Review (extended) for The Three Penny Opera Nottingham Playhouse

Video (mainly for sound) for those unable to read this review.

A 400 word review was originally commissioned and published by The Big Issue. This is my updated version.

Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's musical masterpiece, The Threepenny Opera, is the forerunner to many modern musical theatre works and originates from John Gay's musical satire, The Beggars' Opera, written in 1728. Peter Rowe of Ipswich's New Wolsey Theatre and Graeae's Jenny Sealey have collaborated to bring an anarchic version of Brecht's theatrical vision to a breadth of regional theatres beginning with Nottingham Playhouse.

Brecht and Weill's original, Die Dreigroschenoper, was conceived in the late 1920's and received great critical acclaim. Despite the chaos of creative uncertainty during its creation and the late entry of the song 'Mack The Knife', it goes on to be performed in theatre spaces throughout the world. As the Weimar Republic came to power, the production exposed the difficulties suffered by the poor and dispossessed. It would be appropriate to say that the paintings and drawings of the artist George Grosz may have great influence in defining the look of the piece in its depiction of cripples and the underworld characters.

The work still has economic and social parallels today and this exciting new, decidedly 'rock and roll' production by Graeae brings the story bang up to date, reflecting current economic problems in the UK through text, vibrant and chilling songs and terrific multi-media projections designed by Mark Haig. Although there is the temptation to find oneself reading all the words along with action the system of live text translation works well and actually enhances the show giving depth to the piece. Likewise, having Jude Mahon on stage by the side of the actors signing rather than at the side of the performing space works well within the piece and her presence is beneficial boarding on vital, rather than merely additional or complementary to the action.

Graeae are a young and vibrant cast enhanced by old hands such as the charismatic Garry Robson playing JJ Peachum the King of the Beggars which harks back to John Gay's Beggars' Opera and in parts it is particularly mock opera as well as pop opera.

This new production design by Neil Murray has a predominantly greasy, underground, neo- expressionist black and grey brick, running blood stained tone and is creatively enhanced with projections and BSL interpretation and captioning. It is set slightly in the future with a new monarch, Charles 111 about to be coroneted. 

Initially, at the beginning of the show, the cast tear down a hanging set of torn and ragged red curtains in the centre of the stage we are introduced to the central character, McHeath, brilliantly played as a louche opportunity seeking and womanising killer by Milton Lopes. The whole cast sing Mack the Knife, a song normally reserved for one female singer. The new lyrics by Jeremy Sams reflect McHeath's misdeeds and are re-interpreted throughout to reflect modern times, events and language. This opens the show fantastically and likewise the powerful ensemble pieces throughout the evening are the electric highlights of this terrific show.

Stand out performances come from Victoria Oruwari as Mrs Peachum, Ci Ci Howells as the wronged daughter Jenny – very powerful vocals and great presence – Will Kenning as an imposing Tiger Brown and Ben Goffe as Jake – terrific tap dancing and comic timing and Sophie Byrne as Dolly, especially strong in the Jealousy duet.

Satire is prevalent throughout the piece with reference to 'happy cripples' always free, always carefree' and within this integrated cast, with some disabled, deaf and blind performers, these references take on a 'voice' of their own and develop an even deeper political and theatrical echo.

The mischievous John Kelly makes a fine and anarchic narrator often deliberately breaking out of character prior to his narrative and engaging the audience between each act with his blunt advice and witty opinions. The audience loved him.

Overall, it is a large cast of actor musicians and all appear to be having great lawless fun telling Brecht and Weill's musical story of corruption exposed and ridiculed and it truly is a show conceived with magnificence and delivered with brilliance.

'Anarchic theatre at its best!' Phil Lowe.

Threepenny Opera is at Nottingham Playhouse until March 8, then New Wolsey Theatre, March 11-22, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, March 27-April 12 and West Yorkshire Playhouse, April 25-May 10. See nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk for full details.

Open Auditions for Oh What a Lovely War. Nottingham.

New Street Theatre Company.

We are scouring the county once again to find the most exciting upcoming musical theatre talent.  We are wondering if you or those you know may be among them...

