Plastic Bag Awards 2023

I haven't done much blogging this year  but that doesn't mean I haven't been out and about and doing things. It's that time of year again - The Plastic Bag Awards, also known as the Baggies of 2023!

Theatre: Drama

The nominees are:

‘As You Like It’ at @Sohoplace

‘Orlando’ at the Garrick Theatre

'Dancing at Lughnasa' at the National Theatre

'The Motive and the Cue' at the National Theatre

'Beautiful Thing' at Theatre Royal Stratford East

It's been a funny old year for theatre with theatres all competing for audiences and putting on some interesting shows but not that many stuck in my mind. All five nominees did that in spades. I loved the latest production of 'As You Like It' at the new theatre at the top of Charing Cross Road, @sohoplace, with its piano on the stage in use throughout and Rose Ayling-Ellis signing her lines and it all fell together nicely. 'Orlando' was as daft and magical as you could want with the dozen Virginia Woolfs forming a nice chorus and 'Dancing at Lughnasa' with its wonderful set and mysterious winding plot making me wonder what happened next as I left the theatre. 'The Motive and the Cue' was the only new play I saw this year and Mark Gatiss's excellent portrayal of John Guilgud and 'Beautiful Thing', a small production but a huge play. 

The Baggy goes to 'Dancing at Lughnasa' for its tale of an old Irish world that no longer exists, the great acting, the lovely staging and the plot that kept winding round in my head after I left the theatre. 

Theatre: Musical

The nominees for Best Musical in 2023 are:

'Sylvia' at The Old Vic 

'Rock Follies' at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester

'Ain't Too Proud' at the Prince Edward Theatre

'Flowers for Mrs Harris' at the Riverside Studios

‘Sondheim’s Old Friends’ at the Gielgud Theatre

I saw quite a few musicals over the year including some big ones like 'Oklahoma!' and 'Frozen' but they didn't make the cut according to the Baggies judging panel. The first musical I saw this year was 'Sylvia' and everything else had to reach its high standards - few did. Then there was a lean period into the summer when I went down to Chichester to see 'Rock Follies' and loved it, such a great theatre experience for an old fan like me. I saw 'Ain't Too Proud' just before it closed early and it was a great show - I still don't understand why it closed early - I suspect it wasn't the show, it was the ticket prices. 'Flowers for Mrs Harris' was a lovely new musical full of hope and wishes and 'Sondheim's Old Friends' was a great revue of a show with fab songs and star performers. with Bernadette Peters finally doing a West End show. 

The Baggy goes to 'Sylvia' at The Old Vic for its concept, staging, costumes, songs and sheer power. I'd love to see it again. 

Theatre: Dance

The nominees for Best Dance in 2023 are:

'Sleeping Beauty' at the Royal Opera House

'Woolf Works' at the Royal Opera House

'Alma' at Sadler's Wells

'Romeo and Juliet' at the Royal Opera House

‘The Dante Project’ at the Royal Opera House

The nominations are dominated by the Royal Ballet dancing at the Royal Opera House with only one nominee from Sadler's Wells this year, a flamenco show as part of its annual season. 'Sleeping Beauty' is a standard in the Royal Ballet's repertoire but it's 'Woolf Works' that made me interested in ballet as an art form in 2015 and, later that year, 'Romeo and Juliet' made me fall in love with it all. How can people jumping around be so beautiful? Wayne McGregor created the wonderful 'Woolf Works' and his latest creation is 'The Dante Project' - I had tickets to see it on its first airing a couple of years ago but didn't see it due to a lockdown or something so I made sure to see it this year.  

The Baggy goes to 'The Dante Project' by Wayne McGregor and danced by the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, a marvellous spectacle. 

