'Sweet Charity' at the Donmar Warehouse

'Sweet Charity' is on at the Donmar Warehouse at the moment so we went along to see what was to be seen and what was to be seen was the stage and all the props spray painted silver. How strange, I thought, starting to look forward to what else what might be strange about the production.

Of course, we all know the story of Charity Hope Valentine, the hapless dance-hall hostess who just wants to find love and who finds it quite easily, it's just a shame the men she falls in love with don't love her in return. What's a girl to do, just keep on trying I suppose. Then she meets a man when a lift breaks down and could it really happen, could they both love each other? Well, know knows, there's a lot of story to get through before we find out what happens. I've always liked the story of 'Sweet Charity', with some great songs and characters and a lot of optimism. Maybe next time she'll find the right man.

Anyway, back to the silver production. To signal the show is about to start one of the dancers comes on with a record player and begins to play 'Venus in Furs' by the Velvet Underground ' shiny shiny, shiny boots of leather... OK, the show is set in 1966 so the Velvets were contemporary but there's no music in the show even vaguely like this, what's going on? Then some of the cast walk round with signs saying 'The Park' to let us know we're in Central Park in New York and a giant tub of silver balls is wheeled on the be the lake that poor Charity is pushed into when her boyfriend steals her bag. That giant tub of balls must take up a lot of space in the rather small backstage area and it's only used for a couple of minutes. A few songs and some exposition later and we're into 'The Rich Man's Frugg' with all the dancers in black with Andy Warhol wigs and sunglasses and I'm wondering what's going on.

I don't want to be overly critical of the show since I really liked it, but it sometimes felt like I had to work to like it. 'Sweet Charity' is a standard musical that could, really, have been written at any time in the last 70 years or so, with only a couple of songs pointing to the '60s, so starting out with the radical sound of the Velvet Underground send very strange signals. The sparkly silver set and Frugg dancers point to Andy Warhol's Factory but Charity lives a million miles from that world, in a grubby dance-hall in a cheap part of town and that's her life. I suppose it's the mixed messaging I'm questioning. Why? What does it add to a basically sound show that can be adapted in many ways? Something that just irritated me was using the cast to hold up placards or letters to spell out words every so often - very unnecessary and just filled up space. I also got bored quite quickly with the use of ladders in the dance scenes - why?

Yes, I have criticisms of the show but, overall, I really liked it. I liked Anne-Marie Duff as Charity and I liked her throaty singing voice. Theres nothing in the rule book that says Charity has to be a good, conventional singer, and I thought Anne-Marie was just right as a dance-hall hostess that spends most of her time in a smoky environment with a rasp to her voice. I also liked Arthur Darvell as Oscar, the man Charity falls for and expects to marry. I didn't realise it was him at first but he was quite engaging.

Overall, I enjoyed it and it's nice to have 'Sweet Charity' back on the stage. I've only seen the show twice - here and at the Menier Chocolate Factory a few years ago - both in small venues. It would be good to see it on a larger stage one day with more money spent on it. My view is to go and see it if you can - you might be critical of some of it but I suspect you'll also love other bits of the show.

'The Way of the World' at the Donmar Warehouse

I distinctly remember not reading 'The Way of the World' at university. I had to read Dryden and Pope and their wordiness was enough to turn me off other 17th Century writers and so it was with William Congreve. I knew the reputation of 'The Way of the World' but couldn't face reading it so I didn't. Fast forward 40 years (not quite) and it's on at the Donmar so, why not? Seeing it will fulfil my obligation without having to read it. It stars Haydn Gwynne and Geoffrey Streatfield so that's a good thing. And I can drink a glass of red while I watch so that's ok.

And you know what? I loved it! Yes, there were far too many words but when a speech went on for too long for my fancy I could inspect the gorgeous costumes, particularly the frock coats (and yes, I had a favourite). Most of the frocks were a bit 'meh' but Haydn Gwynne's were lovely and floral. One needs to have standards, obviously.