Open auditions are taking place at Lakeside Arts Centre Nottingham to find the cast for our brand new production of Oh What a Lovely War.  The auditions are on Saturday 8th and Saturday 15th March from 12noon - 5pm and are open to everyone over the age of 14.

Please use contact details at the bottom of this page for auditions.

The production is an ideal opportunity for people who are thinking about a career in the performing arts to gain experience of rehearsing with a professional theatre director, designer and musical director and performing at Lakeside with the full support of Lakeside's experienced technical team.

 This is Lakeside and New Street Theatre's fourth musical theatre collaboration. Previous productions include the brilliant, Into The Woods and Little Shop of Horrors a 'fantastic ensemble piece of tremendous discipline and breath-taking quality' and last year's record breaking critical success, Sweeney Todd. Our aim is to create an exciting piece of original theatre and, in doing so, help those involved to develop their confidence, skills, experience and contacts. Young people involved in these two productions have gone on to win places on some of the most prestigious courses including RADA, GSA, Mountview, East15, Rose Bruford, Bristol Old Vic and London School of Musical Theatre. Also this training has lead them to work at theatres including Hull Truck, Nottingham Playhouse and more.

Oh What a Lovely War will be directed by Martin Berry. Martin is currently working on Richard the Third at the Landor in London and on his brand new professional production of The Last Five Years. More locally Martin directed Mod Crop the Musical at Nottingham Theatre Royal and A Christmas Carol and Lysistrata at Lakeside and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice. His West End credits include Bill Kenwright's JosephAnd The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Blood Brothers and Phyllida Lloyd's The Handmaid's Tale with the English National Opera.

More information about the auditions and what to prepare is available on Facebook here

 https://www.facebook.com/events/577875645624226/ 

or do feel free to contact us at  auditions@newstreettheatre.com. Anyone interested in an audition should contact us at  auditions@newstreettheatre.com to book an audition time.

 

NB: We are also looking to take on two interns who are interested in learning about stage management.

We really look forward to hearing from you and if there is anyone you think we should be looking out for please let us know. SPREAD THE WORD. Even if you are unable to audition do let others know about this unique opportunity.

Best regards,

NEW STREET THEATRE COMPANY.

 

Les Miserables book: from stage to screen. A MUST have!

As a big fan of Les Misérables both on stage and screen I just have to promote this amazing book!. It's brilliant!

It has a beautiful padded cover and there are pages of fabulous photos and stage designs and of course lots of informative writing, but what makes this book so different is that it has 4 pockets throughout that contain lots of re-produced Les Mis paper memorabilia! There are posters from various productions, an invite for the party after the first night, set designs, costume designs, a ticket stub from the Broadway show, a programme for the original French production, a props list, pages from the script, a specially produced newspaper to promote the first tour, aerial set design, Jean Valjean's passport to freedom in French, a place mat from a gala dinner... There are 20 items listed. A MUST have for all the devoted fans of Les Misérables the musical.

I really liked the in depth and intelligent telling of the origins of the French version of Les Misérables, how it was picked up by Cameron Mackintosh and presented at the RSC Barbican Theatre, originally to often poor press reviews but astonishing box office growth to the point of sell out, and also its incredible history as the show has grown, developed, and become a worldwide phenomenon both on stage and screen. Les Misérables has become the 'people's musical' and loved for the passion and compassion of Hugo's original re-worked for the theatre.

 

 

There is plenty of informative writing about Tom Hooper's film version of Les Misérables , his vision for the film, the live singing and the rigours the cast went through to be chosen and to play the fantastic parts, etc...

 

                  

The shop price is £30 although I have found copies on Amazon for a lot less, including one direct from Amazon for £16.50.

PS: The Les Mis 25th Anniversary DVD is fantastic and the second disc is full of wonderful vids about Les Mis and a comprehensive full colour booklet.

Les Miserables - the film of the musical

I went to see the Les Miserables film yesterday afternoon at the Broadway cinema in Nottingham. I had been looking forward to this for weeks and weeks and wasn't disappointed. I hadn't heard the best of reports online on Russell Crowe's singing abilities or the performances of the Thenardiers but, to be fair, they were just different from the West End stars as was the direction of the whole.

