It takes a great deal of skill to write a comedy about the real-life murder of a gay man, while still maintaining the humanity and integrity of the story. Sleeping With Straight Men by Ronnie Larsen, fails spectacularly in doing this by offering an ultimately shallow piece that lacks vision or sophistication in dealing with the sensitive subject matter.

Trailer park boy Stanley lives in small town Pontiac, and has a habit of lusting after straight men. He befriends Sally a local drag queen, and while dining together they are served by Lee a straight waiter who Stanley falls for. Stanley is celebrity obsessed, and sees a chance to reveal his true feelings for Lee by appearing on television in the Jill Jones Chat Show, where guests reveal they have a crush on someone. Intrigued to find out who his secret admirer is, Lee goes on the show only to feel humiliated when he finds out it is a man. His request not to air the recorded episode is ignored by the TV producers, and in a state of high anxiety Lee shoots Stanley as a result.

Larsen’s 2002 play is based on a real-life tragedy. In 1995 Jonathan Schmitz, shot his ‘secret admirer’ Scott Amedure after he appeared on a episode of the Jenny Jones Chat Show called Same Sex Secret Crushes. During the show Amedure revealed his feelings for Schmitz, and unable to deal with the potential public humiliation Schmitz killed his admirer three days later.

While Larsen is 100% effective in mocking the superficiality of the chat show world where high ratings are more important than socially responsible broadcasting, he fails to find a balance when dealing with the darker side of play. It does not attempt to address any of the social issues that are raised, and borders regressively on inverted homophobia with all the gay characters without exception being stereotypes. The consequences of the shooting are seen almost as an after-thought with only the last 10 minutes focusing on the tragedy. The reactions of Lee’s girlfriend (played with great naturalism by Jill Regan), and the Stanley’s grief stricken mom are watered down to the point that it trivialises the issue. Any empathy for the character of Stanley (Wesley Dow), is alienated because he is played at such a pantomime level that he becomes a caricature of a caricature.

The play is slickly directed by Paul Taylor-Mills, and there are great performances by Amy Anzel as the plastic chat host Jill Jones, and Hannah Vesty as Judy her studio floor assistant. Andrew Beckett shows deft comic timing as Brian the camp make-up artist, and Julie Ross manages give depth to her role as the mother despite a very limited script. Adam Isdale gives a layered performance as the lost and confused Lee, which makes you wonder if he is the real victim of the piece.

Sleeping With Straight Men is a well intentioned play that fails to hit the mark because it does not offer any intelligent analysis of the issues it is dealing with. The story has great dramatic potential, and it would have been interesting to see it dealt with by a more capable writer than Larsen.

Sleeping With Straight Men is at the Above The Stag theatre, Victoria, until 12th February.

OLIVER VALENTINE                                                                www.abovethestag.com

The Stag’s adult pantomime Sleeping Beauty – One Little Prick, offers the ideal night out for seekers of a saucy giggle and a pint.

Lady Gargoyle’s gorgeous, gay and permanently horny son Beauty, is cursed by the wicked fairy Carabosse, to die from a prick on his 21^st birthday. The spell is reversed to a sleeping one by the good fairy Glowstick, and Beauty and his extended family awake in modern Stratford in 2011 just before the Olympics. Beauty has been stirred by a vampire prince who has survived the long sleep, and is devoted to him. Yet there are fit lads everywhere, and Beauty wants to try all the temptations that are on offer on the 2011 Vauxhall gay scene.

Written by Jon Bradfield & Martin Hooper, the creators of the Stag’s past two Xmas smashes Dick Whittington – Another Dick in City Hall, and last year’s sell-out smash hit Robin Hood – Queen of Thieves, Sleeping Beauty adds another winning notch to their collaboration. Despite this the evening is not without flaws. Occasionally the script could have been tightened up with a few cuts, and the night was slowed down by poor pacing. However these are minor issues that will no doubt be resolved under Paul Taylor-Mills astute leadership.