Basically, it's a tale of morality and immorality, of swindling and scheming, of nasty people and nice people, love and marriage, sex and infidelity and everything inbetween. It's also about word-play and word-games, of getting one up on another, the class system, the city (and society) against the country and all-sorts. I don't think it's particularly in favour of anything - that's up to you. It's easy enough to read the story online if you want to.

I was very impressed with Haydn Gwynne, merrily throwing herself around trying to find the right pose and moment to meet her new beloved and her distress on her betrayal. I know we're supposed to find her funny as an old woman chasing younger men but I saw the pathos as well as the humour and thought she was very effective. Similarly with Geoffrey Streatfield who moves from rake to saviour almost imperceptibly. Sadly for him, I will always remember him 'going down on a tree' on that stage in 'My Night With Reg'. Not in that wig, though. I also loved Fisayo Akinade as the permanently pissed fop in the best frock coat I've ever seen. Drunk or partially sober he was excellent.

If you get the chance then go along and see it - it's actually great fun!

'Committee' at the Donmar Warehouse

We went to see 'Committee' at the Donmar Warehouse a few weeks ago, the new 'musical' based on transcripts of the Parliamentary hearing about Kids Company and how it went bankrupt.  It was big news for a few days, about his successive Government grants had kept Kids Company afloat for years until the Cabinet office said 'no more'. Everyone with a public platform, including Prime Ministers had said what marvellous work Kids Company did, helping young people that social services couldn't reach so it was a brave minister who said 'no'. No doubt he already had everyone lined up behind him for when the proverbial hit the fan. Which it did with threats of civil disturbances that didn't really happen.

We see the select committee getting ready for another hearing, alerted that it might actually get some publicity since the people involved are Camila Batmanghelidjh and Alan Yentob. The script and songs are lifted from the transcript of the hearing, which is an interesting idea but I'm not sure it worked terribly well. When this play was first mentioned I didn't want to see it at all since I was involved in the margins of briefing for the hearing, but then I thought 'why not?'. It's only 80 minutes without an interval so it's not like it's a full evening wasted if it's not good.

Was it good? Well, not really as a whole. There were some nice performances (Sandra Marvin was excellent in all the padding as Camilla and Alexander Hanson is always worth watching) but it didn't work for me as a play. What was it meant to do? Send us out into the night commiserating with Kids Company or congratulating government on finally having some balls and saying no? Or something else? Simply presenting us with a highly edited version of the transcript of the hearing doesn't really take us anywhere. And calling it a 'musical' was a mistake. Where were the tunes?

Where it dd work were the impersonations of some of the politicians, like Rosemary Ashe as Kate Hoey (accent and all) and Rebecca Lock as Cheryl Gillan. I particularly liked Cheryl since I worked to the real Cheryl in the '90s in the dying days of the last John Major government. Her apparent inability to pronounce Camilla's last name was so on target.

It wasn't a wasted evening by any means and I'm pleased to have seen it but I don't think I'll go to any future revivals... if it's ever revived.

'Les Liaisons Dangereuses' at the Donmar Warehouse

The final theatre trip of the year was to see the new production of 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses' at the Donmar - you've probably seen the film but have you seen the play that started it all? No, neither had I so this was a first for me. The cast for this production are led by Janet McTeer and Dominic West and add in Una Stubbs and you know you're in for a treat. I've seen all of them on stage before (and on telly and in films) and enjoyed them every time.

It's set shortly before the French Revolution and demonstrates the morals of the time, with gossip and intrigue being king, sex a devalued commodity unless it is with the un-reachable and nothing matters more than winning at any cost. It's terribly cynical and the mores of the time destroys lives as innocents fall foul of the seducers who treat the encounters as meaningless. Until they discover it's not meaningless after all and that's when the consequences start mounting up.

