Review: TOYS a new musical

Toys are as ancient as human civilisations, inspiring play and imagination in children the world over, and this Christmas a brand new musical called TOYS graces the stage at the Pump House Theatre in Watford. Directed by Chris Wheeler, with music by Phil Edwards and Ben Dermer and lyrics by Ben Dermer and Paul Morrissey, TOYS is the story of a young girl called Victoria who has to come to terms with the tragic loss of her mother. As she becomes trapped in her grief and sadness she also loses her sense of play. Her toys are packed away in old cardboard boxes and end up lost and forgotten in the attic until her father digs them out and places her once beloved teddy bear on her bed. The teddy transports her to Ludus, the world of play, and through a series of charming encounters with her neglected toys she comes to rediscover the joy of play, and the importance of living life with an open heart.

 

Victoria, played by Mille Robins, navigates the challenges of her part well, moving swiftly and convincingly between the cool insularity of someone in emotional pain, and the unburdened glee of a child at play. Many of the best comic moments comes from Tomas Aleman as Joe, a toy solider, whose unfettered military masculinity feels out of place in the rather soft-edged world of Ludus, primarily populated by three very feminine dolls. Dolly (Clair Gleave) is the prim and proper head girl, keen to follow the rules and ensure others do too. Lily (Jasmine Hackett) is the kind-hearted Miss Popular, resplendent in hot pink, while Brandi (Shyanne Barnes) is the rebel, keen to follow her own path and unafraid to be a little ‘Insensitive’. It was amusing to see the three dolls move in a stilted and jilted fashion to reflect their plastic limitations, and given that they’re very deliberately constructed as synchronised chorus, I enjoyed how well they’d each been characterised and delineated to have a separate sense of individuality.

 

Mikel Sylvanus played the Dad/ Captain while the mother character, played by Davina Manuel-Mokwenye, doubled as the musical’s sinister villain Hera, a resentful witch-like figure who wanted to free the toys from the tyranny of their child-owner’s playful whims and take control over their own actions through electrification. She had several of the most poignant and powerful vocal moments and delivered them with aplomb. Particularly impressive was Santino Zapico who not only brought the teddy bear alive with great puppetry but as Stinky Lomax delivered the stand out number ‘Power Up’, a sharp and modern pop classic with voice distortion, angular choreography and mesmerisingly fast paced lyrics.

 

The stage is immediately intriguing, with pyramid towers of brown cardboard boxes stacked in every corner and ladders soaring heavenward. In our age of internet shopping, these boxes are a familiar sight, promising a hidden trove of gifts and stories to be revealed. Although the story is a bit challenging to follow and there is lots of exposition to digest, there’s also lots of heart and thoughtful life lessons about the value of toys as therapeutic tools as well as playthings. The story is set at Christmas, and Watford is lucky to have this extra opportunity alongside the fabulous Palace Theatre panto Aladdin to revel in some seasonal theatrical magic.

Tickets available here.

Plus my What's On Watford podcast interview with director Chris Wheeler is available here.

Review: Aladdin

This year’s Watford Palace Theatre panto is perennial favourite Aladdin. Transporting us from leafy Hertfordshire to the sweeping vista of our Chinese twin town Wat-a-ford, the evening proves to be a magical treat for all the family. Sticking fairly faithfully to the well-loved tale of a penniless boy who dreams of a life beyond his mother’s laundry business, the script gleefully adds more than a handful of unexpected twists and characters, not least a surprisingly articulate duck, a beat-boxing blue monkey and a startlingly well-read frog!

 

Louis Gaudencio gives us a cheeky, diamond in the rough Aladdin who is as happy dancing by himself in the corner of the imperial garden as he is helping his mum tackle the mountains of unappealing laundry. He shines when he’s able to deliver a little romance, such as when he whisks Princess Perfect Rose, played by a confident Diya Sohi, away on their magic carpet ride. Terence Frisch returns as Watford’s favourite dame to play the indomitable Widow Twanky. His frequent costume changes are a delight, and occasionally a concern (I shall never see belly dancers the same way again), while his Christmas cracker style gags and puns were delivered with quick fire pace.

