Theatre

THEATRE REVIEWS

By Tim Baros & Ben Everson

LtoR (front centre) Jessica Croll as Patty Simcox, Olivia Moore as Sandy and Eloise Davies as Frenchie, with the company in GREASE, credit Manuel Harlan

Grease Is THE Word!

Yes that’s right - Grease is the word, is the word that you heard, its got a groove, it’s got a meaning, Grease is the time, is the place, is the motion, Grease is the way we are feeling.

‘Grease the Musical’ will have you dancing in your seats to the songs you know and love from the 1978 film of the same name. And while its stars are no Olivia Newton John or John Travolta, you’ll still have an excellent time!

Sandy (Olivia Moore) and Danny (Dan Partridge) have hot ‘Summer Nights’ during a fleeting summer romance, but surprisingly they meet again at school, unexpectedly, in the fall. Will their short-lived summer romance survive the trials and tribulations of high school? Who actually cares, because we already know the ending! Sit back and have fun while the actors, and especially the dancers, work very hard and very successfully win over the crowd. The musical numbers of ‘Greased Lightning’ and ‘You’re the one That I Want’ will wear you out - the dancers perform dizzying dances that seem to defy gravity - they are so in step and in sync that kudos must be given to choreographer ‘Arlene Phillips’. And while not one actor stands out (star billing goes to Peter Andre who makes brief appearances as the DJ and then host at the high school prom), with good direction by ‘Nikolai Foster’.

Moore smashes ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You’ but it’s a team effort from the cast and crew that will ensure you have a fabulous time. And we sure did!

www.greasemusical.co.uk

LtoR (centre) Dan Partridge as Danny, Paul French as Kenickie and Damon Gould as Sonny, with the company in GREASE, credit Manuel Harlan

Lucie Jones. Photo by Matt Crockett

Wicked

For over 16 years Wicked has been wowing audiences at the Apollo Victoria Theatre and it isn’t hard to understand why. The story intertwines with that of the Wizard of Oz and helps to explain a little bit about the origins of the Scarecrow, the Lion and the Tin Man, and is packed with infectious songs. Wicked is loosely based on a Gregory Maguire book, Wicked the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, and tells the story of Elphaba (the future Wicked Witch of the West) and her relationship with Galinda (the Good Witch of the North). The story takes us through the ups and downs of their relationship as they move through school into adulthood and the situations arising from their very different personalities. Galinda is a popular, vain, ambitious blonde, and in a nice way a little bit dippy, whereas Elphaba is a decent hearted idiolistic loner who is shunned because she is green, and much of the humour comes from the attempts made by them to initiate the other into their way of thinking. One such attempt provides one of the best songs in the musical, Popular, where Galinda dresses Elphaba up in more fashionable clothes and tries to get her to act more ‘girly’.

Its longevity is testament to the quality of the songs, the costumes and the staging, and the fact that things are livened up every once in a while, with a new cast. It is also the epitome of girl power as all of the main characters are women and strong ones at that. I was lucky enough to see the first night of the new cast which includes Lucy Jones as Elphaba (of Pop Idol Fame), Helen Woolf as Galinda and Gary Wilmot as the Wizard, and although this was my fourth time seeing the show, I still had butterflies and that expectancy for the start of the show.

Unlike some other musicals which only have a few good songs, every song in Wicked is great, and some of them are even better than that with the playful ‘Popular’, the haunting ‘With the Wizard’ and the magical ‘Defying Gravity’, which ends the first half with a bang - my stand out songs.

My first ‘Wicked’ experience was with my daughter for her 8th birthday, and although she is now 19, her words that night still ring in my ears when she said ‘That was great Dad, can we come again next week?’. The best, and most accurate review I can think of!

www.wickedthemusical.co.uk

London Company. Photo by Matt Crockett

Matthew Bourne’s THE CAR MAN. The Company. Photo Johan Persson

The Car Man

I’m glad to have finally seen ‘The Car Man’ as it is a sight to see!

‘The Car Man’ is sexy, sultry and very dramatic. The show literally ropes you in during the first five minutes where we get to see about a dozen men take their clothes off to shower - and from then the show kicks off! The first production of Mathew Bourne’s dance sensation was back in 2000 at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth, and then transferred to London’s Old Vic. And it has come and gone, most recently at Sadlers Wells in 2015. It’s now back on one of the famous stages in London - The Royal Albert Hall - and it’s not to be missed!

Blending in romance, violence, skin - lots of skin - the show is a nod to the dark and erotic film noirs of the 1950’s and 1960’s with lots of dancing, and lots (over 30) of performers, in a show that’s a take on ‘Carmen’.

We are in a diner in an Italian American city called Harmony in the 1960’s. A stranger arrives into town who takes a job as a mechanic, hence the title of the show. His arrival affects everyone in town, where the rest of the story is beautifully told through dance and via a well-tuned orchestra led by Brett Morris in a show that also has touches of ‘West Side Story’. There is dancing everywhere on stage - it’s hard to take it all in - but the dancers manage it all beautifully, all their way through to the compelling climax.

Music is composed by Terry Davies in a show brought to us by the comparable Sir Matthew Bourne.

It’s a thrilling show with an excellent score and an emotionally dramatic storyline. I want to see it again!

For tickets, please go to: www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/ events/2022/the-car-man/