Exhibitions

I saw many exhibitions and discovered new artists in 2023 but the nominees are:

‘Donatello’ at the V&A

'After Impressionism' at the National Gallery

'Action Gesture Paint' at Whitechapel Art Gallery

'Frans Hals' at the National Gallery

‘Rubens and Women’ at Dulwich Picture Gallery

Donatello was one of the first masters of the early renaissance in Florence and has influenced art ever since and I loved the exhibition at the V&A, being surrounded by all that old Florentine stuff, even a small predella painting by Masaccio, a friend of Donatello. 'After Impressionism' was a wide-ranging exhibition showing what happened in western art after the impressionists, dipping into many movements as artists discovered abstraction, a fascinating journey, while 'Action Gesture Paint' explored the spread of abstract expressionism around the world through women's art - who knew if was a world-wide movement of artists delving into their own abstratctions. Frans Hals was a master portraitist and the National Gallery explored his works while Dulwich Picture Gallery explored Rubens' paintings of women.

It's been a difficult decision but the Baggy goes to 'After Impressionism' for the sheer breadth and quality of the exhibits.  

Film

In an occasional category for films, the nominees are:

'Late Spring' at the BFI

'Angelheaded Hipster' at the Ritzy

'Tokyo Story' at the BFI

‘Scrooge’ at the BFI

‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ at the BFI

The only new film I saw this year was 'Angelheaded Hipster', the new documentary about the life and music of Marc Bolan who sadly died at the age of 29 in 1977. All the other films are over 65 years old and in black and white but all worth seeing, from the gentle films of Mr Ozu-san to the sentiment-fest that is 'It's A Wonderful Life'. I particularly liked Mr Ozu's 'Late Spring' mainly because I've never seen a film quite like it and his 'Tokyo Story' is always voted in the top ten films of all time, a marvellous melancholic film.

It's a close-run decision with 'Late Spring' coming a close second to the winner, 'Angelheaded Hipster'. Keep a little Marc in your heart. 

Performance

This award is for the best individual standout performance I've seen over the year and it can be almost anything. The nominees this year are:

Beverley Knight in 'Sylvia' at the Old Vic 

Mark Gatiss in 'The Motive and the Cue' at National Theatre

Siouxsie at The Troxy

Jenna Russell in 'Flowers for Mrs Harris' at the Riverside Studios

Beverley Knight played Emmeline Pankhurst (the mother of Sylvia) in the musical 'Sylvia' at the Old Vic. The cast were all excellent in an excellent production but, Beverley has been a pop star for nearly 30 years and knows how to work the stage at her gigs and she brought that extra energy to her performance. She was stunning and that's why she won an Olivier Award for her performance. Mark Gatiss delivered a truly believable performance as John Gielgud and Jenna Russell was the warm heart of 'Flowers for Mrs Harris'. And, of course, Siouxsie was magnificent at her first London gig in ten years, striding the stage like she owned it (and she did). 

The Baggy must go to Beverley Knight for her stunning performance as the leader of the suffragettes. 

So there you have it, the Baggies for 2023!

'Rock Follies' at the Minerva Theatre , Chichester

Do you remember 'Rock Follies', the mid-70s series about a girl group?  Think carefully now, it was a long time ago. The series spawned two massive albums in 1976 and 1977 and even a top 30 single. Fans will have bought the albums on vinyl and then CDs and also invested in the DVDs of the series' and kept the memory alive. It starred Julie Covington, Charlotte Cornwall and Rula Lenska, that bloke who went on to be the mainstay of 'Casualty' and a range of other faces that became familiar on telly. Even Tim Curry had a role in one episode as a rock star.  Yes, *that* Rock Follies.  

'Rock Follies' is the new show at the Minerva Theatre in Chichester so I had to go down to see it and I'm very pleased I did. It was fab! OK, I'm biased but so what?

When I got to the theatre I could hear background music and stood for a moment thinking ‘I know this song’... and it was ‘A touch too much’ by Arrow! I was all whaaaat? To set the scene they were playing a 70s compilation which was nice but whoever chose it clearly wasn’t alive at the time of ‘Rock Follies’ since it wasn’t all that appropriate. A nice touch though. Then the audience started drifting in, mostly old (as with every matinee). But I couldn’t decide if they were ‘Rock Follies’ fans or just Chichester locals who go to every matinee as an afternoon out. I was probably in the younger third of the audience.

