! It’s a good night out for anyone whether you know the Goons or not.
Why is theatre suited to telling this story?
You get the instant reaction, the laughter. It could absolutely work as a TV project, it might have originated as that. Because there’s been no theatre for such a long time, and because there’s that communal feeling you can sense as the show goes on. Being in a space with other people all enjoying the same thing, I don’t think anything is quite like that.
What’s your favourite moment that’s happened so far?
We had a couple of drunk ladies in the front row the other week! That’s the joy of live performance – they were really enjoying it, and joining in. we had a strange moment in Brighton where a few kids broke into the theatre and were running around the royal boxes trying not to get caught! That’s all part of the joy: you never know quite what’s going to happen. The best moment for me is just having an audience being happy and entertained.
What makes you laugh like that? Who are your comedy influences?
My favourites are Vic and Bob! They were my heroes, along with people like Chris Morris (The Day Today, Brass Eye) and Steve Coogan. They have a special place in my heart: pure silliness, pure nonsense.
Speaking of Chris Morris, I often quote “Peter, you’ve lost the news!” out of context, totally unprompted. Do you have a favourite Spike Milligan joke that you find yourself dropping into conversation?
His poems always make me laugh: he has one that goes ‘There was a young man called Wyatt, whose voice was incredibly quiet, and then one day, it faded away, [mimes the rest of the line silently]’. It’s always the strange experimental moments in The Goons that make me laugh most: there’s a scene where a spy has been sent to the Secret Rendezvous, and the code is to knock the door six thousand times. It goes on for ages and the knocks get faster, then the door opens and he asks ‘Is this the Tea House of the Orchard Moon’? ‘No, next door’, and then he does it all over again! What the show deals with is how much Spike had to fight the BBC to get stuff like that on, because the bigwigs at the BBC didn’t understand the comedy. The core of the play is Spike’s battle with the BBC to get the show, and its special effects, how he wanted it.
He ended up transforming BBC sound effects. He’d ask for the most ridiculous things like Big Ben falling off Beachy Head, or a Wurlitzer organ travelling through the desert as fast as it can go. He was constantly pushing and challenging, and out of that came the radiophonic workshop and all the amazing things they did on Dr Who. He wasn’t just an influence on comedy but on radio and sfx as well.
What do you think is the secret of comedy: is it that boundary-breaking rebellion against authority that Spike embodied so well?
I think it is that. It can be saying the least expected thing or breaking the boundaries. Spike would find the surreal or the silly in anything: any turn of phrase he could make a pun out of. I think it is having a way that looks at the world that turns it on its head, that makes it come to your point of view. It doesn’t have to be taboo busting, though there is a place for that in comedy.
Spike wasn’t an overnight success: like all the best kind of artists, he spent years out on the comedy circuit and then people slowly came round to his style. I think the world came to Spike as opposed to the other way round; he didn’t emerge fully formed. He was aways funny; his war memoirs are always a great read because they’re very silly.
He has a joke even on his grave – “I told you I was ill!” – there’s not many people who could do that, and make you laugh long after they’re no longer with us.
And there’s not many people who could have got away with saying what he did to Prince Charles!
What do you want audiences to come out of this play, this theatrical comedy experience, to feel when they leave the theatre?
If we send people out there to explore his work who maybe wouldn’t have before, and to go back to The Goons as a lot of people haven’t listened to them. We just want to send people out happy, really. I want people to go out and say “That was the best actor I’ve ever seen in my entire life! Nothing will ever top that!” Send them out happy, and then dip their toes into this amazing world of comedy.
I’m sure they will, Robert – we can’t wait to see SPIKE!
Please come and see us, we’re really looking forward to Cardiff. My mum’s bringing a coachload of her friends to the Wednesday matinee. Fifty pensioners from Porthcawl!
I don’t think you could have a better audience!
The UK tour of SPIKE ends its run in Cardiff, playing at the New Theatre from 22 – 26 November (you can find out more about the production and book tickets here).
The sight of the WNO Orchestra is rare since we mostly see them in the pit of the Wales Millennium Centre. Chances to see them full throttle at St David’s Hall are always a pleasure and under the brilliant baton of music director Tomáš Hanus, this concert given the fitting moniker of ‘Czech Mates’.
