'Company' at the Gielgud Theatre

'Company' by Stephen Sondheim has opened in the West End with a brand new production and some gender-swapped roles. I've never seen a fully staged production - costumes, scenery, lights - of 'Company' before but have seen an afternoon version as part of the 'Sondheim at 80' season in 2010 that starred Adrian Lester, Sophie Thompson and Haydn Gwynn, all in civvies. That was a 'traditional' version with Adrian Lester as Bobby considering marriage and commitment whereas this new version has Rosalie Craig as Bobbie and, you know what? I think it works better with a female lead.

It's a play very much of it's time - 1970 - on Bobbie's 35 birthday and all her friends are married but not necessarily happily. I can see how it would've been a breath of fresh air in 1970, challenging the traditional form of the musical with it's series of one act scenes with some narrative and a song all around the theme of marriage. Today, though, it seems a bit dated and that's where changing the gender of the lead player worked for me. Not only is there the question of settling down into a relationship (let's use that word rather than marriage) but there's also the biological clock ticking away. And, because it's updated, we also have a gay couple who are getting married (or possibly not).

I couldn't make up my mind about whether I liked the staging or not where most of the scenes took place in big neon light boxes that rolled on and off the stage effortlessly - I can't quite decide if they enhanced the production, detracted from it or were simply annoying. You have that nice big stage so use it, don't confine people in a claustrophobic box. Something that did annoy me was Rosalie Craig's red dress. Please people, give her a costume change? That red dress just really irritated me.

Rosalie Craig played Bobbie who was on stage for virtually the whole time, with friends played my Patti Lupone and Mel Giedroyc. I've seen Rosalie and Patti on stage before but this was the first time I'd seen Mel and I was quite impressed with her acting and (as you'd expect) her comic timing. It's odd to think that, as Chris mentioned, after the Sondheim nerds and theatre queens have seen the production, Mel's will be the biggest name on the bill but she's not very visible in the second half at all. I'm pleased we saw her.

The big draw for many people will be Patti Lupone, a Broadway legend who I saw in Sondheim's 'Gypsy' a decade ago. I saw her again five years ago in a short series of song and chat shows at Leicester Square Theatre. I liked her world-weary performance as the friend who's seen it all and then some, and her big song was 'Ladies Who Lunch' which was great fun.

I enjoyed the production and I'm pleased I saw it. It did rather make me want to see new productions of other Sondheim shows like 'Sunday in the Park'  and I'm sure that'll come back one day. In the meantime, enjoy 'Company'.

PS: I also liked the blue balloons that were all over the public areas of the theatre to mimic the poster for the show. Well done Gielgud!

'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!

'The Threepenny Opera' at the National Theatre

A new production of 'The Threepenny Opera' has opened at the National Theatre and I was lucky enough to see it in preview and again last week. Yes, I've already seen it twice and it's only been playing for a few weeks. Does that give you a clue?

This is a new version of the Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill play translated by Simon Stephens and brought up to date  and stars Rory Kinnear as Macheath, aka Mack the Knife. It also proudly boasts that it 'contains filthy language and immoral behaviour'. Ooo-er, I did hope so!

The show opens with the Balladeer introducing us to Mack the Knife who has returned to London in time for the King's jubilee (and we see some of his handiwork, liberally slaughtering the populace), introduce us to Mr Peachum and his troupe of beggars and miscreants and learn that his daughter has gone missing. O dear, where can Polly be now that Mack is back? He's only married her to get his leg over but when his gang also want her she sings 'Pirate Jenny' to show how foolish they'd be if they went down that route!

We meet Mrs Peachum coming home in the early hours after a night on the town (she seems to have 'an understanding' with Mr Peachum) in her Otto Dix red dress, Jenny the drug addict and prostitute who loves the dashing Captain Macheath, and, later the chief of police. A more disgraceful bag of ne-er-do-wells it would be hard to find. And it gets worse because Peachum has given his gang of beggars a cause and something to believe in and he could bring down the establishment... seems rather current given the referendum.

This version of the play is fast moving and quick-witted and it's certainly found its feet. It almost felt like these actors were their characters, there's a belief in there somewhere that was most impressive. Dashing around the stage, up and down the ladders and platforms, every now engaging the audience as if we're part of the crowd on the street watching the shenanigans, all of it kept the pace going, moving swiftly through the scenes.

I loved the set made largely of plywood and brown paper (they must have a huge roll of brown paper backstage to replace the number of panels people crashed through), starting off sparse and gradually becoming thick with panels as the actors brought more 'walls' on stage and later when a huge set emerged from below and whoosh! we have a complex stage to reflect the back streets of the East End. The staging and the lighting all worked, moving from simple to complex and back, actors moving the set around the stage as needed for the next scene. Well done to Rufus Norris and Vicki Mortimer for that.

It was great fun to see Rory Kinnear take on the role of Captain Macheath, milking it for all it's worth and he can really sing. Rory has a great list of Shakespeare under his belt (and I saw him try comedy  in 'Last of the Hausmans') so he can act but it was great to see how versatile he can be. It was also good to see Haydn Gwynne as Celia Peachum careering round the stage in her tight red frock giving as good as she gets and Nick Holder does good sinister as Peachum. Meet him in a dark alley? I don't think so! Rosalie Craig was very good as young Polly who brought a nice sense of menace to 'Pirate Jenny'. George Ikediashi (aka Le Gateau Chocolat) set the scene nicely when he opened with 'Mack the Knife' and Debbie Kurup was great fun as Macheath's lover (one of many, obviously) in her sing-off with Polly in the jail scene.

This show is great fun and deserves a sell-out run. It is dark and menacing, laugh-out loud at times, full of great songs and performances and a lovely set that really works. Well done people, I'll be back!

'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.

'The Audience' at the Gielgud Theatre

On the evening that Helen Mirren picks up another 'best actress' award at the Olivier Award ceremony I thought I'd tell you about seeing 'The Audience' a couple of weeks ago. Yes, Helen reprises her role as Queen Elizabeth II but this time night after night on the stage. She does it remarkably well.

The play is a sequence of vignettes into the regular meetings between the Queen and the Prime Minister of the day, we see the Queen have a chat with Winston Churchill, John Major, Harold Wilson and the current PM, David Cameron. Naturally, she also has a difficult meeting with Margaret Thatcher. I saw it just a few days before the funeral and it was good to see the script changed to reflect that when she's speaking with David Cameron.

Helen Mirren was superb as the Queen, moving at the drop of a hat between being in her 20s to her 80s and it's not just the costumes that changed (the set didn't), it's the voice and the posture as well as the padding.

Haydn Gwynne was excellent - and quite brave - as a hectoring Maggie Thatcher browbeating poor little Queenie over an article in The Sunday Times back in the 90s. Hers was a great performance but I'd single out Richard McCabe for special mention - who also won an Olivier Award tonight for best supporting actor - as Harold Wilson. He came on for three scenes, firstly as a burly new PM, then experienced and comfortable PM and finally as an exiting PM who tells the Queen he has alzheimers and needs to retire. He gives a really touching and enduring performance. Well done.

It's not playing for very long but if you have the chance I'd recommend you go and see it - it's not factually accurate history but it's a great performance and very entertaining.