And then it was the main event! Zizi Strallen as Q, Carly Bawden as Anna and Angela Marie Hurst as Dee. It opened with ‘Broadway Annie’ as the girls are struggling actresses and Anna gets fired with Q and Dee resigning in solidarity and then meeting up in the pub afterwards to sing ‘Blueberry Hill’ and hatch the idea of a group. They didn’t really need the ‘Broadway Annie’ sequence and could’ve easily started in another way but maybe the full story was part of the agreement on gaining the rights to the show? Who knows? The first real, full song was ‘Outlaws’ as they decided to form the band and then lines from ‘Stairway’ as it develops to the first full song of ‘Little Ladies’ for their first proper performance on the small stage. 

Most of the songs were shortened, just a verse and chorus, to fit them in, which was both good fun and quite frustrating at the same time. Clearly they wanted to fit in as much as possible - which is good - but maybe a few full length songs would’ve been good too. I got a bit annoyed every now and then when they gave their songs to other characters, such as ‘Hot Neon’ was given to the rock star Stevie Streeter (ie the Tim Currie character) to sing with them as backing singers in dustbins.  

Their first single is ‘Struttin’ Ground’ and that’s where Dee sings Anna’s vocals (rather than in ‘OK’). I always think of the market off Victoria Street with that song, on Strutton Ground, where I sometimes went for lunch when I worked. They somehow end up on Top of the Pops with a very stereotyped presenter (who’s already playe
d a couple of roles by now). That’s when the problems start and Anna starts going off on booze and drugs. And then Roxy appears to complicate matters. I wasn’t keen on what they did with her character, making her too ambitious and a bit of a gold-digger, only with the record producer to get her into the group and then a solo career - that wasn’t the Roxy in the series.

Anyway, after Top of the Pops, this is where the story starts changing. The girls start arguing in the dressing room and Q gets fed up with always being in the middle and soothing egos and declares that she has a voice too and launches into a full-on rock star version of ‘OK’ with flashing lights and screaming guitar and Zizi letting rip with her vocals! Big wow moment! Why haven’t they used all these lights before? It was a big reveal but why so late in the show?  After the song she announces she’s leaving the band and strides off.

After Anna's sacked we're left with just Dee and Roxy as the Little Ladies and somehow they’re big in America and have spent 6 weeks at No 1 in America with ‘Biba Nova’. I loved this bit - We’re all gonna live forever! - and got a bit teary even though the costumes weren’t good (well, awful is closer really). They’re on a telly programme in America and in the interval Dee says she can’t work with Roxy anymore and the band splits up with Roxy wanting a solo career. 

The end. Or is it? I won't say any more in case you're going to see it but It's good and Dee becomes a global superstar. At the end she invites Q and Anna to join her on stage for a few lines of ‘Good Behaviour’ (a la Dream Girls in a ‘without these girls I wouldn’t be here’ moment). Lights out and clap clap clap!

I loved it! It wasn’t perfect but that’s not the point. A lot of it was a bit copy-cat, just following the story from the series.I liked that, but trying to squeeze the whole of the story across both series’s into 2:45 hours would always be a challenge. I quite liked it when the writer (Chloe Moss) took her flights of fancy and invented the story afresh. I liked that the programme said it was ‘In memory of Charlotte Cornwell 1949- 2021’ who played the original Anna on telly. 

'As You Like It' and 'Orlando'

Earlier this year I went to a new theatre and an old one: Sohoplace at the top of Charing Cross Road to see 'As You Like It' and the Garrick at the bottom of Charing Cross Road for 'Orlando'.

'As You Like It' is one of the more often performed Shakespeare plays, a tale of power and families and, as ever, love. Luckily, it's one of my favourites too. The latest performance was at the new Sohoplace Theatre at the top of Charing Cross Road, just over from Tottenham Court Road station. The ground floor is a restaurant and bar and the theatre is above with great views over Charing Cross Road from the bar windows. It's quite compact but a nice theatre space and a great view from my seat in the circle. 