Matthew Ferzdenzi gives a wonderfully committed performance as Beauty, and this is mirrored by Greg Airey as his sexy vampire lover. Samantha Ridings is fabulously nasty as Carabosse, and Steven Rodgers wins the hearts of the audience in a lovely under-stated performance as Sydney the Tortoise. Sounding very much like Victoria Wood’s ‘Kitty from Cheshire,’ Matthew Baldwins’s gentile Lady Gargoyle is nicely contrasted with Phillip Lawrence’s hilariously gruff Aggy.

Sleeping Beauty – One Little Prick, is apparently already sold out, but if you are lucky you may get  returns on the night.

OLIVER VALENTINE                                                                        Runs till 08 Jan 2012

NewsRevue began way back in 1979 at The Gate, Notting Hill, and has now become a permanent fixture at The Canal Cafe Theatre, Maida Vale.

The show satirises the latest news events, and claims to be the longest running revue of its’ kind. By constantly updating material from a variety of innovative writers, and changing the cast and director every six weeks to keep  it feeling fresh and in the moment, it has created a cult following.

Nothing escapes the revue’s judgement. There is a mash-up of the songs from the musical Grease, - about Greece’s debt crises, and some clever new lyrics about the death of Michael Jackson to the tune of Don’t Blame It On The Boogie. The show has the audience in hysterics with a mockery of Boris Johnson as the super-hero defender of the capitol, and also pokes fun at the protestors at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

As is always the risk with new writing, some things work and some don’t. This time it was too reliant on musical numbers, and lacked ground breaking original sketches. However it is often funnier and a lot less smugger than its broadcast equivalent Have I Got News For You. Also it has something that News For You hasn’t – great acting and musical talent. It is a fast paced show that requires strong ensemble work and great versatility. The current cast of Grace Bishop, Gary Jerry, Charlotte Bradford and Ben Keenan have this in abundance, and play a multitude of accents and characters. It’s all very impressive, and a great reminder of the raw talent out there.

NewsRevue is a must for anyone who wants to spend a very reasonably priced night out in a cosy venue with a giggle and a pint.

OLIVER VALENTINE                                                                       Theatre Box  Office:  020 7289 6054

Best known for his role as the android Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Brent Spiner is a versatile and multi-talented performer who started his career in the theatre. Born in Houston, Texas, Spiner first began pursuing his interest in acting while in high school, where his inspirational drama teacher, Cecil Pickett, started the careers of a group of young actors and directors including Spiner, Randy Quaid, Dennis Quaid, Thomas Schlamme, and Trey Wilson. When Pickett went on to teach at the University of Houston, Spiner followed, but he quit university before completing his degree and moved to New York. Brent then appeared in various Broadway and off-Broadway productions, such as A History of the American Film (1978), The Seagull (1980) at the New York Shakespeare Festival, Sunday in the Park with George (1984), The Three Musketeers (1984),and Big River (1985). After starring in the play Little Shop of Horrors, he moved to Los Angeles, where he played a number of character parts in television films and series such as Hill Street Blues, Cheers, and the recurring guest role of Bob Wheeler (1985-1987) in the popular NBC sitcom Night Court. In 1987, Spiner landed the role of Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation.Following a seven-year run on television, he appeared in the Star Trek feature films Generations, First Contact, and Resurrection, and appeared in and co-wrote the story for Star Trek: Nemesis. He also co-starred with Halle Berry inIntroducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999), for which he was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award, and appeared in films like Independence Day, Out to Sea, Phenomenon, and The Aviator. On stage, he played Ivanov in the touring production of Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1992) and was nominated for a Drama Desk award as Best Actor in a Musical when he returned to Broadway playing the role of John Adams in the Roundabout revival of 1776 (1997).  A few years later, Spiner co-starred in Yasmina Reza’s play Life x 3 (2003) at the Circle in the Square Theater and played the title role in Man of La Mancha(2009) at the Freud Playhouse. In 2008, Spiner developed a new concept for a “musical of the mind” and released the intriguing CD Dreamland, an audio “film” beautifully performed by Spiner and Maude Maggart. Recently, Brent has done voice work on The Simpsons and Young Justice and has appeared inAlphas and The Big Bang Theory. He is currently filming ten new episodes of the web series Fresh Hell, which Spiner describes as a “sit-trag”—a comedy with elements of tragedy, highly comical but also touching on very serious issues: http://www.youtube.com/user/freshhellseries?blend=13&ob=5 

I talked to Brent Spiner at the Star Trek convention in Chicago in October 2011.

