Tag Archives: London Palladium

“Hello, Dolly!” at the London Palladium

Jerry Herman’s 1964 musical is one of the greatest ever written. The story of matchmaker Dolly Levi, finding a new life, and love, with “half-a-millionaire” Horace Vandergelder, is full of wonderful songs. But it takes a great production – and a true star – to make the most of it all. This revival brings out all the show’s fun, romance, and – a little surprise – its wisdom.

Director Dominic Cooke is known for his work with plays more than musicals. Maybe his lauded revival of Follies whetted his appetite for more – let’s hope so. Cooke makes the most of Michael Stewart’s superb book for Hello, Dolly! The dialogue, like the lyrics, is funny. But the characters aren’t just comedic, they are well developed. Dolly dominates a coherent and vivid world (credit also to designer Rae Smith), all brought together by a story that is more emotional than you might expect.

Dolly delves into many lives, changing them for the better of course. With an excellent cast, we care for those frustrated in love. Take Cornelius and Irene, wonderfully performed by Harry Hepple and Jenna Russell, who only take a moment to fall in love but manage to be convincing.  Or Barnaby and Minnie, parallels in so many ways, brought to life by Tyrone Huntley and Emily Lane with great charm. And of course there’s Horace, a role taken by Andy Nyman, whose presence as well as his voice impresses.

But who are we kidding? The show is about its titular star and Imelda Staunton doesn’t just fit the role perfectly – she adds to it. She is an excellent comedian – the reaction at finding herself amongst funeral directors during the parade scene is brilliant. But Staunton takes the show seriously, there are moment of melancholy that are striking. While notes can be powerful – her voice is strong – they don’t have to be belted out. Dolly may be brash, but her emotions are refined. And her view of life is worth listening too. It’s important that Staunton is a star. The audience response is rapturous, Hello, Dolly! has a great atmosphere. But note the amount of control; applause stops the moment Staunton is going to sing again. Even if we only get a moment, not an instant is to be missed – onstage and off, everyone is in love!

Until 14 September 2024

www.hollodollyldn.com

Photo by Manuel Harlan

“Death Note: The Musical” in Concert

There a strong fan base for this project based on Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s manga series. Three shows at the London Palladium sold out quickly – a transfer has been announced – leading to a sense of excitement for the European première of something that promises to be different.

Coming in cold… it’s a mixed bag. The story is good – it’s sold 30 million copies – and the book for the show, from Ivan Menchell, is accomplished. There are strong characters who are admittedly vehicles to raise issues but nonetheless intriguing. A schoolboy called Light, accompanied by a Shinto Kami, can kill people by writing their names in a book. It’s a neat way to raise moral dilemmas. And there’s a detective, the enigmatic ‘L’, tracking down Light for his vigilantism. But the show isn’t as bold as it might be: strong performances and a good atmosphere are its best points.

Concert is a stingy description. The set doesn’t move and there isn’t much choreography, but the lighting design (Ben Cracknell) is advanced, the costumes (Kimie Nakano) good and the characters well developed. Director Nick Winston has focused on his performers and, as a result, the roles are impressively realised by a strong cast.

Joaquin Pedro Valdes sounds great in the lead and shows Light’s arrogance – this hero starts with good intentions, but power goes to his head. Dean John Wilson plays the detective whose motivation seems more intellectual stimulation than justice and is, as usual, excellent. In the middle, often literally, is Ryuk, a supernatural figure who fascinates. This is a great role (performed brilliantly at the Palladium by Adam Pascal) – a real crowd pleaser with an element of danger and humour whose big problem is his sense of boredom!

Frances-Mayli-McCann-and-Aimie-Atkinson-in-Death-Note-credit-Mark-Senior
Frances Mayli McCann and Aimie Atkinson

There is less success with two female roles: a pop star called Misa (who falls in love with Light) and another Kami parallel the main story but they do not complement it. Both Frances Mayli McCann and Aimie Atkinson have strong voices, but their songs aren’t as good and their characters are less well written. The scene of Misa’s interrogation is ridiculous – let’s hope that was the intention.

Jack Murphy’s lyrics deserve praise if only for their efficiency – it’s all very clear. And, as for the songs, Frank Wildhorn can write a tune. If sometimes unimaginative, they are often catchy. There is an effortful mix of styles in Death Note so the show overall shouldn’t tire.

A lot of the music is earnest, which works well with the story. But the score sounds American through and through. Maybe that’s better than some kind of appropriation. But it lessens the show’s USP compared to your average musical… and that seems a shame.