It was a fun production in which we see Rosalind escape to the Forest of Arden to find her love, Orlando. We see Rose Ayling-Ellis as Celia dn Alfred Enoch as Orlando. I think this is the best version of 'As You Like It' I've seen so far.

The old theatre was the Garrick and 'Orlando', a new play based around Virginia Woolf's novel of the same name in which a man wakes up one morning in the court at Constantinople as a woman, a tale from the Elizabethan court to the 1920s. I didn't really know what to expect but I loved it, with its chorus of Virginia Woolfs appearing every now and then and Orlando's housekeeper keeping her on the straight and narrow over the centuries. Emma Corin was great as Orlando.

'Spain' and 'Donatello' Exhibitions

A couple of weeks ago I visited two new exhibitions in London: 'Spain and the Hispanic World' at the Royal Academy and 'Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance' at the Victoria & Albert Museum. The new exhibition season is kicking off in style.

'Spain and the Hispanic World' includes around 150 exhibits from the collection of the Hispanic Society Museum and Library in New York so it's as much an exhibition about the Society as it is about the Hispanic world. The first room contained works created a few thousand years ago by the first waves of settler to occupy what we now consider to be Spain, including Celts. It then moves forward in time from the different kingdoms to the unification of Spain and to conquest in the New World, ending with works by more modern artists including Sorella.

The exhibits covered everything you could think of: ceramics, glassware, cloth, books, paintings, sculptures, jewellery, religious works and more. I particularly liked the travelling writing cabinets with all the little drawers for papers, pens and inks, some decorated and others plain. The signs on the walls helped with context, pointing out that the high costs of importing goods from Spain to South America meant that local craftsmen and women sprang up to meet the demand from the colonisers for their luxury goods. The downside of that is so many exhibits being attributed to 'unknown artist'. 

There was a gorgeous little 'Pieta' by El Greco, a room with a few Goyas and two works by Velazquez, one of a man at court with the most perfect left hand where you can see the hints of veins underneath the skin. Such astonishing skill. 

The exhibition closed with some Sorella paintings including a sketch in gouache that Sorella did for his epic work, 'Visions of Spain'. Apparently he sketched it out on rolls of kraft paper so he could extend it to any length he wanted. I didn't know Sorella used gouache, the sketches I've seen in the Sorella Museum in Madrid were all in oils. 

The second exhibition, 'Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance' focused on the work of the early 15th Century Florentine sculptor Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi known as Donatello. I couldn't help but smile as I entered the exhibition and saw the first of the old glories awaiting me. I've seen Donatello's works before, in exhibitions and in situ in Florence but never so many together. 15th Century Florence was a hothouse of artistic and intellectual development, the creation of mathematical perspective and re-discovery of the art of the ancients.  And Donatello was there at the start of it all, helping to create a new way of story-telling through his art. 

As you'd expect, there are lots of works by Donatello, sculptures, reliefs and bronzes, as well as example of works he influenced by painters and sculptors, not just contemporary but in the centuries after his death. Sadly, many works were attributed to 'unknown artist', something that always makes me sad. Someone worked for years to acquire the skills to create great art and we don't even know their name. On the other hand, we actually have Donatello's account books showing the detail of what he earned and spent (and what on) and these are in the exhibition. I wonder who's account books will be discovered next in a dusty library somewhere?

My first moment of excitement came when I spied a small painting out of the corner of my eye that included what I think of as Fra Angelico pink and I wondered and then hurried over to it. It was a small 'Adoration' by Masaccio and, apparently, Donatello picked up the payment for the work since they were friends. Masaccio is also thought to have been a chum of Fra Angelico so it's likely that they all knew each other and their works. There were other paintings by Filippo Lippi and Bellini illustrating Donatello's influence in both composition and technique.

There was a marvellous little bronze called 'Attis-Amorino' by Donatello which is a mixture of various classical characters: the shepherd Attis with the wings of Cupid, the tail of a faun, the winged feet of Mercury and the snake associated with Hercules. So many allusions to classical tales to identify and such a joyous pose and smile. I loved it. 

As a Quattrocento boy I loved the exhibition, full of so many joyous and emotionally charged works. I will visit again. 