The Marquise de Merteuil (McTeer) and Vicomte de Valmont (West) are fomer lovers who challenge each other in their sexual conquests. Merteuil wants him to seduce the young Cecile (Morfydd Clark) before her marriage to an enemy but Valmont wants the bigger challenge of the virtuous Madame de Tourvel (Elaine Cassidy) who is staying with his aunt (played by Una Stubbs). Valmont ends up pursuing both - and gaining both - while Merteuil seduces Cecile's chaste young lover. While the intrigues are fun and the suggestion is that everyone is part of the same game, it's actually pretty unpleasant and that is what the play exposes. But it's the innocents that pay the price.

I enjoyed the play with it's sparse sets and constant movement keeping it fully energised throughout. There are some laugh out loud moments and some more thoughtful sections. The audience collapsed towards the end of the first half when Cecile naively asks Valmont if her husband-to-be would appreciate that she's been learning all the sex-tricks Valmont can teach her when someone in the front row broke out in raucous laughter at the absurdity of it and everyone joined in, including Dominic West! It's good fun with a darker underbelly.

The cast were excellent and I particularly liked Janet McTeer as the butter-wouldn't-melt Marquise who could out-cruel Cruella DeVille any day of the week. She was great fun with her tongue stuck firmly in her cheek for most of the play until it becomes deadly towards the end. Dominic West was also great fun as our debonaire seducer who always gets his woman but doesn't judge the consequences too well. I also liked Adjoa Andoh as Cecile's mother who came across as very realistic rather than a cartoon. Una Stubbs was lovely as the elderly, rich aunt who acts as a catalyst for her nephew's seduction of Madame de Tourvel. It's always a pleasure to see Una on stage.

The Donmar often sells out before the shows begin so I don't know if there are any tickets left for this production but, if you can, go and see it - it's well worth it!

'Grand Hotel' at Southwark Playhouse

There's a new production of the mighty 'Grand Hotel' at Southwark Playhouse so I just had to see it. I've said before in the Plastic Bag that 'Grand Hotel' is one of my favourite musicals so I judge productions on a different, higher, level so any production must raise it's game. And. you know what? It did!

My first 'Grand Hotel' was in 2004 at the Donmar Warehouse and I saw that production twice. That production featured Daniel Evans as Mr Kringelein, Mary Elizabeth Mastranatonio as the ballerina Grushinskaya and Julian Ovenden as the Baron. My second was 10 years later in 2014, the graduation show by the students from the Guildhall at the Silk Street theatre and they put on a smashing show and the stand-out performance for me was Rebecca Collingwood as Flaemmchen, the typist. So this was my third production.

So, what's it about? Do I really have to tell you? It's set in the Grand Hotel in Berlin in the early 1930s with all sorts of people visiting and staying, and all sorts of people working there. We see the life of the hotel over a few days and snatches of the lives of the people there, from Erik who works at the reception desk to Grushinskaya, famous ballerina on her eighth farewell tour, the young Baron who lives there but can't pay the rent, Flaemmchen the jobbing typist for hire who wants to go to Hollywood, Otto Kringelein who has just left hospital and wants to experience life before he dies and Herr Preysing the businessman. All life is here and the characters wander through, interacting now and then as well as pursuing their own stories. Another character is the magnificent chandeleir that floats over the middle of the stage, glimmering and shimmering for all it's worth.

Of course, there's more to it than that and we have the Baron and Grushunskaya finding their love only to lose it, Flaemmchen being 'bought' by Preysing who wants to take her to America and the Baron saving her from rape and Kringelein finding life. We see the characters grow and change, we learn of their pasts in snatches of song and we can only wonder at their futures. But not the Baron, our hero, who dies in the struggle to save Flaemmchen but his love, the ballerina, never knows. O how cruel fate can be, enough to bring a tear to the eye.

All of the characters have a song (or more) to their credit, a chance to shine and to immortalise their stories. The Baron - as our hero - is featured throughout but his main songs are 'Love Can't Happen' when he realises he's in love with Grushinskaya and 'Roses At The Station' when his spirit visits the railway station at which he'd promised to meet her and he can't fail at that after waiting so long for his love. Grushinskaya celebrates her new-found love with 'Bonjour Amour' the morning after her night with the Baron, finally she has found love. What can be more important and life-affirming?