CK: First of all, I’d like to thank you for your time because I know you’re busy.

BS: Never too busy to do this.

CK: That’s very nice. Right. What is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?

BS: The most beautiful thing I’ve seen. (sings to the tune of “Maria,” West Side Story) The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen…. (talks) It’s really hard. You know, it’s like “What’s your favourite food?” in a way.

CK: Let’s change it to “one of the most beautiful things you’ve ever seen”. That might be easier.

BS: Well, my son. He looks just like me. He’s incredibly beautiful. (Ponders the question.) I like Clare Danes a lot too, by the way.

CK: Ah! So let’s talk about something related to your career.

BS: All right.

CK: You’ve done so much, so many different things, on stage, on TV, films—Star Trek, Threshold, The Aviator, Independence Day; in the theatre, 1776. What was your best experience about doing 1776?

BS: It was actually being on Broadway again. There were many wonderful experiences doing that show. I worked with some amazing people. Everyone connected with the show was just great - Peter Stone, who wrote it, Pat Hingle and Tom Aldrich, and all these other wonderful people. Working at the Roundabout, which is a great organization. It was a magic experience. But I hadn’t been on Broadway at that point in twelve years.

CK: How did you cope with the fact that that you were being back on stage? You have to project on stage, it is a different medium.

BS: Right. Particularly that show, which requires a lot of volume because it’s all about arguing. You’re debating the entire show and it’s a long show, it’s three hours. My character, I played John Adams, had eight songs and lots of debate. There is a time in the show, forty-five minutes without a song because this debate is going on and I’m at the centre of it. So I was really worried about my voice. It got to a point in rehearsal where Paul Gemignani, who is the greatest conductor in the musical theatre now, he was doing the show, came up to me and said: “Be careful of your voice.” And I went: “What?” He said: “You could lose your voice, I can hear it.” And I thought: “Oh my God.” So I got really scared. It was at a point when we’re just going into the theatre, when we’d been given dressing room assignments. I was in the dressing room with two guys, Tom Aldrich, who just passed away, he was a fantastic actor, and Jerry Lanning. Jerry happened to be a voice teacher and I said to him, “Jerry, I am really worried I’m gonna lose my voice.” He said, “You’re not.” I said: “Really?” And he said: “Your vocal chords are really challenged right now because every day you wake up you’re stronger than you were the day before. Don’t worry, you’re getting stronger, you’re not getting weaker.” Everything turned for me at that moment. I knew I wasn’t going to lose my voice. I knew I was fine. He was dead right and I got stronger every night. I did the show for eight months and I never missed a performance. I did 250 performances. And I never came close to losing my voice. By the end I was stronger than I was in the beginning. It was just a psychological thing.

(A couple of teenagers approach Brent.)

Teenage Boy: We have a question.

BS: You know what, we’re really right in the middle of an interview. We’ve got a recorder going.

Teenage Boy: Sorry.

CK: You’re on it now. You’ll be online, you know.

Teenage Boy: Me and my friends were wondering. What would Data eat at McDonalds?

BS: This is the stupidest thing anyone has ever asked me. The single dumbest thing anyone’s ever said. Would Data eat at McDonalds? Data wouldn’t be so stupid to eat at McDonalds. Data would go, “I want something nutritious. I don’t wanna kill myself, I wanna live, right?”

Teenage Girl: What if you were starving?

BS: He would just starve.

Teenage Boy: Sorry to bother you.

BS: Don’t worry about it. See you in a bit.

(The teenagers leave.)

BS: There you go. It was interesting that you were taping and involved in that. If you say to somebody: “I’m sorry, I’m in the middle of an interview”, they barrelled right through that as if I hadn’t said anything. People have their own agendas. If they want something, they will go for it. It does not matter what you said.

CK: That’s really rude.

BS: Rudeness is just, you know, it’s part of the human condition, right?

CK: I think you enjoy doing new things and challenges. You are doing Fresh Hell, which is very different because it is an online series on YouTube.  

BS: Right.

