Review: Southern Beauty

 

Southern Beauty is a collective of musicians founded by Alison Wheeler, the third in a line up of lead singers from the multi-million selling band The Beautiful South. Just as she has cleverly switched the name of the band around for this new project, so too does the band switch the much loved back catalogue of Beautiful South songs round by giving them a jazz twist. A delightfully simple concept that creates a beautiful (if not southern) night of entertainment.

The band is made up of Phil Southgate (keyboard), Phillipa Leigh (ukulele and vocals), James Harrison (drums) & Matt Gornicki (bass). In their hands The Beautiful South back catalogue turns out to be surprisingly flexible. Perfect 10 turned into a swaggering country knees up, Rotterdam was a complex little triple rhythm cabaret number, and The Beautiful South's first single I LoveYou Like My Pencil Case was delivered with sweet, swinging charm.

Wheeler's voice is enchanting. It’s smooth as silk and lazes just behind the beat in a way which makes her feel totally relaxed and at ease. She reminded me of the great jazz chanteuses of old, and in fact she included several jazz standards in her set including It Had To Be You, The Lady Is a Tramp and Don’t Get Around Much Anymore. A highlight of the night was when she brought these two worlds sparklingly together, singing Don’t Marry Her Have Me in a setting which ingeniously highlighted the melodic similarities with Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

All in all, a fantastic night of relaxed music with a proficient and affable singer who created a quick and affectionate rapport with her happy audience. This is their second appearance at the Watford fringe festival and if the audience reaction was anything to go by we can be fairly certain there’ll be a third and many more to come.

Review: The Electric Head

 

The Electric Head, improvisational comedy duo Al Ronald and Cy Henty, create an entirely original and never to be performed against play in front of the audience's eyes. It's wild, it's unpredictable, it's madcap, but underneath all the mayhem is a careful and intelligent structure that leaves you with a story that hits all the right narrative buttons. Exposition, development, climax, resolution, it's all there... with a few kn*b and p*ss jokes for good measure!

They begin by listening to ideas from the audience, though it must be said they brought many of their own ideas into the show I saw, namely Turkish teeth (meaning the dental work people often head to Turkey for because it’s much more affordable there), and the unreliability of certain budget airlines. It would’ve been nice to have a few more original suggestions from the audience in the mix, but we did offer Andy Murray, Notting Hill Carnival and general dislike for Luton, all of which made it into the final story!

The highlight of the show was watching Ronald and Henty's acting in all of its comic splendour. The two actors played a range of zany characters and actually switched characters consistently between and within scenes. They gave each character such clear personality and mannerisms that it was a delight to watch one actor step into another's role with swiftness and alacrity. A real tour de force.

The jokes were a little puerile at times, with lots of references to adding flavour to tap water in unmentionable ways and lubricating hands with rather suspicious liquids. But that aside, it was a really funny hour of entertainment which showcased the duo's wacky imaginations. Watford is once again lucky to be seeing an act that is preparing to head north of the border to Edinburgh this August, we wish them every success!

Review: The Magic of Menken and Schwartz

 

Once Upon A Time... The Magic of Menken and Schwartz is 90 minute musical revue performed by In Good Company. This group have been bringing shows to the Watford Fringe for the past few of years and I’ve always just missed out on seeing them (often because they were sold out!), so it was a delight to be in the audience today.

Right from the beginning you know you're in the hands of confident and inventive performers. They set the atmosphere brilliantly, creating the gloomy rather chilling interior of Notre Dame by projecting gorgeous gothic stained glass windows onto the back of the stage and slow marching the performers onto stage dressed through the audience. Dressed as monks in flowing black robes, we were immediately immersed in the world they were creating.

Opening with a challenging piece from Hunchback is a bold, brave gesture and one which really paid off. The whole show was a celebration of Menken and Schwartz, two of the premier musical theatre writers of the current day and indeed of the past four decades. We were treated not just to a reminder of some of their most enduring hits like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and Wicked, but also introduced to some of their lesson known works like Children of Eden and Working.

There was a good mix of solo pieces and small group numbers (a highlight being the sassy title track from Little Shop of Horrors) but for me the biggest delight was the ensemble pieces where the nearly 30 strong cast were all on stage together packing a mighty musical punch. They delivered not only great vocals but wonderful harmonies, choreography, costume... even the aforementioned use of projection was just evidence of how they were really pushing to go the extra mile. The eye was constantly dashing across the stage trying to keep up with all of the various action going on. This was musical theatre for musical theatre lovers, with all profits going to support local charity Electric Umbrella. I'd waited years to finally see In Good Company in action, they certainly proved worth the wait.

Review: I Dreamed A Dream (Volume 2)

 

I Dreamed A Dream, back after a successful run at last year's Watford Fringe, is a musical theatre revue where nine or so singers, ranging from passionate to professional, pick songs connected to their dream shows and casting, and deliver them with an eagerness and heart that captivates.

The cast were brilliantly varied in both their choices and their voices, ranging from the strident clarity of Lucy Sweeting to the bubbly soprano of Jasmine Boussateha, who also did a wonderful job hosting the event. She gave some interesting insights into the challenges of trying to make it as a professional performer today, including a startling anecdote about queuing outside for 11 hours for an open call audition for Cats, where she ultimately got 30 seconds in front of the casting director! A sharp reminder of how competitive the industry is, and how resilient its adherents must be to succeed.

Sweeting and Boussateha performed the duet For Good from Wicked together, and their voices were a perfect counterbalance. They delivered perfect harmonies, totally connecting with one another and with the audience.

