'Showboat' at The Crucible, Sheffield

I've never seen 'Showboat' before, either on stage or the films and even though I know one song from the show (let's face it, we *all* know that song) I've never quite grasped the connotations. It's Daniel Evans' last season at The Crucible - and he directed this production - so it was worth hopping on a train and heading to wintry Sheffield for the matinee performance full of oldies and groups of women on a girls' afternoon out.

I didn't really know what to expect but I was sort of expecting Hollywood and Broadway glamour and glitz and, while that's exactly what we got, we also got racism, alcoholism, gambling addiction, an inter-generational story and sacrifice. The business that is show doesn't live in it's own safe little world, it's part of the world we all live in with smiles plastered on the faces.

The show moves along at a good pace, never dwelling on anything for too long. It opens on the docks with bales of cotton being moved before the show boat arrives and we meet the cast of the show in all their teasing glamour, performing scraps of the play to entice in paying customers. We get a glorious version of 'Old Man River' with the stevedore's loading cargo, and, in the end, helping each other, which was quite touching. We then learn from a jealous lover who reports her to the sheriff, that Julie, the star of the show boat is considered black since her mother was black. Her husband cuts her hand and drinks her blood so that he now has 'black blood' in him. This gives Magnolia, the daughter of the captain and Julie's great friend, her big chance to be a riverboat star.  By a strange coincidence, her leading man turns out to be the gambler she'd met earlier on the docks and they fall in love and get married.

The second half moves the story along so that Magnolia and Gaylord (yes, that's his name) are now in Chicago where Gay's gambling and drinking are becoming a problem but they still send their daughter to the convent school. Gaylord leaves and one of the turns from the show boat, Ellie and Frank, turn up to view an apartment that Magnolia is having to leave and they get her an audition at the theatre where Julie works. She's down on her luck, husband long gone and seeking happiness in the bottom of a glass. She hears Magnolia sing and leaves recommending that Magnolia is given the star role. Again, Julie's sacrifice is good for Magnolia without her knowing. Years pass and we're back on the boat again  when Gay turns up, is reunited with Magnolia and sees his grown up daughter. Is it happy ever after? Who knows...

I was very surprised at the power of this musical, it direct confrontation with racism and the dangers of drink and gambling. I've only ever heard 'Old Man River' on variety shows in the 70s, never seen it in context and it's an incredibly powerful song with the men carrying bales of cotton, collapsing with the weight of the bales and sheer weariness while the river keep on flowing. It was a great performance from Emmanuel Kojo as Joe, leading the other lads in a powerful rendition of the song. It got - and deserved - a great ovation from the audience.

Two other performances deserve mention, firstly Rebecca Trehearn as Julie who can pass as white and does so until she's unmasked. She gave a lovely performance as Magnolia's great friend in the first half and a powerful performance as the drunken lush singer in the second half. She has a great voice, clear and powerful but very well controlled. I saw her a couple of years ago in 'City of Angels' at the Donmar and, if anything, her voice is even better.

In the same Donmar production I also saw Sandra Marvin who played Queenie, Joe's wife. I also saw her as singer/dancer in Kate Bush's 'Before The Dawn' show at Hammersmith a couple of years ago. She was great as the queen of the boat, feeding and controlling the men and capturing Joe as her husband. It was lovely to see them, after the passing of the years, still together at the end of the show, keeping things real and giving us the message about what's important in life. Sandra has a powerful voice and a commanding stage presence and I want to see more of her.

The stars of the show are Gina Beck as Magnolia and Michael Xavier as Gaylord. Gina has a great voice and was great as our heroine, easily getting the audience on her side and wanting her marriage to work. She gets some great songs which is more than Michael got. It's an odd role for the male lead - he gets one song near the start and all the others are either duets or ensemble pieces. Michael is a singer and has a great voice but this show doesn't really let him rip. I've seen him in 'Into The Woods' and 'The Pyjama Game' and know he can sing the socks off almost anything.

All in all, this was a great production that does all the cast proud. Colourful, fast-paced and well acted and sung - with some really good voices. I don't know if there any plans for it to go on tour or transfer to London but it should do - people should see this production. I'm pleased I did.