Plastic Bag Awards 2022

It's the awards season again so it's time for the annual Plastic Bag Awards for 2022! Everywhere has been trying to get back to 'normal' after the past two years of the pandemic with varying levels of success.

Best Drama

There are only three nominees in this category:

'The Crucible' - National Theatre
'Jerusalem' - Apollo Theatre

'A Christmas Carol' - Bridge Theatre

'The Crucible' is a modern parable that I remembered from school but had never seen performed whereas 'Jerusalem' is a magic tale of modern life with throwbacks to the Faerie Queen and olde England and giants. But the winner is the new version of 'A Chris Carol' which was wonderful to see with its cast of three narrating the tale and acting all the roles.

Best Musical

It's always fun to see a show with singing and dancing to raise the spirits and this years' crop were all good. The nominees are:

'South Pacific' - Sadler's Wells

'My Fair Lady' - Coliseum

'Six' - The Vaudeville Theatre
'Hex' - National Theatre

'South Pacific' is an old favourite in which love triumphs despite adversity and this was a new production from Chichester that was running for a summer season at Sadler's Wells. 'My Fair Lady' is older than me but I'd never seen it on stage so I couldn't pass up the opportunity. 'Hex' is the new kid on the block and a great show for Christmas. The winner, however, is 'SIX', the tale of the six wives of Henry VIII and, consequently, one of the reasons we remember Henry. There's singing, dancing, sparkling, sass, banging tunes and clever lyrics. It's a very worthy winner.

Best Dance

I'm not sure why but I didn't see much dance this year. The nominees are:

'An Ode To Time' - Compania Maria Pages, Sadler's Wells
'The Jump' - Compania Jesus Cormona, Sadler's Wells
Aston Triple Bill - Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House

It's always good to see performances of ballets by Frederick Ashton, especially when it's danced by the Royal Ballet. Two of the three dances I'd seen before and loved and the third was a new one for me, all thoroughly enjoyable. I was delighted to go to the Flamenco Festival at Sadler's Wells over the summer and learn what 'modern' flamenco was. Compania Jesus Cormona explored modern masculinity with his all-male company of dancers, guitarist and singer but it was the wild exuberance of Compania Maria Pages that was the most exciting and captured me. The company gave an extravagant performance of passion and skill and they are worthy winners of the Baggy award.

Best Performance

There are always some performances that stick in the mind for some reason and this years' nominees are:

Julian Ovenden - 'South Pacific'
Mark Rylance - 'Jerusalem'
Maria Pages - 'An Ode To Time'
Simon Russell Beale - 'A Christmas Carol'

Julian was perfect for the role of Emile in 'South Pacific', the middle aged French plantation owner who falls in love with nurse Nellie and the thing that I really noticed was how he kept his French accent flawlessly while he sang. I was impressed. Mark Rylance can't fail to impress with the role of Johnny Byron, a performance he created and has played both sides of the Atlantic. Simon Russell made a perfect Scrooge as he develops his understanding of humanity and the spirit of Christmas but the Baggy goes to Maria Pages for her astonishing performance as a dancer and choreographer. Blending the passion of flamenco and movement, never knowing what might happen next, but knowing it will be spectacular as she danced through the different movements of the performance. Fabulous.

Best Exhibition

I visited many exhibitions this year but four stood out for me:

Raphael - National Gallery
Van Gogh Self Portraits - Courtauld Gallery

Carlo Crivelli: Shadows on the Sky - Ikon Gallery
Cezanne - Tate Modern

Raphael was one of the triumvirate of the High Renaissance with Leonardo and Michelangelo but, while they lived long lives Raphael died at the early age of 37. Who knows what he might have achieved if he'd lived? Van Gogh painted many self-portraits and the Courtauld brought about half of them together for this exhibition showing the many faces of Vincent. Carlo Crivelli should be much better known than he is and, I think, this was the first solo exhibition of his work in this country. His paintings are very stylised and beautiful. Cezanne said he would astonish Paris with an apple and instead he astonished the world. This was a big retrospective of his work with examples of the different subjects he focused on throughout his life. 