 

John Henry Falle was brilliant as dastardly villain Abanazer, building a wickedly witty rapport with the audience from their first hiss and boo. Gigi Zahir doubled up as both Emperor and Genie, nicely differentiating the two roles but really shining as the camp as Christmas genie, voguing his way through some impressive dance numbers.

 

But the star of the night has to be the hyperactive blue monkey Wishee Washee, played with boundless energy and enthusiasm by the wonderful Kate Donnachie. Upbeat and optimistic even at the story’s points of peril, the whole audience was charmed by this cheerful chimp and the younger members of the audience will be beat-boxing and funky-monkeying for many days to come. I was lucky enough to bring my 5 year old nephew along and he was engrossed throughout, but when I asked him about his favourite bit, it was all about the monkey!

 

There was lots of interaction with the audience beyond the usual ‘oh no it isn’t’ and ‘he’s behind you’, the highlight being a hilarious re-imagining of The Twelve Days of Christmas featuring oodles of local references and two super-soakers! With colourful costumes, a fast paced script and a funky pop song soundtrack, Aladdin is a festive winner.

Tickets available here.

Review: People

 

It was a pleasure to watch the Pump House Theatre Company’s production of the comic play People at the Pump House Theatre this week. One of national treasure Alan Bennett’s last full length plays to date, it’s a story which explores through reluctant metaphor the similarities between a crumbling country stately home, and the crumbling fabric of England.

Directed by Guy Peskin, the plot follows two sisters, the regal Lady Stacpoole played elegantly by Imogen Roberts, who used to be a model and now struts around her decaying homestead in an ancient fur coat tied seemingly together with rope, and June, played by a waspish Claire Andrews, an archdeacon with a taste for a good glass of wine (or any glass of wine).

Thrown intriguingly into the mix is Lady Stracpoole’s ‘companion’ Iris, played by Wendy Ash, who gets many of the best punchlines and delivers them with delightful comic timing.

Together these three women rumble round the bowels of their decrepit country pile, trapped together in a way that emulates the set-up of many a popular sitcom. Their challenge is to decide what to do with the place now the repairs have become overwhelming, and the conflict in their views is the catalyst for the drama.

June is convinced they should pass it onto the National Trust who will preserve the house and its contents for future generations to enjoy. The trouble is that means opening their doors to streams of inquisitive people. Lady Stacpoole is less certain about what the future should entail. She could perhaps sell the house lock, stock and barrel to mysterious group of philanthropists called The Concern who intend to move the property in its entirety to the warmer climes of Dorset. Or Wiltshire. And a coincidental reunion with an old friend opens up a less salubrious filming opportunity of the adult variety.

Around this central female trio flit a panoply of minor male characters, including a bishop struggling with new bifocals played by Haydn Davis, and the film set grip played with camp glee by Nick Baker. Each is given a trait or mannerism that helps him stand out. I was particularly impressed by the first, Tim Williams as Bevan the auctioneer, whose assured and clipped RP accent occasionally slipped, exposing the hidden soul of a market barrow boy. His inquisitive exploration of the house mirrored the curiosity of the audience and was an effective introduction into the Stacpoole's wacky world.

The cameo highlight however is undoubtably Diana Seabrooke as Brit, whose flat Baltic tones and perpetually unimpressed facial expressions created many comic moments.

Although the action takes place in the present day, the country pile location is replete with antiquity and the set was a wonderful junk shop of battered treasures and random relics. The lighting and projection helped create a vivid sense of the mood and atmosphere. The night I attended was sold out; great to see local audiences out to support a local dramatic group tackling a lesser known work by a much-loved writer.

Tickets available here.

Review: Sarah Vaughan Centenary

Sarah Vaughan, known to jazz lovers as ‘The Divine One’ because of her remarkable vocal dexterity, would have been 100 years old this year. Brought to us by Watford Jazz Junction, arranger and songwriter Alex Webb has put together this special tribute show in her honour to celebrate her immense impact on jazz music and song.

Webb opened the show by listing Sarah Vaughan as one of the Holy Trinity of jazz vocalists, alongside Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, and remarking that of the three she is perhaps the least well known. So this concert was a lovely opportunity to be reminded of some of her greatest hits, as well as be given a guided tour through the personal and musical highlights of her life. I really enjoyed the assured way Webb shared snippets of biography and context between the songs so that we had a chronological insight into her life, the various interesting events that led her to become the superstar she became, and ultimately her sad passing in 1990.