Flaemmchen's big song is 'I Want To Go To Hollywood' in which we hear about her ambitions as well as the squalid life on Friedrich Strasse she wants to escape. But she fears she's pregnant so what's a girl to do? It's a great song and was very well delivered but I wasn't keen on adding the dancers to it - it's a solo song of desolation and hope and adding dancers to make it more Hollywood didn't really work for me. Rafaella, Grushinskaya's maid, has a touching song at the end when she decides that she can't tell her mistress about the Baron's death. Even Erik the receptionist has a song when he sings to his new born son over the phone telling him that he'll have everything and this nicely mirrors the song of the Baron - the Baron dies as young Erik is born. Life continues.

As does the future and the guests are fleeced by the hotel and then it becomes more vicious as suitcases are piled beneath the chandelier and the guests lose their jewelry, their clothes, their shoes and the spectre of the Holocasut looms and the chandeleir comes down.

The cast were all really good. I particularly liked Valerie Cutko as Raffaela, the maid (who I saw in 'Carousel' a couple of years ago), Victoria Serra as Flaemmchen (who I saw in 'Titanic'), Christine Gimandi as Grushinskaya (and this is her UK debut, a great show to debut in), Jonathan Stewart as Erik (who has a lovely voice) and Scott Garnham as the Baron. Sorry Scott, but Julian Ovenden remains my Baron.

I loved the penultimate scene with the Baron being showered in rose petals - a lovely touch that picks up on his song, 'Roses at the Station' (roses for passion). It's quite spectacular with the cast on chairs throwing handfuls of petals and then they fall like snow from the ceiling.

 

Well done Southwark on a great production. It sometimes felt a bit over the top with so much action taking place on such a narrow stage, all the dance routines and set pieces but overall it worked. Maybe your ushers need to remind the audience not to strecth their legs out onto the stage? The Doctor nearly stumbled by someone stretching out his legs at the wrong time. Not good. And how about that new-fangled invention of numbered seats? Go on, I dare you...

It's only on for another four weeks so enjoy it while you can!

'Temple' at the Donmar Warehouse

There's a new play on at the Donmar and it is well worth seeing. 'Temple' is a new play starring Simon Russell Beale as the Dean of St Paul's during the Occupy protest a few years ago. The protest was meant to be outside the stock exchange but was moved on and ened up being outside St Paul's Cathedral at which point it closed it's doors to worshippers for the first time ever. The play takes place the morning after the decision to re-open the cathedral as the Dean prepares to take the morning service.

Of course, it's not that straightforward. We have the City lawyer wanting St Paul's support to evict the Occupy squatters and other church leaders not agreeing the decision to re-open the church to worshippers. The play is told through the interactions between the Dean and his new temporary secretary who arrives late and tries to do the right thing. She can't, of course, but she does present another narrative to the play as the daughter of a country clergyman with another point of view. Rebecca Humphries was great in this role, uncertain of what she could say but with the courage of her convictions.

I liked this play. It spoke to me. It spoke of fear and conviction, of belief and concern, of challenges and worries and trying to do the right thing even though that thing will be considered the wrong thing by many. An impossible situation. It tries hard to avoid too much theological debate but at one point the Dean refers to the cathedral as the parish church to the City (and all the global financial institutions it holds) and you can't help but think of Jesus and the money-lenders in the temple.  

Simon Russell Beale was great as the Dean, the man at the centre of the furore who never wanted to be a public figure. His passion for what's right and fear of making the wrong decision come across very clearly as he tries to navigate a path through contrasting views - and fails. St Paul's had stayed open during the Blitz and only closed under his tenure - the weight of failure must have been awful. I wonder if the real Dean has seen this and what he thinks of it? I thought it was a powerful piece of theatre but it left so much of the story untold. Maybe we'll see more?

'Closer' at the Donmar Warehouse

'Closer' is a new play for me but it was performed at the National Theatre in the late '90s and was made into a film in the early 00's. It's a four-header with two men and two women in a Mobius strip of love and lust, changing partners and never quite making it last. It's a bit of an oddity really and I'm not sure why it's been put on other than maybe it's just time for a revival?

