UK Theatre Network

Trilby Productions latest offering Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, at the Jermyn Street Theatre, offers an uplifting evening of nostalgia that is a musical treat.

The premise is simple. We are invited to join a Hollywood Party in a thirties nightclub, where the guests stand around a grand piano and sing their heart and souls out to some of the loveliest melodies and lyrics ever written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. The duo collaborated on 28 musicals and more than 500 songs mainly in the 1930s and 40’s, and under the ‘MacArthur treatment’, we get to hear the best.

Laura Armstrong has a delightful stage presence and a voice to match, and Katie Kerr is contrastingly effective in her hilarious performance of Way Out West, and her moving rendition of Little Girl Blue. Stephen Ashfield looked and sounded like he had just stepped of the 1940’s, and crooned the song’s as if they were written for him.

Tim MacArthur’s tidy direction allows the numbers to flow effortlessly from one song to the next, and David Harvey’s musical direction is spot on. This is particularly apparent in the stunning company harmonies for Where Or When, and the sumptuous Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered.  

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered is a theatre event that is not to be missed. Grab a ticket while you can.

OLIVER VALENTINE                                    

                                                                                Bewitched plays until 13^th August.

                                                                          jermynstreettheatre.co.uk