Half of the programme for this concert would be smattering chunks from operas, yet a deeper divine into he orchestras repertoire were present. The Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes by Britten was done with subtlety and fury. It only makes you crave a full performance of Britten’s masterwork, not seen with WNO for what must be decades. There shimmering allure of the North Sea, church goers and the battering of a rampant storm all feature here, filled with nuance.
Dvořák and his Biblical Songs followed, with a pleasing turn from Jana Kurucová, a Slovakian mezzo who brought the spirit of the composer into the space. There was a hushed feeling to these setting of a selection of Psalms, ‘Thou art my hiding place’ and a setting of ‘The Lord is my shepherd’ as examples. Though I wasn’t as taken with them as I expected, I found Jana to be a rich singer who added a fine feature to this concert.
Wagner would arrive after the interval, the Prelude & Liebestod from his epic opera Tristan und Isolde. The seething erotic tension in both extracts (the start and end of an opera a good four hours in length) burst out, the orchestra poised in space in spacing and phrasing. They excel at Wagner, Wales having an extensive history with the highly problematic composer. The famous, reedy Tristan chord heard once again as it all wraps up, begins ‘modern music’ in many ways, yet brings us back to start of the prelude. Clever, as ever.
Janáček is proudly put on by Tomos every opportunity he can get, his native composer always offering wacky and inspired musical offerings that are usually a highlight on the opera stage and concert hall. His Sinfonietta, opens and closes with the soaring addition of a mass of additional brass, leading on to eccentric string writing, a declaration to the folk music of his land and a catchy rambunctious nature hard to ignore. Tomos seems to float when with Janáček and we in Cardiff always welcome its magic.
It’s been a mere seven weeks since Dyad Productions has graced Chapter once again. This time it’s for the spooky season, when the clocks go back and a general eeriness lingers in the air. We’ve been truly lost in our screens this Halloween seasons, Dahmer on Netflix’s has both horrified and caused outrage in equal measure. The smash hit, UK made puppet show Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared finally saw it’s Channel 4 premier, disgusting and brilliant for it six episode run. Though Female Gothic tries to go back to the horror of the old school, the OG if you will.
It’s easy to look back at the Victorians as another world, yet their perspective on death still has a clutch on society today. People such as Ask A Mortician on YouTube have tried to look at the Victorian way of handling death and funerals, with a new approach to the deceased. Many of these macabre stories prove their fear of dying and also what lies beyond. Dyad have evoked three similar stories, one that would not feel out of place in The Tales of the Unexpected. They mostly involve the regret of a past love through grief, the quest for knowledge and its downfall alongside the worry of maternal death. All of this is in the Gothic vein so its ghosts, an exotic potion from the south seas and a dark spirit that wouldn’t sound out of place in a manga.
Rebecca Vaughn holds us in the space in what was a rather chilly depth for the evening. Her entire costume is expectedly black and imposing, yet beautiful. Her diction is something I’ve been taken with after hearing her in A Room of One’s Own, the candlelit and soft lamp hue of the theatre had a evocative vibe, perfect for the context. I craved a bit more sound work and music in particular passages of this trio of stories, though the silence was highly effective in other moments. Dyad has proven the legitimacy of intimate theatre shows, with an ever increasing list of one woman pieces, made marvellous thanks to the ardour of Vaughn.
Female Gothic continues on tour, along with Christmas Gothic. Dyad Productions will present a new version of A Christmas Carol next winter.
The idea behind this brand-new diner in the middle of London’s Theatreland has its origins in the heart of New York’s theatreland. Based on Ellen’s Stardust Diner, theatre goers can now be fed and entertained just a stone’s throw from the beating heart of the West End.
For those who may fear the idea of being serenaded, I can dispel that fear straight away. You can be involved or want your own space as much as you’d like. Either way, you’ll feel comfortable here.
Food is standard American diner fayre, burgers, hot dogs, potato skins, onion rings – all with a musical theatre named slant (Show me the meaning of being loaded my personal favourite – potato skins with cheese and chive and bacon bits). Honestly didn’t think the food would be that great – quite surprised – full of flavour and cooked well. Okay, so you weren’t expecting a full dining review here I know, but what makes this diner special and worth the price you pay for food, is the entertainment.