It's the tale of the interweaving relationships of Dan a writer, Larry a doctor, Anna a photographer and Alice a stripper, all terribly middle class people (including Alice). Dan fancies Alice but then wants Anna when she takes his photo for a book cover. He tricks Larry into meeting Anna and they move in together. Then Larry shags a prostitute in New York while Anna starts an affair with Dan and the relationship ends. Dan ends things with Larry and she goes back to stripping and starts a relationship with Larry. Then Anna and Larry get back together and … and … you get the picture.

None of the characters come across as particularly likeable other than Anna who at least seems to be honest with herself and with others. The two men seem to be perpetually trying to score points, to trick their lovers into revealing something or get something. Not nice at all and deliberately cruel.

It's not a 'nice' play by any means but it was incredibly intense with explosions of temper followed by slyness as the men try to get their way. Rufus Sewell was good as Larry and I liked Nancy Carroll as Anna - at times she seemed to be the only adult on the stage. I didn't get on with the two younger characters. It's not a pleasant but it is gripping.

'My Night With Reg' at the Apollo Theatre

We went to see 'My Night With Reg' at the Apollo Theatre, the West End transfer of the revival of the play from the Donmar Warehouse. We saw it twice last summer and loved it so were due a top-up on the joy and frivolity and sadness. I first blogged about it last year and it won a 2014 Plastic Bag Award so it must be worth seeing.

The play has recently been noticed for the poster which was turned down by the Transport for London authorities for showing a bit of bum (see right). The poster that's been published uses 'Ziggy Stardust' to cover the bum entirely and most demurely except we all know he's naked behind that record sleeve. I've no idea why Kevin Elyot chose Ziggy to embody his characters but we get a fun version of 'Starman' during the play.

Anyway, you know the story, right? If not then read my previous blog. It's the same story and the same cast just played a bit bigger to fill the Apollo Theatre as opposed to the more bijou Donmar Warehouse.

We never meet Reg but he's referred to constantly. He's Daniel's lover and, seemingly, everyone's slept with him apart from Guy but Daniel doesn't know. The play opens in 1985 with Guy's flat-warming party when three gay friends from university fifteen years earlier get together again. We have Guy, a copywriter who's just bought his first flat, Daniel, a flamboyant art dealer and John who lives off family money but who Guy fell in love with at university but has never told him.

There's Eric who's finishing off painting the conservatory while listening to the Police on a walkman (how novel - I probably listened to my first walkman at about the same time). There's also Bernie and Benny, the mis-matched gay couple who frequent the pub Eric is a part-time barman at.

 Three acts introduce us to the characters and let us see what happens to them in the short-term.  All scenes take place in Guy's flat with its nice, big sofa and conservatory. The first act introduces us to the characters and the second takes place at the wake after Reg's death that Guy hosts and the tales about Reg start spreading. The third act takes place after Guy dies and leaves his flat to John. There's a lot of death in the play but it's really funny - even I laughed out loud a few times.

There's a difference between a Donmar theatre audience and a West End audience. The Donmar audience was middle-aged male dominated but the Apollo was more representative, particularly with some older couples who possibly saw the original production in the '90s. I liked the couple in their 70s in front of me laughing along to the rude jokes and the old folks discussing the 'gay plague' and people they knew at the end as we all left. The play brings people together. It's a shared history in some ways.

It was nice that we saw the same cast as at the Donmar. Jonathan Broadbent as Guy, everyone's friend but no-one's lover, Julian Ovenden as John the rich kid and Geoffrey Streatfield as Daniel, Reg's lover and art dealer with a jet-set lifestyle. Then we have Matt Bardock and Richard Cant as the mis-matched gay couple Benny and Bernie and, of course, Lewis Reeves from the poster as Eric, the painter, decorator and part-time barman.

It's a play of secrets and lies, of infidelity, of friendships, sexual mores and unknown consequences. What will happen to me?