Transferring to the Lyric Theatre for six performances, 7-11 September 2023

Photos by Mark Senior

www.deathnotethemusical.co.uk

“Cats” at the London Palladium

As if its original run of 21 years weren’t enough, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical has added on a few extra lives this year at the Palladium. For the newest instalment of the revival, Beverley Knight follows Nicole Scherzinger and Kerry Ellis as Grizabella, providing some star appeal. Knight is a superb performer and feels a little wasted in the role, but she gives a strong interpretation of perennial favourite ‘Memory’ and provides as good a reason as any for checking out the show.

Beverley Knight as Grizabella
Beverley Knight as Grizabella

A lot of people dislike Cats because it doesn’t have a story. Combating this prejudice is futile. T S Eliot’s poems merely provide Lloyd Webber and choreographer Gillian Lynne with a platform for song and dance numbers. Directed by Trevor Nunn, the whole show runs like clockwork and is an entertaining spectacle. The dancing is top notch – it’s hard to believe these guys are the same species as the rest of us (especially Mark John Richardson’s Mr. Mistoffelees). And it’s nice to see care taken to include the audience in the stalls, as the cats prowl amongst the crowd, delighting any kids you take along.

And yet the piece has aged badly. These days we’re used to musicals with a knowing edge and Cats comes close to taking itself seriously, it’s so doggedly humourless. These crazy cats have some hippy ideas about their Jellicle tribe meeting for a moonlight reincarnation ritual, led by the god-like Old Deuteronomy, and it all comes across as just spaced out. The music feels lost in the late 1970s with tinny electronica and rock guitars (as for the updated rap version of Rum Tum Tugger, it seems only polite to gloss over it). While admittedly catchy, the songs are reprised too frequently and the show feels desperate for praise. This is a score that should be rescued and put in front of the fire with a nice saucer of milk.

Until 2 January 2016

www.catsthemusical.com

Photos by Alessandro Pinna and Matt Crockett

“I Can’t Sing!” at the London Palladium

I Can’t Sing! The X Factor Musical, which opened this week at the Palladium, is a logical fit for the theatre. It might be TV, but it’s live, essentially a variety show, with large personalities that can fill a stage. The show’s creators, Harry Hill and Steve Brown, exploit the backstories of the characters and possibilities for songs mercilessly for comedy. At once sincere and surreal, the show might just have that indefinable quality that makes a hit musical – it’s very own X factor.

But first a confession from your reviewer. I’ve never watched The X Factor. Forgive me – I’m at the theatre a lot. As well as making me akin to an alien, this created a concern that I might not have a clue what was going on. As it happens I found lots of it funny. There are a surprising number of theatre jokes and, as most do know the show (like the row behind me), I can report that you’ll be laughing like the proverbial drain. I am qualified at least to say that Sean Foley’s direction is assured and that reports of troubled previews don’t seem to have rattled the fine performers.

Simon Lipkin, Cynthia Erivo and Alan Morrissey

The leads of the show provide a plot, a neat little love story between two contestants. Cynthia Erivo plays Chenice, whose backstory – take a deep breath – of life in a caravan under the Westway with a grandfather in an iron lung and not enough money to study UFOs at Golders Green University, is so tragic that it’s envied by other contestants. With a knock-out voice that brings out the irony in the show’s hummable title song, Erivo is joined by Alan Morrissey, who has an appealing stage presence as a plumber with a ukulele who wants to change the world with his songs. The other contestants do well, too, but it’s the ever excellent Simon Lipkin who gets my vote, using the puppetry skills that made Avenue Q such a success to play Chenice’s dog, Barlow.

There are strong comic turns from the judges: the geriatric Louis (Ashley Knight) and Geordie Jordy (Victoria Elliott), headed of course by Simon Cowell, a role energetically taken by Nigel Harman. Like his television creation, Cowell seems self-consciously ripe for satire. Being lampooned so successfully must delight him (as a backer for the show) and the sheer silly scale of the satire, much of it literally messianic, keeps coming. The show contains no subtlety, surely that would be inappropriate – just a lot of laughs.

It’s a musical, so let’s not forget the songs. Brown’s compositions are efficient, and varied, but the music is very much subservient to the comedy. Several numbers are disappointing and only get along by being very loud. But, as well as the title song, there’s another great number for Morrissey, a moment of stillness among too many mock anthems that really stands out.

You could take a guess that there will be choreography with sofas. Tick the box for dancing leprechauns. I am even sure I’ve seen break-dancing monks before and, as with Jerry Springer The Opera, there are Valkyrie on call. And there are still surprises, mostly theatrical I am pleased to say, and bizarre enough to really delight in their eccentricity, with touches of George Formby, postcard-style humour and plain silliness.

There’s a strong sense of weird and wonderful minds behind I Can’t Sing! that avoids any sense of attempting to cash in on a successful formula. It’s mad but also clever stuff. And it works. Combining the prosaic and clichéd with extravagant dreams, there’s a satisfying circularity in what Hill and Brown have achieved – a show so ridiculous that it becomes inspiring.

