The latest UK production of Kander and Ebb’s early work Flora The Red Menace, at Ye Olde Rose And Crown Theatre Pub, Walthamstow, provides an evocative night of musical theatre that is not to be missed.  

Last seen professionally in London over 15 years ago, and written in 1965 by the team that later had smash hits with Cabaret and Chicago, the show originally starred Liza Minelli as Flora, and won her a Tony award for Best Actress in a musical. This production has a few new numbers added from an 1987 update, and it’s theme of austere times seems to be just as relevant today.

It’s the 1930’s, and Flora Mezaros is a headstrong fashion designer who is struggling to find work during the Great Depression. She is a member of an artists' co-operative, and is as broke as her bohemian peers when she is stunned to get a job for $30 a week for a top department store. She falls in love with struggling designer Harry Toukarian, who successfully converts Flora to his Communist ideals. She tries to set up a union in her anti-union workplace, and eventually has to deal with a conflict of ideals and heart, as she tries to hold onto both job and boyfriend.

Possibly due to some flimsy plot devices and songs that are not always as memorable as Kander and Ebb’s later work, the 1965 production closed after just 87 performances.  Nevertheless this musical is a bit of a lost gem, and has an integrity that makes this show uniquely special.

The very capable ensemble cast work well together, with Katy Baker holding centre stage as Flora, giving an amazing powerhouse performance that reflects both brilliant acting and vocal skills. Ellen Vereniekes is fabulously vampy as Comrade Charlotte, and Sam Linscott is hilarious as the quirky Harry. Aaron Clingham’s musical direction is as passionate and spot-on as always, and Kate McPhee delivers some very ambitious choreography in the limited  upstairs theatre space.

Flora The Red Menace was never was a financial hit, but seems destined to keep returning as one of those ‘rediscovered works.’ All Star Productions, gives this surprise gift of a musical  the high quality platform it deserves.

OLIVER VALENTINE

Runs until Friday 1st Jun 2012

http://www.allstarproductions.co.uk

WHEN MOVIES WERE MOVIES at Walthamstow’s Ye Olde Rose And Crown Theatre pub, is a joyful musical romp that oozes nostalgia from beginning to end.    

It’s 1969, and one of the last few standing local cinema’s has been designated to be turned into a Bingo hall.  A local reporter interviews Flo, an usherette who has worked at the building all her life. Her memories revisit classic movie song and dance routines beginning with the silent movie era, and ending up with the dawn of the rock musical.

The piece has a carefully chosen repertoire of songs and sketches that follow the history and trends of the cinema. Originally playing in village halls, When Movies Were Movies has a lovely community feeling about it, and with little encouragement audience members were happily singing along to tunes that have become movie classics. Although geared towards an older cliental, this show which does not shy away from sentimentality, offers a wonderful insight to all ages of the unique journey that the Silver Screen has taken.

Dympna Messenger’s chirpy usherette Flo keeps the energy upbeat throughout the night, and Robert Wilkes physical and vocal characterisations are highly impressive.  Jessica Poole steals the show with a stunning voice that delivers breath taking renditions of Sally and Mad About The Boy. Keith Myer’s script is complemented by nifty musical direction from Aaron Clingham.

When Movies Were Movies plays until 4^th May, and is must for any fan of musical cinema . Grab a ticket while you can.

Oliver Valentine.                                                                           

Box Office: 08432892144

                                                                                                         www.allstarproductions.co.uk

MARY ROSE a ghost story written by J.M Barrie, offers a supernatural look at the loss of innocence, and the thin veil between the world of the living and the dead.

Written in 1920, this rarely revived play by the author of Peter Pan, explores the similar preoccupations of his most popular work by revisiting the idea of agelessness, an enchanted isle, and a child called away to a parallel world. This time the child is a girl, Mary Rose, who vanishes on the “island that likes to be visited, while on holiday with her parents in the Hebrides. She is found twenty days later unaware that any time has passed. Despite remaining almost infantile herself, she marries young and has a little boy. She revisits the island with her husband Simon, and vanishes again, eventually returning twenty-five years later, physically unchanged and with no memory of the experience. Later her ghost haunts her old home, and it is not until she is reconciled with her adult living son, that she is able to finally settle in the spirit world where she may have often been betwixt as a human being.

Set between 1884 and 1919, the play shifts between drawing-room comedy, ghost story and Victorian  romance, and to a modern audience may be simply viewed as a dark tale. However given the context of when it was written, Mary Rose is more than this. Opening in London just two years after the end of the First World War, it may be seen to reflect a collective consciousness of loss where almost every audience member would have been touched by death.  Significantly the play opens with a returned soldier who is taken on a flashback journey by ghosts. No doubt this parallel spirit world where lost ones are still present and only just beyond reach, may have had particular resonance with a post-war audience.

This production by DogOrange, who specialise in creating fresh and inventive adaptations of classic texts, that explore the absurdity of the human condition, actually improves Barrie’s over sentimental and frequently stodgy text. Matthew Parker’s inventive direction and choreography manages to contrive clear storytelling despite frequent transitions in time and space in the script. His work is complimented by eerily composed music from Maria Haik Escudero, atmospheric lighting by Gary Bowman and an imaginative set by Cherry Truluck.

The stronger and more grounded performances come from the older members of the cast. However Phil Bishop as is wonderfully quirky as the well mannered religious scholar Cameron, and Carsten Hayes is highly watchable as Simon. The real stars of the piece are the ghostly ensemble who weave, dance, sing and sigh their way through the story with great effect.

Mary Rose is a must if you are a fan of the supernatural. Go along and prepare to be spooked.              

OLIVER VALENTINE                  

                                                                          Box Office: 0208 237 1111   

The latest UK production of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins at the Pleasance, offers a dynamic and thought provoking night of musical theatre that is not to be missed.   

The musical set in a vaudeville ‘limbo’, evokes the showmanship of the American legal system, and the media circus that is often associated with controversial cases.  Thematically the piece examines the mixed motivations of the men and women throughout history who have tried (successfully or otherwise), to assassinate the various presidents of America. As the would-be assassins communicate with each other across the decades, Sondheim’s award winning music stylistically reflects the different eras of the shooting’s. Starting with the 1865 murder of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, and going right up to the latest assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan in 1981, it suggests that Booth’s legacy is indirectly responsible for the US media event of the last century, the murder of John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald. The book by John Weidman, is one of the most politically insightful ever written for a musical, and offers a rare gift in the musical arena of multi- layered psychological dialogues for its characters.

This is a big show and it is well placed on the main stage of the Pleasance. Produced by 2^nd Company Productions, Ray Rackham’s spot-on direction is perfectly complimented by Chris Whittaker’s neat choreography. Martin Dickinson’s interpretation of John Wilkes Booth, is compelling, and Brandon Force’s razzle-dazzle performance of The Ballad Of Guiteau stops the show. There is a wonderful rapport between Bronwyn Baud and Marcia Brown as the ideologically opposed female would be presidential killers, and the ensemble beautifully capture the emotional time capsule associated with the murder of John F. Kennedy with Something Just Broke.

Assassins is an exceptional breed of musical that manages to get the brain thinking as well as the ears buzzing. It is one of Sondheim’s best. and this production gives it the platform it deserves.

OLIVER VALENTINE

Plays until 8th April

http://www.pleasance.co.uk

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

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

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