I laughed on and off throughout the play, laughter alternating with moist eyes. The final scene between John and Daniel was particularly thought-provoking when Daniel said he had to leave because he was tired after a night of cruising on Hampstead Heath in the rain. John agrees that he can't sleep and that he's tired too but with yearning eyes that say there's more.  Is this John saying yes I'm tired so you can go so I can go to bed? or John saying I'm tired, join me in bed? Or John saying I'm tired, I think I've got it as well? I think it's the latter and that's sad. The 'plague' continues.

Perhaps Eric is the future? The young man who doesn't sleep around and won't let John seduce him. But he's also been seduced by Reg. So what happens next?

Go and see this play if you can - it's very thought provoking, particularly to anyone who lived through the 80s.

'City of Angels' at The Donmar Warehouse

We went to see the new production of 'City of Angels' at the Donmar Warehouse on Monday. I've seen a student production of this musical before at the Guildhall a few years ago (one of the graduation shows by the final year students) but other than it being about a private detective in Los Angeles in the 1950s I couldn't recall anything about it so I was seeing the show with fresh eyes.

There's a story within a story going on here, the tale of an American novelist transported to Hollywood to write his first  screenplay to one of his novels about a small-time private detective and the case he's asked to take on. The writer is having marital problems and his wife thinks scriptwriting is beneath him,  and his script keeps getting re-written by the film producer he's working for. The private detective faces problems with lack of work and being in debt until he's offered the case of a missing girl and a fee he can't turn down. And then the complications begin.

The action jumps back and forth between the two stories and the two leading men. Different characters are reflected in the two stories, such as the writer starting an affair with the secretary of the producer who also plays the secretary to the private detective in the sub-plot. Similarly, the producers wife plays the murderer in the sub-plot. As the story progresses the barriers between the 'real' world and the film story start coming down and the stories merge so that, in the final scene, the private detective takes over the typewriter from the novelist.

It's a fun production with lots of action, singing and dancing, twists and turns aplenty and great use of the set and stage. Peter Polycarpou (who I last saw in 'Guys & Dolls' at Chichester) played the producer, Tam Mutu as the detective and Hadley Fraser is the energetic writer, but much kudos goes to Rebecca Trehearn who plays the secretary in both scenarios. She has a nice, easy acting style and a lively rich, warm voice. Along with the vocal stylings of the Angel City Four, there were some nice sounds coming from the stage.

It's a fun musical, a solid production and hits all the right buttons. You could do a lot worse than grabbing a ticket to see it!

'A Streetcar Named Desire' - NTLive at the Curzon Victoria

This evening was a showing of the new production of 'A Streetcar Named Desire' at the Young Vic as part of the National Theatre Live project, showing live shows simultaneously in cinemas around the country. In my case it was at the new Curzon Victoria cinema deep down in the bowels of the sub-sub basement under Victoria Street. Now, I quite like the NTLive thing - if you can't get a ticket (and 'Streetcar' is sold out for the entire run) then this is a good way of seeing the play and see what the fuss was about. We saw the Donmar's 'Coriolanus' at Brixton Ritzy and that worked ok, so why not? Except for the play.

I am not a fan of Tennessee Williams and not a fan of this play. I saw it five years ago at the Donmar with Rachel Weiss as Blanche and didn't enjoy it. Acting by shouting, I said back then, and it was the same tonight. Is it written into the original stage directions to shout as loudly and relentlessly as possible? Shouting, bullying, simmering violence, wife beating and rape don't make for nice people or a nice experience. Not everything needs to be nice of course but this is just so relentlessly vile. The only remotely nice people are Stella (the sister) and Mitch (the would-be lover) and they suffer most from Blanche and Stanley.

But I'm running ahead of myself here. I must comment on the staging. O yes, I must. The stage revolved for some obscure reason. I mean, why? If you're going to do it in the round then do it in the round, not in the round with a revolving stage thrown in as well. It seemed like every time Blanche went into meltdown mode then she'd be obscured by a shower curtain or a mirror or something. What's that all about? The Young Vic is an interesting space that is very versatile and it's nice that they experiment with it but a see-through set that fails to be see-through at critical moments is a bit pointless really.