Until 25 October 2014

Photos by Tristram Kenton

Written 28 March 2014 for The London Magazine

“A Chorus Line” at the London Palladium

Revivals don’t come much bigger than this. Marvin Hamlisch’s classic musical, A Chorus Line, has been reverentially recreated by director Bob Avian for the first time in London since it was a smash hit in 1976. With Michael Bennett and Avian’s choreography re-staged by Baayork Lee, another member of the original team, the dancing is some of the best I’ve seen in the West End. This important piece of theatrical history is alive and kicking – if you’ve ever liked a musical, you’ll love A Chorus Line.

The clever thing about A Chorus Line, starting with its book, by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, is how simple it is. The story of an audition for a Broadway show, a group of dancers assemble on a bare stage to bare their souls. Beyond the frankly silly idea that it’s difficult to get performers to talk about themselves (these guys are the original ‘over-sharers’) it’s a scenario that engenders sympathy, with the twist that the winners will then have to subsume themselves, dancing in strict unison in the background.

As we learn about the auditionees’ lives, from early memories, through puberty to adulthood, their desire for success and love for their work is inspiring. For these show people there really is no business like it – performing puts them in “the world of the living”, despite the professional and physical pitfalls of being dancers. In a series of great songs, each cast member tries to stand out and impress the deity-like director, played with suitable imperiousness by John Partridge; for all the skill of the set-up it’s the cast’s acting skills that really need to come to the fore.

Remarkably, given the size of the ensemble, the performances are consistently satisfying. Yes, they can all move fantastically, but establishing character on a crowded stage is no small feat either; the demanding monologues prove how important acting is in musical theatre – Gary Wood’s performance as Paul is exemplary. Avian has a team that works as well as his fictional counterpart on stage hopes for. Step forward, please, Victoria Hamilton-Barrit whose singing is fantastic and, making a West End debut,  Rebecca Herzsenhorn who revels in the role of Val. As with the casting process itself, it seems cruel to highlight only a few members when in truth they all perform with a chutzpah and skill that make the evening a delight. A Chorus Line is like a distilled form of the musical genre – pure, refined and intoxicating. And you’ll carry that singular sensation with you long after the curtain goes down.

Until 31 August 2013

Photo by Manuel Harlan

Written 27 February 2013 for The London Magazine

“The Wizard of Oz” at the London Palladium

With The Wizard of Oz we yet again have proof of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s unerring focus and entrepreneurialism – not only has the maestro produced a terrific live family show, he has even guaranteed it an audience with the aid of a hit TV series, Over the Rainbow.
The new star born is Danielle Hope, whose trials to gain the lead role of Dorothy have so enamoured her to BBC viewers that they now feel duty bound to catch the coach to London and see the show. It makes for a warm atmosphere, as the crowd wills her on to succeed. And Hope manages well – she is an engaging presence with a sweet voice and a remarkable confidence on stage.

It seems damning to say that Hope’s greatest achievement is putting up with Toto. One of the warnings about working with animals should be that a dog on stage can steal the show. And that really isn’t fair. As this poor creature is dragged around, looking by turn bemused and bored, you can’t help fixating on his clever handling and the treats he is cajoled with.

Which is a shame because the treats here aren’t just for Toto but for all the children in the audience. The Wizard of Oz is aimed successfully at youngsters who will, without exception, adore it. A whole team of designers, headed by Robert Jones, have done a superb job, Jon Driscoll’s projections recreating the tornado are impressive, and the costumes are fantastic. Harold Arlen’s great songs are added to by additional music from Lloyd Webber.

Dorothy’s companions on her travels give impressive performances that embrace the show’s camp appeal. Edward Baker-Duly is a matinee-idol tin man, Paul Keating a remarkably acrobatic scarecrow and David Ganly excels as the cowardly lion who is proud to be a friend of Dorothy.

Using a bit more of L Frank Baum’s original story than we are familiar with from the film is a clever move. It treats us to some choreography from Arlene Phillips and gives the talented Hannah Waddingham a chance to shine (via a great lyric from Tim Rice) as the Wicked Witch of the West. The only disappointment is that the additional songs to boost Michael Crawford’s role as Professor Marvel and The Wizard still leave him criminally underused.

Leaving Crawford’s many fans disappointed seems strange, as everyone else in The Wizard of Oz works as hard as Kansas farmhands. Director Jeremy Sams follows the yellow brick road with the precision required for such a spectacle and the determination needed to captivate a young audience. It’s safe to treat any children you know to the thrill of this show. The only thing you might worry about is the effect of all those doggy treats on Toto’s waistline.

Booking Until 17 September 2011

Photo by Keith Pattison

Written 3 March 2011 for The London Magazine