The Baggy goes to the Raphael exhibition which was much larger than I expected. I saw it several times and each time I walked into the first room I could feel my spirit soar with the joy and privilege of seeing so many of his great works. 

Best Film

I only saw one new film at the cinema in 2022. That, in itself, doesn't mean it automatically wins an award but this one does. The nomination and award goes to:

'Moonage Daydream' - The Garden Cinema and various.

Films will probably be made about David Bowie for many years to come, he was so culturally important. I dreaded the possibility of a series of talking heads going on about their memories but instead we got Bowie himself narrating his story with previously unseen video footage and stage performances. It was a beautifully made film with new remixes of some songs, colour swirling and then switching to black and white and back again. Well done to everyone involved in making this film.

There you are, the Plastic Bag Awards 2022. A funny year in some respects with venues opening again and struggling to get audiences back, removing the need for masks although some places kept masks for their front of house staff, and more people being vaccinated. It's been particularly difficult for the smaller venues and galleries. Here's to next year - Happy New Year!

'Moonage Daydream' at Various Cinemas

A couple of weeks ago I went to see 'Moonage Daydream', the new documentary about David Bowie, at the new bijou Garden Cinema just over from Covent Garden. I loved the film and really liked the venue. The film avoided what I was dreading - endless talking heads talking about Bowie - and actually used old interviews so that Bowie essentially narrated his own documentary. It worked really well.

There are lots of film clips I hadn't seen before and the director avoided using the same old film and sound clips, opting for the little known and previously unseen versions. Along with new remixes of some songs and extra special effects that Bowie would probably have used if they'd been available back then. It really is a thing of beauty.

Thoroughly recommended.

'The Crucible' at the National Theatre

Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible' is the latest revival at the National Theatre. It has only just opened in preview so there are no production photos but there are some rehearsal photos. I read 'The Crucible' many years ago at school (it was on the 'O' Level syllabus and, judging from the audience, it is again) but had never seen it performed. It's not often performed and I'm not sure why not when I've seen several of Miller's other plays performed and they're all suitably wordy. 'The Crucible' is also rather wordy with lots of repetition.

I suspect we all know the outline of the play about the Salem 'witches', how the local girls of the town are caught dancing in the woods at night and word of evil spirits possessing them starts to spread. When the ringleader, Abigail, starts to use this to get back at women - and then men - in the town, accusing them of sending spirits to torment her, the other girls join in and what was a bit of fun becomes deadly serious. The townsfolk accused of witchcraft are gradually put on trial and, if they don't confess, are hanged. There are sub-plots and twists and turns on the way (it is a drama, after all), particularly farmer John Proctor who had sex with Abigail while his wife was ill and she's convinced that he loves her. He doesn't. Miller uses the historic events as a way of commenting on the contemporary wave of anti-communism (in American terms, anyone vaguely left-wing) witch-hunts under McCarthy in the '50s.   

When you walk into the Olivier Theatre you see a spectacular curtain of rain around the stage which looked fab but I've got no idea what it has to do with the play other than looking spectacular. Some people in the front row were complaining about being splashed by the falling water splattering off the stage. I loved the look of it but it was always a surprise when it started splooshing at different times throughout the production. I also liked the stripped back, mainly empty stage, emphasising that it's the action and the words that count. Well done to director Lyndsey Turner and set designer Es Devlin. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, is re-worked during the previews.

I liked Brendan Cowell as John Proctor but a bit more range of emotion would have been good and I really liked Eileen Walsh as his put-upon wife Elizabeth. I thought she was very consistent in approach and characterisation. Erin Doherty was suitably malevolent and innocent as Abigail, the ring-leader of the girls and I grew to like Fisayo Akinade more as his character developed (one of the few characters to actually grow throughout the play). It was also fun to see Karl Johnson as Giles on stage for the first time after seeing him on telly and in films for years. It'll be interesting to see how this play does as it finds it feet and the cast start to fully gel.