Also known as ‘Sassy’ (few singers have garnered as many affectionate nicknames as she has) because of her redoubtable and confident sense of humour, Vaughn's long career saw her release dozens of albums that embraced all types of music from Latin to Beatles covers, but underneath it all her love for jazz pulsed strongest. That variety in genre and style was beautifully captured by Webb's band, who skilfully shifted through swinging up tempos to sultry ballads and Latin rhythms with ease. The trumpeter in particular shared some mind-blowing solos with dizzying improvisations very much in the Bee-Bop style that Sarah Vaughan herself often favoured.

Our lead singer was Lulu Pierre who looked every each the glamorous chanteuse with her elegant trouser suit and slicked down hair. She never attempted to impersonate Vaughan, instead sharing these well loved songs with her own controlled, careful style. I particularly enjoyed her version of Lullaby of Birdland, which demonstrated her focus on producing clear, crisp melodies.

Pierre was joined by the bass-baritone Marvin Muoneke, who was tasked with bringing Sarah's famous vocal duets with Billy Eckstine, Joe Williams and others to life. His voice was rich and warm as honey. In their duet of I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm, listening to him was like basking in the heat of a homely log fire, much appreciated on this chilly autumn night! Passing Strangers, one of Vaughan's biggest hits, was another highlight, and beautifully demonstrated the contrast between Pierre's restrained vocals and Muoneke's more expansive sound.

The evening was brought to a close with the Ellington classic It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing, which provided ample opportunity for wild improvisation and raucous scat. Although a perfect end to a wonderful night, many of us Vaughan fans were left wondering if they might do an encore of her signature tune Misty. Vaughan's audiences came to expect that song to appear in her concerts and she would often play with them, teasing as to whether or not it would feature. I definitely felt its absence and it would have been the cherry on the cake of an utterly delicious evening. But overall, a glorious celebration of a legend of jazz.

All photographs courtesy and copyright of Robert Crowley Photography

www.robertcrowleyphotography.com

Review: The Girl On The Train

The Pump House Theatre Company’s production of The Girl On The Train is a stage adaptation of the best-selling novel known to millions through the hit film staring Emily Blunt. This production presents the story as a cold, spiky thriller with characters clouded in suspicion, a permanent chill in the air and a plot that keeps you guessing.

Alcoholic Rachel Watson is mesmerised by the life of a woman whose activities she only glimpses during her daily commute to work. Through the window of her suburban train she builds a fantasy life for this woman, until one day the woman vanishes and suddenly the dividing line between fantasy and reality becomes fatally important.

Director Andrew Knight has a clear vision for the sinister mood of the play, creating a shadowy atmosphere which keeps us uncertain about who we can trust and who we should fear. Although this is in essence a conventional whodunnit, the key difference of a central character blighted by alcohol related memory loss makes the storytelling intriguingly unique. Rachel Watson is played magnificently by Caroline Harris, who brings sensitivity and humour to a role that could be drenched in stereotypes of inebriation. Harris is clear and precise in her decisions around the character’s emotional journey, and each beat is delivered with conviction. Harris manages to encapsulate the hazy mess of uncertainty that surrounds the fog in the head of someone whose perception is clouded by booze, and captures in her stance and gait that sense of disorientation and imbalance found in a person whose world has been numbed by drink.

Also impressive in his performance is Dale Carpenter as Scott Hipwell. This supporting character is the husband of the missing woman and Carpenter catches the frustration and anger of his situation as well as the vulnerability and pain of mysteriously losing somebody you love.

I also really enjoyed the performance from Amy Bailey as DI Gaskill, the police woman tasked with finding out what happened to the missing woman. Bailey is witty, cynical, confident and questioning in equal measure, a delightful mix of the heroic police inspector you would hope you had in your corner if ever needed, and a pragmatic drudger who never takes their work home with them.

Complicated sets lead to slow scene transitions which dampen some of the tension and pace of the plot, despite the efforts of a heroic crew who move things as fast as possible. But overall, this is a suspenseful mystery which catches the imagination because of the engagingly flawed central character.