CK: Why did you choose to do it online? To reach a new audience? Because more young people will watch things on YouTube?

BS: No, not really. I would love to have a television series, but nobody has offered me one and so the Internet allows you to do whatever you want.

CK: That’s true.

BS: If you’re creative.

CK: It’s an interesting idea to do it on YouTube.

BS: It’s not staying on YouTube. We’ve a got a new website that’s been designed for the next episodes.

CK: Oh yes, I saw that. But to do it online, in this format….

BS: There are people who say to me, why would you do that, and my answer would really be, why not do it? Everyone was saying, “Do a web series ,” years ago, “that’s the future.”

CK: Yes, that’s what I think. You think there’ll be TV forever?

BS: There will be TV but it will come off the Web.

CK: Fresh Hell, it’s about celebrity. What are your experiences when people meet you for the first time? Do they project ideas onto you because they don’t really know you?

BS: Right. Certainly.

CK: I expect many people think you’re like Data.

BS: That’s right. And of course I’m not. Because I’m an actual person from Texas. So obviously I’m nothing like Data except that I’m incredibly brilliant….

CK: That goes without saying.

BS: Exactly. I mean, we do have some similarities. I look a bit like him, too.

CK: Yes, you do.

BS: But I do have emotions.

CK: When you first met your fans and they approached you as if you were Data, how did you react?

BS: I tried to be nice about it, but….

CK: What did you feel?

BS: Well, it’s not like I’m not a fan of other people. I like a lot of actors, I like a lot of performances. When I met William Shatner or Leonard Nimoy for the first time, I didn’t talk to them like they were Spock and Kirk, I didn’t think they were. I kind of got the idea they were actors who were playing those parts. It is kind of peculiar. Even to this day, if I write something on Twitter that is so counter to what Data would have been, if it’s ironic or if it’s sarcastic, whatever, the things that I am, people think: “Oh man, I don’t really like you. You’re not like I thought you were.” And my reaction is: “That’s too bad! You know, you’re not like I thought you were either! I thought you were an adult.” (Laughs.) 

CK: Well, I think, just because you don’t know anything other than the character you play and some of the interviews you give, people have a certain image of you and….

BS: Right. But I’m not responsible for that. I’m responsible for being me. And being honest. And you know what? You can’t please all the people all the time.

CK: Of course not, who wants that?

BS: Exactly.

CK: But, let’s get back to the theatre. Would you like to do something in England?

BS: I’m dying to do something in England. I’ve wanted to forever. I’ve had a couple of opportunities. Didn’t work out at all. When I was 24 years old, 23 years old, I auditioned for a play in London and the producers wanted me for the part and British Equity wouldn’t let me do it. And then, years later, I was offered a play in London and I couldn’t go because I’d just bought a house. It was in the middle of being remodelled so I couldn’t leave. And so I’m waiting. I’m ready to go.

CK: Do you like London?

BS: Love London.

CK: What do you like about it?

BS: Well, I like that there is so much history. I’m a big history buff. I’m not too much into the future. My preference is not sci-fi or even fiction, for that matter. I like history, documentaries…I am reading David McCullough’s book about Paris in the 1830s right now. I love the book. I love the idea that people experienced in 1830 the same thing I do when I go to Paris, how beautiful it is. And London for me is the same. We did a convention in London, at the Royal Albert Hall, and I walked out on stage, and I thought about the people who had walked on that stage before me. Unbelievable! I love the theatre; I love just the whole feel of London. I love the way London smells. It smells different than most towns.

CK: Yeah.

BS: I like it.

CK: What kind of play would you like to do if you had the choice?

BS: I’m not that picky. I’d just like it to be good.

CK: Yes, that’s the first thing. Are you interested in doing modern plays? For example, this “in-yer-face” kind of theatre, like Sarah Kane, or Jez Butterworth, or Anthony Neilson?

BS: Do people enjoy those plays?

CK: It depends on the people. I like them.

BS: Well.

CK: But…I mean, you have the audience that goes to the West End and the audience that goes to the alternative kind….

BS: Yes, but there is the audience that goes to both. I think I like just interesting theatre. If you look at what I’ve done in my life, it’s all kinds of things. There are musicals, there are straight plays, there are old plays, there are new plays. It doesn’t matter as long as it’s interesting and involving.