Like Ellen’s Stardust Diner in NY, your server’s will at some point pick up the microphone and start belting out a West End anthem. Whilst we were there, we had two numbers from Six, Les Mis and You’ll be back from Hamilton.
This is where this diner becomes something special. Yes, you can have food at any of the other establishments along Shaftesbury Avenue, but I’m hazarding a guess the staff there aren’t as fun – or friendly, or talented too!
It’s possible on a sitting eating a Aaron Bur-ger, you could be witnessing some nugget of West End talent before their big break happens. This is one of the reason this diner exists. Not everyone can be working in musical theatre, and who knows that one lucky break could be a portion of fries away.
We do have footage of our time in the Diner with some of the talented people we witnessed, and I’m sure we’ll share this eventually. But for now, you’re only chance is if you book a table (walk ins not guaranteed), and as the song from Hamiliton goes, you’ll be Back!
This was a musical we’d planned to see earlier this year, but the weather won and trains, buses and all manner of transport down the M4 stopped, so we waited, and on a bright Autumn day in London, we finally came to see the brilliance that is Back To The Future The Musical (herein known as BTTFM).
Prior to it’s West End debut, BTTFM was workshopped in Manchester and had a very short run before the world locked down and the pandemic closed theatres all around the UK and beyond. I’d heard about it then and wasn’t 100% on whether a musical on a film such as this would work. I’ve previously seen Titanic the musical, as well as Sister Act and Ghost, so know there’s two side to every film/musical cross over.
I don’t feel I need to explain the plot, but I’ll give it a go;
When Marty McFly finds himself transported back to 1955 in a time machine built by the eccentric scientist Doc Brown, he accidentally changes the course of history. Now he’s in a race against time to fix the present, escape the past and send himself… back to the future.
Add into the mix an incredible 80’s soundtrack and you have a musical, that when it hits 88, you’ll see some serious sh…. You know what.
New songs written by Glenn Ballard based on the script by Bob Gale and Robert Zemekis, this could feel like it’s trying too hard to be BTTF – but it doesn’t and I think that in itself is down to the cast of Ben Joyce (Marty Mcfly) and Roger Bart (Doc Brown), Oliver Nicholas (George Mcfly), Amber Davies (Lorraine Baines), Jordan Benjamin (Goldie Wilson / Marvin Berry), Sophie Naglik (Jennifer Parker) and Harry Jobson (Biff Tannen).
Roger Bart is musical theatre royalty, and in this performance you can see why. The ensemble pieces are amazing, as are the solos – although the songs aren’t quite as memorable as I’d like – I know as soon as I start listening to the cast recording in the car, it’ll all come flooding back to me.
I loved it, can’t say I didn’t, even contemplated doing a rush ticket for the next day’s performance. My only issue with BTTFM is that it relies too much on a that 80’s nostalgia. You find yourself completely immersed in something so familiar that it feels right. Maybe that’s just something I felt, and you won’t feel the same way, needless to say there is a moment when I felt myself get a bit emosh – not saying where, needless to say, Alan Silvestri’s composition is as part of the 80s as anything you’ll hear from John Williams.
The only thing that sets this production apart from anything else in the West End, is that Delorean!
What a machine! In terms of being in the moment, it’s up there with Elphaba’s Defying Gravity moment, Mary Poppins flying, and Cinderella’s rotating auditorium (what, do we not talk about Cinderella now?). It’s an incredible prop – and I realise calling it a prop does it a huge disservice, as it’s so much more than that! The car is literally the star!
Musicals are about escapism, fun, and feeling good, and BTTFM does this in bucketloads.
Your review is whatever you make it. So, make it a good one!
Having seen this earlier this year and not reviewing it, I thought it time I gave my reviewing fingers a go.
If you didn’t know;
& Juliet is the 2019 coming-of-age stage musical featuring the music of Swedish pop songwriter Max Martin, with a book by David West Read (Schitt’s Creek).
This is where I don’t want to say any further about the plot, as you may think you know, but trust me you don’t.
Max Martin’s songs are neatly interwoven into this tale of a “what if” scenario, where Juliet does not die at the end of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
You’ll be watching, listening, and thinking “who sung this originally”. Just me? Okay, just me.