Book tickets here.

Their next production is PEOPLE by Alan Bennett, Tuesday 12th November to Saturday 16th November.

Review: The Greatest Musical the World Has Ever Seen by Randy Thatcher

It was a real privilege to be in the first audience for this new one man musical, 'The Greatest Musical the World Has Ever Seen by Randy Thatcher'. It may indeed be a long title for a short show, but it's a show that packs a punch way above its weight grade. Neurotic New Yorker Randy Thatcher is a lonely undergraduate riddled with anxiety and stalled in life by his inability to make friends. His mother helps him nurture his passion for musical theatre until he's inspired to write a musical about intergalactic warfare on the planet Cawdor. His writing finally helps him find a voice to express his tumultuous inner world through childish metaphor. So it is that Randy's problems become wish-fulfilled in the alien character of Gazandy, and Randy's sense of purpose in life gets dangerously wrapped up in the success of his first ever attempt at writing a musical show.

The strength of this show is the protagonist, performed with sympathy and compassion by New Jerseyite Matt Haughey, who, now living in New York, also wrote the show and has amassed over 10 million streams of his music across various platforms. Haughey's Randy is awkward and adorable in equal measure, faltering and funny in perfect balance. The songs largely all fall within the pop ballad/ musical theatre fusion associated with Pasek and Paul from their mega-hit Dear Evan Hansen, but references to Randy's obsession with that show are peppered throughout the script and beautifully detailed set. An Evan Hansen mug stuffed with pens, a collector's pin badge hidden among dozens on a pin board; these details helped us into Randy's world before a note was sung. The sound was also excellent, in particular the expertly timed dialogue between Randy and his mother.

The show heads up to Edinburgh in August. If you've missed it in Watford, I heartily recommend you catch it north of the border!

Watford details here

Edinburgh details here

Review: The Wind in the Willows

 

Local Watford actor Steve Smith has built himself a reputation for delivering top notch one-man plays which deal with challenging, troubling themes in a visceral and unsettling way. From the World War One heartbreak of Private Peaceful and the gothic horror of One Man Poe to the brutal alienation of Dog/Actor and Harry's Christmas, Smith has an enviable back catalogue when it comes to disturbing his audiences. 

And so it's utterly refreshing to see him present 'The Wind in the Willows' as part of this year's Watford Fringe Festival. He focuses exclusively on Chapter One: The Riverbank, but that was enough to completely transport me to the gentle, calming, undulating world of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 classic.

He sets the scene with a few careful chosen details, a picnic blanket, a stack of books, his Edwardian costume. I was particularly touched by the four garden ornaments representing Mole, Ratty, Badger and Toad, lined up in their order of narrative appearance, and looking well worn and well loved. Indeed, Smith shared with us that they've come straight from his mother's garden and reflect a strong family connection to the story which was one of his grandfather's favourites.

The use of music to create a sense of atmosphere is superb, moving us seamlessly between serenity, whimsy and danger. Composed by Joe Furey, the tracks are subtle and sensitive, enhancing scenes rather than demanding attention.

Smith's performance was equally sensitive. As narrator he drew us into Grahame's whimsical riverbank world with a confident charm, and in character he was lively and mercurial. Mole was, as ever, a rather hunched nail-fidgeting innocent, Ratty his rather more bombastic mentor. Badger makes a brief appearance as an anti-social curmudgeon while the oft forgotten Otter, frequently excised from adaptations, finally gets his moment in the spotlight.

In a theatrical landscape full of flash, bang and gimmicks, it's delightful to sit back and simply be told a story by a master of story-telling. Originally developed with Watford Council as a project to promote the River Colne, this production was first performed actually at the river side, which would have been magical to see. But even on stage at the Wellspring Centre, it's completely enchanting. I hope Smith goes on to dramatise further chapters. I for one would be very happy to spend more time in Mole and Ratty's simpler world.

Catch Steve Smith at three other shows during this Watford Fringe Festival:

The Apple of My Eye: The Steve Jobs Musical

A Montage of Monet

One Man Poe (several available)

And catch my brand new musical Love in Slough, 5.30pm on Friday12th at the Pumphouse Theatre.