CK: Do you go to the theatre often?

BS: I don’t go that often. I go occasionally in Los Angeles. Whenever I’m in New York I go to the theatre. Whenever I am in London I go to the theatre. Well, not whenever, but most of the time.

CK: You, as a member of the audience, what do you like best?

BS: I like it if it’s short. (Laughs)

CK: No four-hour plays….

BS: No, a nice hour and a half, no intermission.

CK: That’s rare.

BS: A play that I really enjoyed. Did you see Red? Red was John Logan’s play? It was at the Donmar Warehouse? Alfred Molina and Eddie (Redmayne)….

CK: The play about Rothko.

BS: Yes, about Rothko. Eddie was great. A two-character play, an hour and twenty minutes, but it did its job efficiently and it left you provoked by the whole thing, thought provoked, interested in art and the nature of art. It was fantastic!

CK: What is one of the biggest challenges as an actor?

BS: To get hired is the only challenge, really. You have to think, if you get hired, it’s because the people who hired you think you can do the job and that’s pretty reassuring.

CK: That’s true. But once you have the job what was….

BS: What was the challenge?

CK: For example. It’s always difficult….

BS: Yeah, it is always difficult, I think. It is a series of problems to solve and that’s how I approach things. How do I solve this and turn it into something that people can receive, understand and relate to?

CK: If you went to London to do a play, would you just do it in the West End or would you be interested in doing it in other venues?

BS: I would like to work at some place where people would come. My friend Saul Rubinek wrote a play that Scott Bakula is doing right now at the Menier Chocolate Factory, that’s a fine venue.

CK: Yes, they do a lot of musicals.

BS: This is not a musical they’re doing, though. I know they do musicals. They do a lot of Sondheim.

CK: You were in Sunday in the Park with George.

BS: I was.

CK: Is Sondheim one of your favourites?

BS: Sondheim is the only genius in the last forty years working in the theatre. There are some young guys coming up that are really good but in terms of Broadway and Broadway musicals, Sondheim is the only true genius. He is an amazing man and a once-in-a-life-time talent.

CK: How much influence do you think theatre has? Say, if you do a political play to make people aware of something? Do you think this is preaching to the converted or do you think it actually….

BS: Changes minds?

CK: Yes.

BS: I don’t think any minds change ever, by anything. I think occasionally somebody will change their mind. But I think it’s very rare that you can actually change somebody’s mind about something. How many times have you been in an argument with someone and they stopped and said, “You know what, I think you’re right. I’m wrong.” Almost never.

CK: It depends. If it’s politics….

BS: If it’s politics they never change their mind.

CK: There is going to be a fight.

BS: Yes.

CK: What about verbatim theatre? Do you think it’s a good thing? Because it can be dangerous if it’s selective. I saw a play called Lines about a verbatim play that led to the death of an actor because he was making fun of a real person. He didn’t have anything to work with so he tried that, the director was an idiot, so he ended up getting knifed. Because this person who he portrayed was not a public figure and he was made fun of on stage every day, every night.

BS: Well, I guess you have to be careful, but that’s kind of silly to kill somebody for any reason.

CK: Somebody who was disturbed already.

BS: Then you have to be really careful. I don’t know that theatre influences anything. Maybe young people go to the theatre and think: “Oh my God, that’s illuminating to me.” But that it changes everything that I ever thought….

CK: Maybe not to that extent but to a certain extent….

BS: Yes, I hope it changes minds and enlightens. But I’m really of the mind primarily to entertain and if it happens to enlighten, well, that’s nice, too. But like Star Trek, for example, there’s a—I wouldn’t call it cult, necessarily, but there is a large number of people who take it very, very seriously and build their lives around it. It’s a religion to them almost.

CK: I met a guy who told me that The Next Generation was the Bible to him.

BS: Well, there you are. To me, it’s basically a western set in space and we’re trying to entertain people. And, yes, there is a little bit of a kind of philosophy running through it that’s kind of tame.

CK: You’re accepting everybody, the way a person is, which I like.

