Here's a review of the shows I've seen lately: Up first, Chicago. This is one I'd never seen on stage before and only really knew it from the film version. I must say I really enjoyed it! It had Ali Bastian playing Roxie, and I thought she did a really good job. Her singing and dancing were impressive, though for me the real star of the show was Bernie Nolan playing Mama Morton. What a voice! Though I suppose that comes at no surprise. I wished Mama Morton had more songs! Velma, Billy and Roxie were all thoroughly unlikeable and Amos was very sad indeed. The costumes were small and sexy and the staging was really interesting. The band was onstage, which doesn't often work, but in this case I thought it really did. They were placed right in the middle of the stage but they didn't seem to get in the way at all. The cast just moved round them and even used them occasionally as extras, which I thought was a cool touch. They also had ladders at the sides of the stage so some of the singing was done in midair. The rest of the set was very minimal though. Simple and sharp. The Cell Block Tango was, of course powerful and really sexy. All in all, a really good night out!
Next Oliver! This was another one I only knew from the film version, which I saw about fifteen years ago. I really don't remember it being so dark! When I thought about Oliver! loveable cockney urchins and cheerful songs like Be Back Soon and Consider Yourself came to mind. My memory seems to have glossed over the alcohol abuse, prostitution and domestic violence. Nancy's murder really was a particularly nasty scene. Despite the darkness it was a really good show. Very funny, with excellent singing and dancing. What really stood out for me were the kids. They were amazing! Not one single step was out of time, and some of the acrobatics were truly impressive. They were tight. Brian Conley was also excellent as Fagan. Very slimy and very funny. The scenary and lighting were also pretty spectacular with huge, detailed two storey sets creating lots of very clever optical illusions and lots of scene changes. I particularly liked Fagan and the boys' den. Very well done and exactly like I imagined it should look. Bill Sykes was also suitably nasty and scary. So not my favourite show, but this was a really good production of it.
And lastly Starlight Express. I'm a big Lloyd Webber fan, but I didn't really know what to expect from this one. Going in I knew precisely four things about it:
1. It's about trains
2. The cast is on rollerskates
3. There isn't really a plot, a bit like Cats
4. The song "Starlight Express"
And numbers 1 and 3 turned about to be wrong anyway. It's not about trains, it's about toy trains, and a little boy playing with them in his bedroom late one night. Yeah. Surely this is the final proof we needed that you really can write a show about anything. And there is a plot. It's all about a race the toy trains are having. Yep, just one race. And they managed to make an entire musical about it. The songs were great, with some really catchy tunes, though perhaps there weren't as many good ones as in some other Andrew Lloyd Webbers. And the cast being on rollerskates there wasn't a lot of dancing in the conventional sense. There were, however, plenty of impressive roller acrobatics and lots of nice skating formations. And because the cast needed a lot of space the sets were pretty simple. Just a few arches for the train sheds and a few other bits and pieces. The best bits for me were the costumes and lighting. The costumes were huge, shiny, over the top and very very eccentric. The cast looked like something out of an acid trip, with big hair, bright colours, loads of glitter and even flashing lights on them. The lighting team went all out too. The lighting in itself would have been worth seeing as a show, even without all the rest of it going on. They really showcased what lighting is capable of doing. At a couple of points they lit the audience up with hundreds of tiny lights floating all around us. It was like being surrounded by hundreds of shooting stars! Oddly, there were very few female characters in it. Just four ladies, playing coaches (Dina, the dining car, Buffy, the buffet car, Duvet, the sleeper, and Pearl, the first class carriage) but despite this the girls, in their tiny costumes and retro hairstyles, really made their voices heard. Good job, ladies!
I have to say though, I wish I'd seen this in London. When the actual race parts were on they played a 3D movie, which worked very well, but apparently in London they have special tracks so that the cast can actually do the race and they come right out into the audience. Seeing that would have been pretty sweet. All in all, though, really good show. A bit different and fantastic to look at, with some great tunes.