As a musical theatre fan, it was delightful to hear songs that were completely new to me, namely Lost in the Brass from Band Geeks performed with great comic timing and a ringing belt by Hannah Moriarty, and I Love Betsy from Honeymoon in Vegas, delivered with suave sophistication and ironic twerking (yes, two words I never thought I'd be typing either) by square-jawed matinee idol Ben Farrar.

As the title implies, these off the beaten track choices were balanced by the usual Les Mis medley, but two stand out songs for me were Dear Bill from Operation Mincemeat performed by Graham Smith and She Used To Be Mine from Waitress, performed by Hannah Sass. The former was a masterclass in how to tell a story through song, and the latter was a powerhouse vocal which had me in goosebumps from first note to last. Overall, musical theatre delivered with wholesome and sincere passion. A joyful show.

Review: Boy Boss

 

BOY BOSS is a one hour stand-up comedy set from Daniel McKeon, exploring his struggle with making progress in life. The show's premise is that he has discovered that there are six lessons which will help him take control of his freewheeling, loose and unstructured boyhood as he claws his way to NOT becoming a fully fledged man!

The lessons were self-help cliches, from remembering to save money for future spending, to benefits of expressing your vulnerability, but the stories behind them were touching, personal and full of sincerity and humour.

McKeon has a really warm, amiable personality which immediately put the audience at its ease. He had us all chatting with him, giggling at his escapades, and interested in the details of the journey that has taken him from being an unemployed, single, drifter to an employed, happily married drifter. (No spoilers here, he wears the wedding ring throughout!)

He is spritely, slim and slight, even effeminate at times, and many of his funniest observations explore the idea of what masculinity means in a modern context, He spoke about how most people who are attracted to him are either bisexual women or gay men, usually because they feel they can crush him if needed.

From questioning how Spider-Man takes a poo to falling for the photo shoot scam, he certainly is happy to share some of his most embarrassing moments. Although the concept of what precisely a Boy Boss remained a little nebulous and vague, the journey through his explanation was fun and disarming. The final message is a positive one: yes, you can do it, it's achievable, it is possible, you can make mistakes, bounce back and be the boss of your own life.

Review: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

This colourful production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was a treat from start to finish. Presented by the Pump House Children and Youth Theatre as part of the Watford Fringe and directed by Robin Scarborough, it’s full of fun and frivolity with an irrepressible party atmosphere.

The first thing you notice is the simple but effective set awash with terracotta colours which position you straight in Ancient Canaan and Egypt. Clever details like the hieroglyphics and sphinx add interest, whilst the chorus of kids in colourful T-shirts are sat on benches along the flanks of the stage, bringing the audience right into the action.

The band led by Musical Director Pete Dodsworth are terrific, bringing Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's music to life with energy, vim and vigour.

There are two casts, Baker and Butler, and the young actor playing Joseph on the night I went, Ethan Turner, was charming in the role. He was very expressive, delivering most of his songs with a beaming smile, and then crushing our hearts with his melancholy as he cowered behind bars in Close Every Door To Me.

The brothers were full of bouncy, boisterous energy and worked wonderfully together as a rowdy ensemble, pulling all the comedy and laughs you'd hope for out of One More Angel in Heaven and Those Canaan Days in particular.

My hat goes off to the narrators Enya Casselton and Phoebe Knapp, both of whom looked splendid in black tie and tails bedecked with green sequins. They had the tough job of carrying the story of the whole show forward and did so with confidence and clarity.

Potiphar and his wife, Sofia Trebar and Aoibhinn Lyons, deserve a mention for getting some of the biggest laughs of the evening, but the cameo that stole the show was Zach Makanda-Tansey as Pharaoh. The traditional pun on 'the king' means Pharaoh is always portrayed as a swaggering, preening Elvis Presley impression, but Makanda-Tansey made the part completely his own, bringing in a touch of the New Romantics with his facial make up, costume and hair, and a funky Prince-like soul to his voice.

The megamix at the end had the entire audience on its feet clapping, stamping and singing along in celebration of what had been a vibrant, captivating, entertaining and humorous performance!

The Watford Fringe Festival which runs throughout July. There are over 180 shows taking place at more than 20 venues across our town and we'd love you to part of it. Visit watfringe.co.uk for show details and tickets.

Review: Richard Herring Podcast

 

Richard Herring’s podcast has got a cult following with hundreds of thousands of people tuning in to listen to his freewheeling and uncensored conversations with all sorts of people from the world of comedy and beyond. This particular conversation was with the fiery comedian Esther Manito, who was promoting the tour of her new stand up show Slagbomb.

The promotion and plug definitely took a backseat as, armed with only a notebook page of doodled ideas of what might be nice to chat about, Herring took the reins on a chortlesome hour of comic conversation. The art of good conversation is not easily learned. Knowing when to probe and when to pause, when to listen and when to fill is a skill that requires patience and practice. Herring conducted the hour so masterfully that the time flew by leaving you with the feeling of having had a lovely afternoon catch up with two effervescent friends.

The topics were often innocuous on the surface, but opened up to reveal elements of controversy. A chat about 70s kids TV lead to jokes about Rolf Harris and Jimmy Saville, a memory about playing the glockenspiel on Record Breakers prompted another about racist TV presenters, and an anecdote about Danny Dyer recalled the horror and toxic masculinity of his agony uncle page in the 90s. Even Basil Brush got called a c*nt!

This was a funny, engaging and spontaneous hour of chat that was never afraid to shock or offend. The final topic was about the expensive and inaccessible nature of the Edinburgh fringe festival, which of course led to a huge cheer for the local alternative. The Chesham Fringe is clearly on the map and here to stay!