BS: I do, too. I like that about it, too. But I think there is an illusion about it. You know, if you ask somebody, why has Star Trek lasted so long, they always say the same thing: because it has a positive vision of the future. But to tell you the truth, I don’t know what is so positive about it. We are still blowing people away. We carry guns. It’s a joke. It’s like that illusion that it is somehow all about peace. It’s really not. It is a western, it is a shoot’em up. But it does have elements that are nice, like the fact that all people are celebrated for who they are, their differences rather than their similarities, and I think that’s a very positive thing. The positive thing about it is just that it depicts a future, and that is somehow reassuring, that there is going to be a future. I don’t think it necessarily depicts a future that’s better or worse than where we live right now.

CK: But people think if you don’t have the blowing people away there probably isn’t any conflict.

BS: There is conflict. Again, that’s what they say, but there is conflict. How is it that we are always blowing people up and blasting our phasers?

CK: I don’t like that, either. That’s my least favourite part of the show.

BS: That’s the shoot’em up, that’s the western. They asked Gene Roddenberry, he said, “Well, it’s ‘Wagon Train to the stars’.”

CK: That’s why it’s called “Trek.”

BS: Right, that’s what he designed. He did not design something that he thought would become a religion of any sort.

CK: Thank you very much for your time.

BS: I’m delighted. Okay. This is Brent Spiner signing off.

The interview was conducted by Carolin Kopplin. 

When Anthony Pinnunziato announces that he plans to marry his boyfriend Andrew, to his very loud Italian Brooklyn Catholic family, they are happy to comply as long as all is done in the traditional way. They want the family priest to conduct the service, and the full blessing and attendance of Andrew’s Polish mother.  But unsurprisingly nothing runs as planned, and dramas are inevitable as everyone tries to have  the wedding their way.

Written by Anthony J Wilkinson, My Big Gay Italian Wedding was a word-of-mouth off-Broadway hit, and it returns to The Stag after a rave reviews at the Edinburgh festival this year. Using every gay stereotype possible, the characters are outrageously brash and frequently Panto size. It plays unapologetically for laughs and it get’s them. It’s corny and often totally predictable but wins hands down for entertainment and comic one-liners.

Under Paul Taylor -Mills spot-on direction the piece runs at breakneck speed, and is complemented by Jodie-Lee Wilde’s exuberant choreography. It is extremely well cast, and their brilliant work together is only marred by the repeated pulling focus by a few cast members. Benjamin Vivian-Jones and Robert Hannouch are utterly believable as the happy couple, and Matthew Barksby has a wonderful cartoonish quality as the bitchy Gregorio. Julie Ross plays the Italian mamma to perfection, and Paul Easom is great as the dad. Also his ultra-camp Father Rosalia has to be the funniest characterisations I have seen all year.

My Big Gay Italian Wedding is a must for those who want to escape the winter blues. It is the sort of show that seems designed to have a cult following, and will no doubt have audiences returning over and over again.

OLIVER VALENTINE     

www.abovethestag.com   Tel:02089324747

DON'T ASK THE LADY...! starring the inimitable Julie Ross, is one of the best one woman musical shows to be seen London this year, and should not be missed.

Produced by All Star Productions, with Aaron Clingham on the piano, it celebrates the work of 20th Century Female Songwriters, many of whom have succeeded by gritty determination in a male dominated musical world where song writing was not considered ‘woman’s work.’

Ross is a regular face at Ye Olde Rose and Crown Theatre, and has appeared in productions such as Company, Follies and numerous Sondheim concerts. Dressed in an elegant black number, she oozes charisma as she strolls on stage singing a cheeky little number about a woman with a dubious past called Don’t Ask The Lady. From that moment on the audience are with her, as she mesmerises them with numbers that explore a rollercoaster of emotions. There is no microphone, Ross doesn’t need one, we are in the hands of a professional, and her voice has the power and vocal dynamics to reach everyone.

With a very witty self- written script she shows off her comedic skills as she introduces the  unknown, and also very famous women of song. The evening is an education as Ross goes through a line up of female lyricists and composers of songs that I had no idea had a ‘woman’s touch.’ She shows spot-on timing with Betty Comden’s pre –Sondheim style lyrics If You Hadn’t But You Did, and Shattered Illusions . She is equally at home with searching numbers like My Brother Lived in San Francisco, and Other Lady. The personal discovery for me that night was the work of Amanda Mcbroom, whose perceptive contributions to Errol Flynn and No Fear I found original and thrilling.

