Tag Archives: Charlie Stemp

“Crazy for You” at the Gillian Lynne Theatre

Billed as a ‘new’ Ira and George Gershwin show when it premiered in 1992, based on the musical Girl Crazy but with extra songs, Crazy for You is as solid a piece of theatre as you could wish for. Ken Ludwig’s book uses a neat plot that provides plenty of comedy as well as room for gorgeous tunes and great dance numbers. In short, it’s a safe bet, but add a star like Charlie Stemp and this production becomes special.

Stemp plays Bobby Child, desperate to break out of banking and into a dance career, pointing out how great theatre is along the way (always nice to hear). This involves Bobby putting on his own show – literally saving a theatre – while masquerading as a producer for comic effect. And there’s romance, with Bobby falling in love with (guess) the show-within-a-show’s leading lady. Simple? Remember, Stemp must be a comic and romantic lead, while singing and dancing… and he really can do it all.

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Charlie Stemp and Tom Edden

Make no mistake – this whole cast is strong. Carly Anderson is leading lady Polly, sounding sweet and graceful with every move (she wears slacks like a ball gown). Polly has independence, but you can’t escape that the role is there to provide swoon and Anderson delivers. Natalie Kassanga’s Irene has her eye on Bobby, with fun results – her voice is so strong you really want the role expanded. And there’s a great comic turn from Tom Edden as a theatre impresario Bobby impersonates. The humour throughout is old-fashioned (bolstered by strong cameos from Sam Harrison and Rina Fatania as two restaurant reviewers), but thoroughly entertaining.

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Rina Fatania and Sam Harrison

Susan Stroman, the show’s original choreographer, adds director to her credits for this revival (which began at the Chichester Festival Theatre) and paces the action with confidence. Excitingly, Stroman’s knowledge of the piece results in some risks: the dancing is a bit bonkers! Occasionally fevered, full of wit as well as plenty of acrobatics, it is value-for-money stuff. There are new orchestrations, too (from Doug Besterman and Mark Cumberland), which emphasise percussion to a bold degree.

Best of all, Stroman uses her star for all he’s worth – and that is a lot. Aside from being one of the best singers and dancers around, with that prized skill of making it all look easy, Stemp can get a laugh and make emotions genuine. Crazy for You isn’t Shakespeare (despite a touch of Twelfth Night with its wooing in disguise), but the love affair convinces. Maybe Stemp appeals because he seems to be having so much fun? That enjoyment makes him perfect casting for a role that focuses on a love of theatre and gives the whole production an infectious joy.

Until 20 January 2024

www.crazyforyoumusical.com

Photos by Johan Persson

“Half A Sixpence” at the Noël Coward Theatre

The Chichester Festival Theatre’s new version of David Heneker’s musical arrives in the West End trailing rave reviews. And rightly so. Surely some critics were aggrieved that producer Cameron Mackintosh, credited as co-creator, had already bagged the perfect description to promote his work – this really is a “flash, bang, wallop” of a show.

The simple love story of an apprentice haberdasher who comes into money and has to choose between his childhood sweetheart and a once unattainable upper-class lady gives us a pleasingly Pygmalion spin and a hero, one Arthur Kipps, every bit as endearing as Eliza Doolittle.

Arthur may be called Art by his friends, but it is his artlessness that makes him so appealing, genuine and infectiously joyous. Taking the lead has catapulted Charlie Stemp into the big time with a star-is-born moment that theatre goers will find electrifying. Stemp can sing as superbly as he can dance – and he can act, too. In short, he’s the real deal.

Ironically the big achievement of the show, with new music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, and a book by Julian Fellowes, is to downplay Kipps’ part. Originally an uneven vehicle for Tommy Steele, the show has been recalibrated to allow the rest of the cast to rise to Stemp’s achievements. Both of Arthur’s love interests are superb. Devon-Elise Johnson plays the love-token-swapping parlour maid with credible vigour. The posh idol, Helen Walsingham, is Emma Williams, and, in a piece where toffs do badly, she’s still appealing, making Arthur’s decision a real dilemma.

Half A Sixpence praises working-class culture in a manner that is out of fashion and makes for a fresh change. Arthur’s colleagues in the shop are wonderfully delineated (praise for Sam O’Rourke, Alex Hope and Callum Train). As for Bethany Huckle’s Flo, Arthur may not fall for her, but I did, with an end-of-the-pier number about sexual frustration that makes the role stand out. This new song, ‘A Little Touch of Happiness’, perfectly embodies a postcard humour that makes many numbers here laugh-out-loud funny, with a sentimentality that magically weaves naiveté and nostalgia. All are combined to perfection by director Rachel Kavanaugh. And this is before the storming second-act number, ‘Pick Out a Simple Tune’, with one cast member literally swinging from a chandelier. What more could you ask for?

It isn’t just the deserving praise already received that gives the show its unbounded confidence. In Kavanaugh’s capable hands, taking a lead from the cleverly constructed new material, Half A Sixpence is akin to a theatrical comfort blanket. We know when to applaud – freeze frame on the action and get ready to clap – and when to give a standing ovation. With the keen-as-mustard cast delighting in its triumph everyone goes home happy.

Until 2 September 2017

www.halfasixpence.co.uk

Photo by Manuel Harlan