The script by David West Reid is perfectly pitched and interweaves the songs quite nicely. The pace feels familiar (as does the music), and you won’t feel the songs are shoehorned into the story as can sometimes happen with other jukebox musicals. Okay, this isn’t Mamma Mia, but it feels fresh and fun and is the perfect accompaniment to a good night out – do try and not sing along though as that can be a bit annoying!
As I’ve said I’ve seen this earlier this year with Keala Settle as Angelique (just amazing), and I think apart from a few other cast changes on the evening, the cast was the same.
Miriam-Teak Lee as Juliet is amazing, as is Cassidy Janson as Anne Hathaway – her version of Celine Dion’s “That’s the way it is”, is probably up there as my favourite Celine cover! There was a little bit of Fenella Fielding in her portrayal of Will Shakespeare’s wife – together with Karen Walker from Will & Grace! Just loved it. Oliver Tompsett as William Shakespeare is sublime and fun to watch in his other guises. You maybe getting the idea I liked this production, if you haven’t so far, we can’t really be friends, because I loved it!
My only concern is the shelf life of the music. Some of the songs are over 20 years old, and as anyone in radio knows, some songs burn out with being overplayed. & Juliet is finishing in the West End in March 2023, so that’s a good time to be able to rest it in it’s current guise (specially since the Shaftesbury Theatre will be undergoing a transformation), but I’m also guessing a UK tour will be on the cards. The Broadway version started on October 28th 2022, and I’m sure it’ll do amazingly across the pond, and in the UK a tour will bring new life (and fans) into this little piece of musical history.
Before I end, one thing of note – the story maybe called & Juliet, but like another musical named after a historical person (rhymes with Samilton), maybe this story too isn’t actually about the one female protagonist?
In an afternoon of light delights the sibling brilliance of Agata & Wojciech Szymczewski delighted the audience at the Royal Welsh. This was very much the definition of the ‘Polish miniature’, fairly light music though not without the weight of it’s country’s history and culture.
The Legend and Kujawiak of Wieniawski is pretty famous, certainly the most familiar music on the programme. I still remain unsure about the true value of Chopin (this will land me in trouble), though hearing his Mazurka in A minor remained a pleasure. To see this brother and sister play feels like an honour, Agata on violin remains such a force the instrument seems to capture to her every whim. It is as if she was born to play the violin and every second with her proves her gusto and passion for her nation’s music. On piano, Wojciech also offers some fabulous insights, his accompaniment never wains in his intimacy with his sister. Though these pieces are very much chances to show off the violin proper, Wojciech makes a perfect companion for the journey.
New discoveries in the Polish repertoire would see work by Bacewicz and Adam Wroński, which delighted in openness and charming nature of the writing. The air is very Polish, some whispers of the country’s great folk music culture passed through. The essence of the fiddle lived in this brief concert. The Cradle Song of Szymanowski proved a much more ‘modern’ affair, the traditions still invited and present, though the drabness of it’s features might turn some off. Still, it had a beauty of its own, distilled and abstract, a piece that’s demands some effort and attention.
We’d welcome back these siblings anytime to Cardiff.
There’s nothing quite like that Ealing feeling: the slew of indubitably British comedies that raised the spirits of postwar Blighty. There’s misbehaviour, yes – Kind Hearts and Coronets, for one, has more deaths than an episode of Game of Thrones – but it’s all done in a rather genial fashion. In Ealing comedies, hoodlums don spiffy suits and jaunty bowler hats, and stop to wish you a good day after they’ve mugged you. This is the spirit which infuses the new touring production of The Lavender Hill Mob, widely considered one of the finest British films of all time, which performs at the New Theatre in Cardiff this week.
Directed by Jeremy Sams and adapted from T.E.B. Clarke’s 1951 screenplay by Phil Porter, The Lavender Hill Mob follows Henry Holland (Miles Jupp), an unassuming bank clerk now living like a king in Rio. His unlikely rise has inspired a film director (Guy Burgess) to put Holland’s story in the movies – leading Holland and his entourage to re-enact the tale with much theatrical aplomb. It’s as funny as you might expect from a show which is led by two proud alumni of The Thick of It, with Jupp channelling Alec Guinness’ breezy RP charm and Justin Edwards doing an uncanny evocation of the great Stanley Holloway as the befuddled Pendlebury.