Perhaps I should cut to the chase and say that Gillian Anderson was excellent. I saw her in 'A Doll's House' (coincidentally) five years ago at the Donmar and thought she was excellent in that. What is it about the Donmar five years ago? As she spiralled into alcoholic madness in the second half she drew the audience in and it sort of felt like she was with us, the audience, rather than the other characters on stage at the time. We were in her make-believe world with her, the Southern belle with her gentlemen admirers. She's a class act.

I also liked Vanessa Kirby as Stella, Blanche's younger sister who continually makes allowances for and defends her sister. She was very sympathetic and distraught at the end when Blanche is taken away. I was less keen on Ben Foster as Stanley the wife-beater whose role seemed to be to take his clothes off as often as possible. Why? Wander round in a vest all you like but when it all starts to come off time and again it gets bit dull. How many times do you need to change your trousers? He did very good menace though.

The production aside, it's the play that's the problem for me. I just don't like it. At half-time we ran through the Williams plays I've seen and I only liked 'The Rose Tattoo' and that was probably because of Zoe Wannamaker being in it at the National Theatre. I saw 'The Glass Menagerie' in Toronto (I nodded off) and at the Young Vic and 'The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore' in New York. Never again. I sort of liked 'Spring Storm' at the National Theatre a few years ago - or at least I liked bits of it and it was short. Me and Tennessee don't mix I'm afraid.

Grand Hotel at The Donmar Warehouse, 2004

I watched 'The Story of the Musical' this evening and out of the ashes of it's predictability flew the marvellous 'Grand Hotel'. It wasn't featured in the programme but all the glitz and special effects on display reminded that I saw a very simple musical, 'Grand Hotel' twice at The Donmar, in 2004 and the memory has stayed with me. It's the musical that taught me it was ok to shed a few tears and I did.

'Grand Hotel' is based on the 1932 film with Greta Garbo and the original book of a cast of disparate characters meeting in a Berlin hotel over a a weekend. Businessmen, a dying middle aged man, a typist with ambitions for Hollywood, a fading ballerina and her dresser and a young baron down on his luck. The Donmar production featured Daniel Evans as the dying Mr Kringelein, Mary Elizabeth Mastranatonio as the ballerina and Julian Ovenden as the Baron. The ballerina and the Baron fall in love when the Baron tries to steal her jewels. No, they don't fall in love, they find the love in each other they've waited their whole lives for. It's a quick and clean love, and all encompassing over one night and, at last, they're together. And then the Baron is killed while trying to rob the room of a businessman and all is lost.

Of course, that's not the end, it can't be. The Baron had promised to meet his beloved at the train station the next morning to see her off on her farewell tour and there he is. His love is so strong that his spirit is there, waiting at the station with roses for his beloved and she, of course, doesn't know he has been shot and thinks his was a false love like so many she's endured before. He can't speak and she can't see and they miss each other...

The Baron has two show-stopper songs, 'Love Can't Happen' which he sings when he realises he's in love with his ballerina heroine, and 'Roses At The Station' when he is dead. He sings,

I'm here Elizaveta at the station//Here with the roses at the station//I'm here Elizaveta at the station//Here with the roses at the station

All my life I have wanted to be here//All my life I have waited to appear//At the station//With these roses...

He tells us that he survived the First World War with bullets flying past him, he's had everything he's wanted in life only to finally find love and to lose it so quickly and so suddenly. So beautiful and so sad and a great platform for Julian Ovenden's great voice. He has a powerful voice and should do more singing. I saw him in the one-off concert version of 'Merrily We Roll Along' in 2010 and his voice is, if anything, getting better.

I was delighted to find the Broadway cast recording in a shop in Toronto in 2005 and it features Brent Barrett as the Baron and Jane Krakowski (from 'Ally McBeal') as the typist with ambitions. It's a great recording but I'd love to have my cast on the record.


I'd love to see this show again.