Many of the carefully selected choices are from shows, and they work because Ross is a fine actress as she is a vocalist.  She doesn’t just sing she interprets. I have always loved the melody of Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now but never quite understood the lyric. But in the hands of Ross’s heartfelt vocals that seem to reflect life experience, the meaning became clear, and it brought tears to my eyes.   

Don’t Ask The Lady, was a one-off treat at the Ye Odle Rose and Crown, but the show is always available for future bookings at other venues.  For more information please visit Julie’s website at: www.julie-ross.com

OLIVER VALENTINE

Empty spaces, waiting to be filled.

Empty hearts, waiting to be loved.

Empty faces, waiting to be recognized.

It is raining in London Town. People pass each other, avoiding contact. Time ticks away on a typical British morning until, out of the setting gloom, a little figure appears and shyly waves at you. The human characters remain disoriented and locked up in themselves at first but the little fellow slowly changes their hearts and minds.

 This play is about loneliness and people living in isolation although they are surrounded by masses of other people. They are scared of each other and avoid contact although they desperately need somebody. However, they eventually realize that it is possible to learn to trust and love one another. 

The little puppet was so touching that I saw various members of the audience wipe their eyes because of that little guy with his spindly arms and big hands. He is incredibly sweet as he sits in a bowler hat using it as a boat or climbs up on a table to touch a human character – shyly and carefully.    

The other puppet character portrays the grandmother of one of the human characters. She was beautifully done as well – alive and fascinating to watch. There are also elements of shadow play. There is not much text in the show, it is comprised of strong images conveyed by the impressive ensemble - Harriet Field, Blake Aleksander, Matthew Lloyd and Molly Freeman - of this touching and wonderful production. 

Until 1 October 2011

Blue Elephant Theatre

59a Bethwin Road,

Camberwell

London SE5 0T

www.blueelephanttheatre.co.uk

The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!), proves yet again that under the leadership of Aaron Clingham, All Star Productions is a leading flagship of creative excellence on the fringe.

Written by Eric Rockwell and Joanne Bogart, The Musical of Musicals is a comic satire of musical theatre genres, and mocks the work of different composers with one repeated storyline – June can’t pay her rent.

Rodgers and Hammerstein are the first to be parodied. Corn! is set in Kansas in August, and evil landlord Jitter threatens June with marriage if she doesn’t pay for her room. Mother Abby advises June to "follow her dream", and it all ends happily when Jitter’s marriage arrangement is terminated due to daylight savings time. The piece has musical and textual references to Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific, the King and I and the Sound of Music, and this satirical referencing sets the trend for the four following scenes. A Little Complex cleverly dissects Sondheim’s works with a merciless pastiche of overly-complex lyrics and dissonant music. Jitter is now a Sweeney Todd type landlord wanting to kill his neurotic tenants because they don’t appreciate his artwork. Dear Abbey makes mischief of Jerry Herman’s overly camp Hello Dolly and Mame, while Andrew Lloyd Webber’s work is ribbed in Aspects of Junita, with suggestions that his music is plagiarised from classical composers. June has evolved into Evita clone Junita, with her nemesis becoming Sir Phantom Jitter. Finally Speakeasy set in Chicago re-tells the non-paying rent story one last time in the jazzy style of Kander and Ebb.

All the cast excel in the many roles they play. Maggie Robson however steals the limelight with her hilarious interpretations of Follow your Dream, We're All Gonna Die and Easy Mark. Steven Sparling also displays great vocal and acting versatility as ‘Sweeney’ Jitter, the phantom and the emcee Jutter. There is slick musical direction from Aaron Clingham, and Lydia Milman Schmidt’s direction is on top form. This is complimented by highly imaginative choreography from Brendan Matthew’s.  

This comedic gem has a short run of ten days. Hopefully it will be revised at a later date. More please!

OLIVER VALENTINE       

Run until 26^th August.  www.allstarproductions.co.uk