'Hey, Old Friends!' Sondheim at Drury Lane

It's Stephen Sondheim's 85th birthday so the Sondheim Society put together a gala show at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in aid of the charity Silver Line, a telephone helpline for older folks of the silver variety. It was one of those things where you throw together some big names and some littler names and they all put on a show of Sondheim songs. I didn't know a lot of the folks on stage and some of the songs were new to me but it was fun nonetheless.

Various names wandered on and off to introduce the turns with the full orchestra filling the bacl of the stage. We had Julia McKenzie, Millicent Martin, Nicholas Parsons, Anita Dobson and others, all looking very glam.

Anita Harris (who I last saw singing an X-Ray Spex song at Polyfest a couple of years ago) did a song as did Rula Lenska (who will always be a star from 'Rock Follies' to me) along with some dancers jigging around her. Rula still has all that hair and her voice has become more smokey and reminded me a bit of Marianne Faithfull. Millicent Martin did a song and so did Daniel Evans (who I've seen in productions in London and Broadway). There were some lovely voices and some voices that have seen better days but it's good that they still get up there to belt out a song.

Special praise goes out to Bonnie Langford who, in a sparkly almost-nothing costume, danced and sang and didn't get out of breath even when picked up and twirled around by Anton Du Beke. She high kicked 180 degrees and did the splits on stage and got a huge ovation for the non-stop singing and dancing spectacular. Well done Bonnie!

At the end of the first half Ester Rantzen came on to explain what Silver Line was and to tell us the phone number (0800 4708090). At the start of the second half there was a spoken message from Sondheim who's sounding in good health and said he's working on a new show.

My favourite performances were from Lorna Dallas, Haydn Gwynne and Michael Xavier. Lorna sang a touching version of 'In Buddy's Eyes' from 'Follies', a tender love song by a mature person looking back. I've not heard of Lorna before so there's a name I will need to look out for again. Haydn did a lovely version of 'Send In The Clowns' singing to Daniel Evans, gentle and strong by turns. I last saw Haydn in 'Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown', the musical of the Almodovar film. She has a good voice and should do more singing.

The final performance was Michael Xavier's take on 'Being Alive' that kept in the dialogue from the show to help give it context and he was superb. It was a masterclass in how to deliver a song, building and building, with him moving slightly forward on the stage with each verse and that big 'ta-daa' ending having taken the audience along with him. Now, that's skill. I saw him in 'The Pyjama Game' a year or two back but I'll always think of him as the Prince in 'Into The Woods' singing 'Agony' and trying to out-agonise the other prince. He was also the Wolf, of course.

It was a very fun evening and it'll be interesting to see if any of the performances turn up on YouTube. One message I'll take away from this show, though, is to never book tickets in the vertiginous balcony of Drury Lane - never again!

Photos courtesy of Broadway World.com where you can find more.

'Grand Hotel' at the Silk Street Theatre, Barbican

Every year the final year students at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama put on a summer show and this year they've chosen to revive 'Grand Hotel'. I saw 'Grand Hotel' in its last production at the Donmar Warehouse in 2004 and fell in love with it. It's a very literate and intelligent show, quite densely packed with half a dozen lead characters all with their own inter-twining lives and plots. There are no real goodies or baddies in this show, it depicts the consequences of choices. It's a very clever show but I engage with it at an emotional rather than an intellectual level.

I generally have the memory of a butterfly flittering here and there but this musical has stayed with me over the years. I saw it twice in 2004 at the Donmar, one a programmed performance and the other a midnight HIV/AIDs benefit show. The Donmar production featured Daniel Evans as the dying Mr Kringelein, Mary Elizabeth Mastranatonio as the ballerina and Julian Ovenden as the Baron. The show made the tears well and roll down my cheeks at various places.

Right. So that's my history with the show and I've started off with the personal history to signal that it's an important show for me and I won't tolerate any laziness or mistakes in a production. So, Guildhall students, you have a high legacy to live up to and you certainly won't get an easy ride from me. Did the production work? Damn right it did!