Holland’s friends are played by Tessa Churchard, John Dougall, Victoria Blunt, Aamira Challenger and Tim Sutton, with much of the laugh out loud moments coming from their playing of multiple of roles, each one more chaotic than the last. There’s a car chase in Calais, a mad dash through London, and the iconic scene on the Eiffel Tower (on whose novelty souvenirs the plot hinges).
While the heist never quite reaches the comic heights of its original, it’s a consistently amusing and well-played caper, with all the charm of its classic counterpart. For fans of modern comedies like The Play that Goes Wrong, it’s a night of fun and frolics – with The Lavender Hill Mob, you’ll be in criminally good company.
The Lavender Hill Mob is playing at the New Theatre Cardiff until Saturday 5 November. For more information and to book tickets, click here.
The Festival of Voice/Gwyl y Llais was established in 2016 it’s Cardiff’s annual festival and is held at the magnificent Wales Millenium Centre, Butetown.
This year The Festival of Voice has been rebranded as Llais, meaning ‘voice’ (the English name of the festival has been dropped). The 5-day festival is like no other, it offers a real mix of events, free and ticketed, immersive art, and a celebration of internationally acclaimed artists through a range of live, exciting, diverse music.
I arrived at the Donald Gordon Stage just as the combined choir of Cwmdare Voices and Pelenna Valley Male Voice started their performance of classics, if you’ve never seen a Welsh Male Voice Choir perform live, then sort yourself out and go see one! Oh my days, your soul will be filled with pleasure and forever thankful it had the experience. Not wanting to sound biased but nobody does it better than the Welsh – fact!
I was beyond thrilled to be seeing Brett Anderson (need I say, Suede frontman) perform something new after what seemed like forever. He was joined on stage by Charles Hazelwood and the Paraorchestra, for the first live performance of Death Songbook, reimagined and repumped cover versions of songs that I’ve grown up listening to, with a special guest performance by Mercury Prize nominee, Gwenno.
https://youtu.be/uYcFU-Qg2fo
Nothing had prepared me for the beauty of the performance, to say it was magical would be an understatement, my heart and head were filled with musical joy, melancholy, and nostalgia. Kicking off the performance with Killing Moon really set the tone, I was captivated and overjoyed, right through to the last note of ‘Wonderful Life’.
I was completely amazed and overwhelmed with emotion listening to the first-ever performance of Brutal Lover, a truly beautiful song. Gwenno’s unique voice on ‘End of the World’ ‘Holes’ and ‘Enjoy the Silence’ combined with Brett Andersons’ vocals was a smooth union of sound.
Gwenno
I had never heard of the Paraorchestra before last night, they sounded phenomenal, they are incredible musicians, and the sound they created suited the songs to perfection. Charlie Hazelwood described them as a ‘new breed’. This beautiful concert was so well directed and produced by a bodywork of professionals, I felt like I was experiencing something really special, it felt like a new era and gave me feelings of elation, joy, melancholy, and nostalgia.
I’m not a fan of cover versions and on my way to WMC I wondered how some of the songs would sound, particularly as the original artists, David Bowie/Jaques Brel, Japan, Depeche Mode, Mercury Revs, Echo and the Bunnymen, Skeeter Davis (all pretty big shoes to fill) are icons and all performed their songs as only they can, they’re classics, I really enjoyed listening to them but not in the way that I heard them last night, the new arrangements and performance stirred me up inside and moved me. The songs have now taken on a very different meaning to me like I was listening to them for the first time. The song choices suited Brett’s voice to perfection.
Death Songbook reminds us that through songs about death, the death of love, and the loss of our loved ones, music is our comforter, our greatest friend in dark, bleak times, it soothes, nourishes, and uplifts us, during our deepest sorrow.
Thank you Brett and everyone involved in the performance and production. I await an official release of this beautiful music, preferably on vinyl!
Creating opportunities for a diverse range of people to experience and respond to sport, arts, culture and live events. / Lleisiau amrywiol o Gymru yn ymateb i'r celfyddydau a digwyddiadau byw
(4 / 5)
(3 / 5)