'SIX' at the Vaudeville Theatre

'SIX' is the new kid on the block, a musical about the six wives of Henry VIII but told from their point of view. It started life as a little show at the Edinburgh Fringe and grew and grew, making it in the West End and then America. It's loud, brash and very sparkly and, of course, very good. Most of the songs are bangin' choons with the Queens taking lead and backing vocals throughout with the four-piece band of women so there are ten women on stage and not a man in sight. I had no idea what to expect from the show but it has won loads of awards so it must be OK, right?

The lights went down in the auditorium, the lights on stage came on and the band started playing as the Queens arrived for the first song with the refrain of 'Divorced, beheaded, died... divorced, beheaded, survived!'. All in sparkly outfits, strutting around the stage in carefully choreographed moves on the stage, taking turns with lead vocals, never still, never quiet, a royal girl group. Then, beginning with Catherine of Aragon, they tell us their tales of life before and during their marriage to the King. The Queens have a competition to decide which of them suffered the most during their lives and the show is off and running.

As you'd expect, it's very much an ensemble show with the six Queens interacting and sparring, singing and pulling shapes, trying to score points over each other. It's actually really quite funny with some laugh out loud moments. It's quick paced and only slows down with a ballad from Jane Seymour about how she actually loved Henry. Gosh, you can learn something every day, can't you?

It must be a very tiring show to be in, constant singing and lots of dance and movement, so there are a few understudies for each role. I suspect it's a good training ground for a new type of musical. With all the lights and sparkle it must be very different to the original Edinburgh version written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss and they struck gold. As an idea it's not all that, the Queens competing for the suffering award, but it's how they did it that makes this show so good. 

There's also the moment towards the end when Catherine Parr - who survived - decides not to take part in the competition. The Queens had thought they were only known because they were married to Henry but, actually, Henry is only known because he was married to them. That's a big 'fuck the patriarchy' moment of empowerment and the audience erupted. The audience was probably about 80% female with lots of girls with their mothers and aunts. Good.

Many thanks to Amy Di Bartolomeo, Amanda Lindgren, Claudia Kariuki, Esme Rathero, Tsemaye Bob-Elbe and Meesha Turner for their energetic performances

Great staging, great lights and sounds and overall a great show. Go and see it!

'South Pacific' at Sadler's Wells

'South Pacific' by Rogers and Hammerstein is one of my favourite musicals but I'd only seen one production of it, the Lincoln Centre production that I saw in New York in 2010. I fell in love with that production and bought the cast recording. I saw it on the evening of snowmageddon, so while we were in the tropics in the theatre the city was covered in deep snow. 

That production came over for a season at the Barbican before going on tour so I saw it several times and thoroughly enjoyed it. Chichester Festival Theatre announced in 2019 it would stage a new version in 2020 with Julian Ovenden as Emile and I, naturally, bought tickets. Then everything stopped because of the virus. Enterprisingly, Chichester broadcast a recording of the production so I saw it online and later announced it would play over the summer 2022 in Sadler's Wells before going on tour, so I got tickets. 

It's the old, old story of boy meets girl, boy loses girl and then boy get's the girl back. It's set on a south Pacific island during the Second World War with America at war with Japan. It opens with the ending of a party held by one of the French plantation owners, Emile du Becque, and we meet his special guest, the American nurse Ensign Nellie Forbush. We follow the twists and turns of their romance and then after another party Nellie finds out that Emile has two children from his previous marriage to his indiginous wife and she breaks it off. In a sub-plot we see that a young lieutenant Cable falls in love with Liat on the fabled island of Bali Ha'i. but he can't marry her because she's indiginous. Emile subsequently volunteers to spy on the Japanese with the lieutenant, both facing almost certain death. I'll leave it there.

There's a lot more going on in this show with Bloody Mary making money selling local crafts to the USA navy, Seabee Luther Billis, the eternal chancer, also trying to make money in any way he can and has a crush on Nellie, Cable's background at home where he's expected to join the family firm of lawyers and, of course, the racism that bubbles just under the surface and becomes blatant with Nellie's reaction to Emile's children and Cable's refusal to marry Liat, Bloody Mary's daughter.