I particularly liked the immediacy of the piece with the live singing and I was intrigued by the  additional dialogue and new sung through lyrics in some scenes. The actual new song 'Suddenly' filled a story line gap but otherwise was unmemorable. I thought that the main actors' performances were stunning, especially Hugh as Jean Valjean/M. Madeleine and Anne Hathaway as the tragic Fantine.

Another surprise (not in the stage musical) was when Valjean and Cosette arrive at the North Gate of Paris and are on the run from Javert. Feet away from being caught they are met by M. Fauchelevent ( the man Jean Valjean rescued when trapped under the carriage) at a convent and he agrees to hide them there.

I loved the young lad who played Gavroche the second he popped out of the top of the elephant figure and made his way through the crowds stealing and dodging the law. I felt that I learnt much more from the film than I did the stage musical, namely the handing over of Javert's medal to Gavroche as he lay dead and the fact that the barricade was the last barricade left standing in the Victor Hugo's version of the June uprising of 1832. When they brought the cannons on to blast away the barricade I actually gasped.

The end was superb and I was thrilled to see Colm Wilkinson again at the end. Lastly, well for now, the settings were superb! Wow, what a film! And, of course I didn't cry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audition for Little Shop of Horrors

The other day I went for an audition for the role of Mr Mushnik in the musical A Little Shop of Horrors. I had never sung at an audition before and was nervous about even trying. However the role appealed (as if I haven't got enough to do!) and I went along.

It was a bit short notice to learn the 'Mushnik and Son' song properly so I took along two songs from Jesus Christ Superstar that I am familiar with and ended up singing a verse and chorus from the bouncy Herod's Song. Apparently I did OK and was a baritone.

I didn't get the role but the experience was good. I think it helped that I knew the director and have worked with him before. I will certainly go and see the show in July as Martin's shows are always brilliant.


Onwards and Upwards with A Chip In The Sugar then...

Two left feet and a voice to die for.

My blogging friend French Fancy recently asked me if, as well as act, could I sing and dance. My immediate answer was “no” shortly followed with a little chuckle to myself. The private chuckle was a shortcut version of “you wouldn’t ask that question if you’d seen/heard me try.” Perhaps I am too unfair on myself, that way. I’ve grown up with a taste and liking for musical theatre and at one point in my life you couldn’t keep me out of London’s West End enjoying Lloyd Webber’s latest opus.

How can you ever say how something started? A germ of an idea, a song heard, an experience encountered somewhere along the way. A visit to a pantomime in childhood or parents playing music at home. Music was taught at my junior and senior schools and although I wasn’t a particularly appreciative or attentive pupil I do remember being struck by the poetic power of a recording of Peter Grimes and the music for Peter and the Wolf. And I was only a small boy- nine or ten at most.

I feel this personal admiration for musical theatre is worth investigating and want to see where this enthusiasm came from. I guess ‘home life’ would be good place to start. Now my parents weren’t theatre goers but they did like the circus and we possibly attended a panto or two along the way. They also liked Variety shows live and televised and so I would have heard songs sung through that medium and possibly some were show songs. We did go and see films regularly and some of them would have been MGM and Disney musicals – Show Boat – South Pacific – Annie get your gun – Paint your Wagon, Mary Poppins etc. I remember rather fancying Doris Day in Calamity Jane, too. I was probably in my early teens. One Christmas I got given a book called Gotta Sing Gotta Dance so I must have shown some keenness. On a Sunday my step sisters and I got sent off to Sunday School and we sung the hymns there too. Reluctantly.

Speaking to my mum she reminded me today that we had Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Paint your Wagon, Fiddler on the Roof, The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins and the Oliver film soundtracks on LPs along with other popular shows often playing on the record player at home in the background. My parents were also big fans of Harry Secombe and Shirley Bassey as well. Both of these artists vocally dramatic in their own right. This must have some influence, surely. Or is that Shirley? They liked Tom Jones too but that is not unusual. :0)

When I was around sixteen or seventeen I was a member of the Scout Association and got involved in the Scout Gang Shows in Derby. There was a lot of singing involved and these fun times would have been some of my early stage experiences. Then there was the group singing of songs that we used to sing around the camp fires and at scout meetings. Nobody minded if you weren’t note perfect. We just did it for camaraderie, all wrapped up in one’s badge filled and grubby campfire blanket, a cup of scolding hot tomato soup in a tin mug in hand and the sparks from the fire threatening to turn you into a singing fireball. The Gang Show singing had to be better as we had paying audiences and camp fires weren’t allowed on stage. Joking apart, I don’t remember the rehearsals being reliant on whether the young men were pitch perfect or not. I think enthusiasm and good spirit were the key to the entertainment.