As soon as I walked in to take my seat my expectations were raised by the art deco set of black and white marble floor and gilt trimmings, a versatile set that turns from the foyer, to a bedroom to the hotel bar. Then the music starts and the grand parade as people start milling in th foyer and we meet the lead characters: the Baron ('dangerous games and a carefree existence'), the Prima Ballerina and her Maid, the Book-keeper, the Typist ('I want to got to Hollywood') and the Businessman. We meet the front of house staff at the reception desk and the back room staff ('some have, some have not'), the gangsters who want money from the Baron and the impresarios who need to make money out of the Ballerina. There are a lot of intertwined relationships and themes in this musical.

It's quite fast-paced and we learn a lot about the characters in very short time, like the basic decency of the Baron by helping Mr Kringelein get a room in the hotel when he was about to be thrown out for being jewish and the Typist Flaemmchen being happy to dance with him as soon as she hears he's dying. So, yes, the Baron might be a thief (in the last resort as he says) and the Typist might want money to escape her dreary life but they're basically nice people.

The Baron tries to steal a diamond necklace from Grushinskaya, the Ballerina, but falls in love with her and she with him and this leads to two great songs, the Baron's 'Love Can't Happen' and Grushinskaya's 'Bonjour Amour' the following morning. Finally they have found love and all will be well, she will dance again and he will be her inspiration. On the other hand, we have Flaemmchen selling herself to the Businessman for one thousand marks to take her to America and it is when the Businessman attempts to rape her that the Baron appears in the room to save her. He was in the Businessman's room next door to steal his wallet and he gets shot in the struggle.

The Baron then appears singing 'Roses At The Station' with his last moments of life when he sings about being at the station with roses for his beloved Ballerina as he promised. We learn more about his life in this song, that he has been waiting for love,  "All my life I wanted to be here, all my life I waited to appear at the station with these roses..." and his privileged life,

"I spent my childhood in the fields

My boyhood on horseback

I was a soldier in the war

The bullets whizzed past my ear

And not one came near me till now..."

That's a big show-stopper of a song and the only way the song can be followed is by a couple of dancers coming on to dance a bolero as the Baron lies dead.

We then skip to the next day with police coming to investigate the murder and the Businessman is arrested, Flaemmchen leaving and Mr Kringelein checking out to go to Paris. Who will tell Grushinskaya that her lover is dead? No-one, they'll let her think he's deserted her like all the others, even her faithful Maid Rafaela who loves her mistress. Life goes on however, when Eric the receptionist becomes a father at last (singing a song that echoes one of the Baron's vocal themes) and Mr Kringelein and Flaemmchen leave together to head for Paris to raise her baby. One man dies and lives are wrecked but life goes on. It's a marvellous play with marvellous songs.

The cast were great and so was the music. The acting was good throughout and so was the dancing, it was the voices that drew a line between some of the actors. Best voices belonged to Rebecca Collingwood as Flaemmchen, Ceri-lyn Cissone as Grushinskaya and Emily Laing as Rafaela, all with nice, clear and strong singing voices. Kudos to Ceri-lyn for sustaining the believable Russian accent throughout. Sadly there are no photos of the production available but here's one of Rebecca as Flaemmchen.

The lads were good too, particularly Jay Saighal as the Baron, Joey Phillips as Kringelein, Ben Hall as Businessman Preysing and Jordan Renzo as Eric at the reception desk. Jay has a good voice but the ideal Baron remains with Julian Ovenden with his more powerful and versatile voice. I liked Ben's slowly corrupted Business man who starts off with honour and ends in shame and Jordan had a lovely voice when he sang of his new baby.

All in all it was a great production. It did, however, point to a few drawbacks. Age for one thing. The actors were all in their early 20s and sometimes it's just a relief to see actors of different ages and shapes on stage, not uniformly young and slim. Some of the lads seemed just too skinny for their clothes since they haven't bulked up yet. And where were the black actors? The two Jimmy's song is meant to be sung by black lads but where were they? A note for Simon Haines as the Doctor - great limp but, if you really do have a gammy-leg and a limp then most people learn to compensate for it in different ways - learn to do that and your future limps will be so much more realistic.

But, who am I to be churlish? You were all great and gave me a great night's entertainment seeing one of my favourite and rare musicals and I thank you. You made me cry as well, damn you! I hope to see some of you in the West End in the near future - well done people and good luck for the future!