As soon as you hear the start of the overture you know you're in for a treat with lush music and beautiful songs, like 'Some Enchanted Evening', 'There is Nothin' Like A Dame', 'Younger Than Springtime' and the heartbreaking 'This Nearly Was Mine'. 'You've Got To Be Carefully Taught' is a powerful song about the  racism Cable feels, knowing it's wrong but unable to overcome his feelings. He speaks for Nellie too.

I liked how this production gives the Cable/Liat sub-plot more prominence by having Liat on stage a lot more. She both opens and closes the show with her dancing as well as the Bali Ha'i sequence. After her gentle dance at the start we're thrown into war with a dozen marines coming down ropes out of nowhere and onto the stage, spotlit and running round to set the scene before we head into the island's hills to meet Emile and Nellie. It was a surprise opening but worked really well, reminding us that everything we're going to see is happening against a background of war. 

I loved this production. Directed by Daniel Evans, set designed by Peter McKintosh, choreography by Ann Yee and music directed by Cat Beverage with her live orchestra. Julian Ovenden was great as Emile and I loved that he sang in his French accent. Julian has a really powerful voice and I first heard him in 'Grand Hotel' nearly 20 years ago. Nellie was played by Gina Beck who also has a lovely voice and a steady southern American accent. Joanna Ampil played Bloody Mary and she gave us a lovely, evocative version of 'Happy Talk'. Rob Houchen was OK as Cable but lacked oomph. Dougie McMeekin was OK as Billis but seemed a bit too young for the part. I really liked the grace and moves of Sera Maehara as Liat. 

Daniel Evans does good work. I first saw him as an actor along with Julian Ovenden in 'Grand Hotel' at the Donmar Warehouse and then in other productions, including playing the lead in 'Sunday in the Park with Georges' in both London and New York and I saw both. He then became artistic director at Sheffield Crucible Theatre and then at Chichester. I wonder what his next move will be? As for Mr Ovenden, he has a great voice and stage presence and should do more musicals (the good ones, obviously). The show is now on tour so go and see it - you won't regret it.

'Edvard Munch: Masterpieces from Bergen' at The Courtauld Gallery

The latest exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery is a selection of 18 works by Munch from the KODE Art Museums in Bergen, Norway, that have never been seen before in this country. The last Munch exhibition I attended was a few years ago at the British Museum and it was full of despair and death but, from the images used for the publicity for the exhibition, I suspected this exhibition might be a bit different. And it was. There was colour and light, such as this 'Self Portrait in the Clinic' from 1909 when he was recovering from a breakdown.

One of the first paintings you see is 'Spring Day on Karl Johan' from 1890 when he was experimenting with Impressionism and this looks like he was influenced by a Seurat painting. This is one of the main boulevards in Oslo painted with small dashes of colour. Munch was still a young man when he painted it and trying to find his own approach to art but I think it's nice to know he was influenced early on by the colours and styles of the Impressionist masters. He might have even been happy when he painted it.

Another early painting that caught my eye was 'Morning' from 1884, distinctly showing his early influences. The overall composition and the delicate colours are very different from later works. A young woman is getting dressed in the morning, sitting on her bed and looking towards the window, one foot still bare. It's a gentle image, painted when he was only 20 years old.

I puzzled over 'Children Playing in the Street in Asgardstrand' from 1901-03. I don't know what the children are supposed to be doing but it looks like they're lying down while the girl looks out at the viewer. The notice beside the painting suggested the girl is on the cusp of moving from being a young child into adolescence. I don't really see where that is coming from but I can get the leaving innocence and childhood behind thing, growing up and no longer playing with her friends. One of Munch's regular themes was transition so maybe this was an early example of him finding his way. Still, the painting is light and airy and that's a good thing.

It was nice to see another side to Munch and see these paintings on show for the first time in this country. It was a pleasant surprise to see so many bright, colourful paintings. There were other paintings on show that are instantly recognisable as by Munch, using his regular themes and darker colours but I liked the brighter, lighter ones best. A final one, 'Youth' from 1908, a bather on the beach in northern Germany with the Baltic Sea in the background.