Then I went to Belgium with the Scouts on a camping holiday. It was the first time I had ever been abroad and it was all very exciting. One day we went on a trip into the city of Brussels and I distinctly recall buying a cassette tape of the highlights of Jesus Christ Superstar, the original London production. I’m not sure now why I was drawn to this musical – did I know some of the songs already? Perhaps just the title song and ‘I don’t know how to love him’. Who knows? What I do know is that I played that tape to death and loved the idea of a story unfolding through drama and music. A lack of religious interest had nothing to do with it. It was the power of the drama set to music. Saying that, Opera has never done it for me. As time went on I was very much into collecting soundtracks from films and began to choose soundtracks from musicals too.

As I got into my late teens I had left the Scouts and discovered beer. Slippery slope. Going down the pub suddenly seemed a lot more attractive than the cold Scout hut on Friday night. I had also joined The Littleover Players and got to know people who liked to go the theatre for entertainment. Almost instantly I became very keen on going to the brand new Derby Playhouse in the Eagle Centre in Derby. I would go and see ‘every’ play they did, often two or three times – much to my dear old Dad’s dismay who saw going to see anything more than once and paying for the privilege a scurrilous waste of money. I got seriously in Godspell (saw it many a time) and The Rocky Horror Show and Trafford Tanzi and of course, Jesus Christ Superstar. I also thrilled to go and see the film versions of JCS and Victor Garber and bouncy cast in Godspell.

Naturally, I collected the albums and played them in my bedroom at home, interspersed with Leo Sayer, David Essex, T.Rex , 10CC, Queen, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, that is. They came under my fuddy duddy Dad’s heading of Modern Muck, so I loved them even more. What would he have thought of Ruiyichi Sakamoto?

As I was living at home until my mid twenties, I had plenty of spare money from my job as a butcher and started to go down to London to see the big shows. My very first outing in this way was to see the dance based show, A Chorus Line, at the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane. From then on I was hooked and went to see Evita, Chess, Les Misérables, Man of La Mancha, Joseph, West Side Story, Barnum, Cabaret, Song and Dance, The Phantom of the Opera, Billy, Starlight Express, Cats, Aspects of Love,The Hired Man, Martin Guerre, Miss Saigon and so on. Some of the shows got me particularly interested and for periods of time I became extremely (almost fanatically) keen on certain shows. The main ones in this respect would have been Cats, Phantom, Les Mis, Barnum, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, Miss Saigon and The Hired Man. If there is such a thing as singalonga musicals then I have sunglaonga to those ones at home, very badly, but very enjoyably. Back then I collected all the programmes too as a paper remider of glorious theatre visits.

My step Mum has become a big fan of Phantom over the years and has been taken to a few shows in London and touring shows at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham. She’s great – she either falls asleep or hums along quite forgetting she’s in a public space with all with the various attendant siblings hushing her. Bless her.

At some point in my twenties and having joined Derby Theatre in the Round and been in the chorus in Cabaret myself (I look great in fishnets and frilly hot pants – joke) the name of a fella called Stephen Sondheim, composer and lyricist, entered my consciousness. Apparently, he was quite good. I went down to London to the English National Opera House near Covent Garden to see Pacific Overtures on recommendation and instantly became a fan. I can’t say that I’ve been lucky enough to see or hear everything by the man, but my favourites are Company, Follies, Sweeney Todd – demon barber of Fleet Street, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Pacific Overtures and A Little Night Music.

Lastly, I confess I know nothing about notation or the understanding of musical writing. I don’t play any instruments (I failed the triangle auditions at junior school and was seriously out of tune with the comb and paper). Nor, in honesty do I sing well. I have, however a great admiration for those that can master these talents/disciplines and have worked with such folk along the way so far and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. As for dancing… I would say that my modern ballet style has to be seen to be believed, and then quickly forgotten. lol