Tag Archives: Cedric Neal

“Songs for a New World”: a lockdown performance

Jason Robert Brown’s song cycle is presented by Lambert Jackson Productions after the success of its lockdown show, The Last Five Years. The collection showcases Brown’s work as a composer and lyricist – there are some great songs – while affording the cast a chance to impress. The major talent recruited here is stunning and the show enjoyable.

Searching for connections in the cycle can prove off-putting. If the idea is a decisive ‘one moment’, the scenarios are too generic (and cryptic) to become satisfyingly thematic. Instead, there’s a mix of hope and struggle and a touch too much sentimentality. For good or ill, it’s hard not to imagine many of the numbers as part of a bigger show.

Cedric Neal, Rachel John, Ramin Karimloo and Rachel Tucker in “Songs for a New World”: a lockdown performance
Cedric Neal and his lovely staircase

The production contains distractions of its own. Director Séimí Campbell’s decision to cut news footage into the performances is a valiant effort to guide the viewer but tails off as the show goes on. On a lighter note, there’s also the views of the homes of those performing in isolation… what a lovely staircase Cedric Neal has!

Yet the music and performances make Songs for a New World worthwhile. Neal and Rachel John have such gorgeous voices that the whole evening has a sense of power. Both can convey outrage and tenderness with such skill that tears were in my eyes more than once.

Rachel Tucker - Songs For A New World
Rachel Tucker and her sofa

Rachel Tucker’s numbers have a more character behind them. With the funniest songs, Tucker shows what a fine actress she is: making the most of her sofa and the excellent Mrs Claus song (the show’s best pun). It might be noted along the way what a lot of ‘demanding’ women Brown writes about.

Ramin Karimloo is also excellent, although it has to be mentioned that his terrific stage presence is out of place on a screen: in a duet, while John conveys a tête-à-tête, Karimloo makes sure the balcony crowd is getting its money’s worth. Of course, he is still fantastic. And, as a final highlight, there’s a nod to new talent with a debut number for Shem Omari James that he should be proud of.

The singing and musical direction from Josh Winstone is so strong that two (maybe three) numbers that might be less than convincing really shine. With writing as strong as Brown’s, praise doesn’t come higher than that.

Until 25 July 2020

www.lwtheatres.co.uk

“Chess” at the English National Opera

Nobody can say that Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of Abba can’t write a song and their 1984 concept album-turned-musical is full of good numbers, a couple of which were big chart hits. Directed by Laurence Connor, this major revival boasts some wonderful performances. Tim Howar brings a powerful rock sound as the maverick chess master Freddie Trumper, Cassidy Janson and Alexandra Burke are both fantastic as the female leads, and there’s impressive work from Phillip Browne and Cedric Neal as the men behind the scenes at a chess tournament that pits the USA against the USSR. The star of the show, as the Russian player, Anatoly Sergievksy, who defects to the West, is undoubtedly Michael Ball. Giving an impressively understated performance while belting out the numbers shows a performer of upmost confidence and technical skill. Ball is the master here, even if this chess game isn’t quite worth playing.

With music for the orchestra, the main theme, played during matches, is beautiful but adds little tension to an already wafer-thin story. There just isn’t enough in Richard Nelson’s book to hold attention, despite the backdrop of the Cold War and machinations of the Russian delegation. Connor tries hard with a barrage of video screens that ultimately only prove distracting. But the biggest problem is the writing for many voices. The ENO’s own chorus adds prestige to the event, but they seem lost – underused and with Tim Rice’s lyrics barely audible. As chess travels the world (well, Merano and Bangkok), attempts to add local colour end up pretty risible and Stephen Mear’s choreography surprisingly lacklustre. It all has to rest on the love triangle between Anatoly and the women in his life. There are moments when the cast, especially Ball, make this work, but the whole piece feels so slim that it’s more like a game of draughts.

Until 2 June 2018

www.eno.org

“Porgy and Bess” at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s annual musical is always at the top of my must-see list. For 2014, artistic director Timothy Sheader is more ambitious than ever with a production of the Gershwins’ iconic Porgy and Bess. The show lives up to expectations in near miraculous fashion – it’s an easy five stars.

The musical landscape Gershwin created to reflect the doomed love affair, between the crippled Porgy and the drug-addled fallen woman, Bess, is legendary. Musical director David Shrubsole has done a remarkable job, with the largest number of musicians ever working at the venue, to reinforce the adventurous nature of the score. This production reminds us how mind blowing Porgy and Bess must have sounded in 1935.

Sheader’s stripped-back production brings out the power of the story. What this man does with a few chairs and tables is fantastic. Firmly placing the protagonists within context is masterfully done. We are transported to a different world – full of pain and prejudice – and never doubt its coherence. Good and bad are clear here, brutality omniscient, but Sheader’s attention to detail insures complexity and depth.

The cast is superb. Sharon D Clarke and Golda Rosheuvel play the matriarchs of the setting, Catfish Row. Leading a stunning chorus, they sound fantastic and are utterly convincing as women committed to fighting for their community who suffer cruel lives with dignity. As Bess, Nicola Hughes is magnificent, her voice stunning. A study in sensuality, repentance and conflict, she takes Bess to the edge and comes perilously close to testing the audience’s affection for her.

Arthur Kyeyune and Tyrone Huntley with Cedric Neal as Sporting Life. Photo Johan Persson
Cedric Neal

Three cast members from America join these truly leading ladies. Phillip Boykin and Cedric Neal play very different bad guys: the instinctual Crown, who claims Bess as his woman, and the insinuating Sporting Life. Boykin is a powerful presence with a voice to match. Neal, like many a stage devil, gets great lines, his It Ain’t Necessarily So as intoxicating as the drugs he peddles. In the title role, Rufus Bonds Jr is deeply moving, with a voice that will melt your heart. Seeing any one of these performers on stage would be a privilege. Seeing all of them is an honour.

Until 23 August

www.openairtheatre.com

Photos by Johan Persson

Written 30 July 2014 for The London Magazine