Tag Archives: Mary Moore

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“[title of show]” at the Southwark Playhouse

Billed as a meta-musical – pretending to depict its writers workshopping and staging the show as we watch it – there is plenty of self-appraisal within Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell’s piece. [title of show] (they are still working out what to call it) states pretty much anything bad you can say about it out loud, and often. I wonder if this makes the piece critic-proof?

It is pointed out that there are lots of obscure Broadway references (one number is based on the titles of flops), so knowledge about the construction of songs and shows really helps to get the jokes. And with self-deprecating satire, Bowen and Bell point out the dangers of all this: the “derivative tricks and the critical undertow” that come with their project. As artists, they want to “ask significant questions” with their songs – there’s a lot about the highs and lows of creativity. But whatever is said comes with the threat of being contrived.

In fact, there’s plenty of skill needed to pull off the concept driving the show. Here’s where the reviewer can address performances and note that the songs are excellent showcase material. Jacob Fowler and Thomas Oxley (I think you can guess their characters’ names) give the roles suitably strong personalities. Abbie Budden and Mary Moore, playing Heidi and Susan, are the “secondary characters” (that’s their description) who have the best numbers. The comedy could be handled less effortfully (it’s good enough) but all four sing wonderfully. And Bowen’s songs aren’t easy. Even if there’s just a piano (props to musical director Tom Chippendale who I’m glad gets to speak), the score is clever and complex.

Most importantly, the cast and director Christopher D Clegg have to make the show feel fresh. Adding the touches of chaos that are demanded from the self-consciously kookie lyrics isn’t easy and the quartet’s energy is fantastic. Nor is it easy giving an improvised air when we all know (don’t we?) the show was a hit back in 2006.

Many have been excited by this long overdue London première. As Bowen and Bell well know, this is a show for the theatre kid and the “Show-mo”. But it is “fun times with friends” with admirable conviction, focusing on the collaborative making of a musical, and the community that comes to watch. [title of show] knows it’s for a clique, but it enjoys that fact… There’s even a song about it.

Until 30 November 2024

www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk

Photo by Danny Kaan

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“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” from Stream.Theatre

This ambitious new show makes a valiant effort in a tricky category – the family musical. Inspired, like the Disney film, by Goethe’s poem, we get the famous brooms, brought to the stage with the aid of Maia Kirkman-Richards’ puppetry design. But the show aims to please more than children, unfortunately to its detriment.

Our apprentice is a feisty young woman called Eva, a huge role for Mary Moore, and the sorcerer is her Dad, played by David Thaxton. It’s a good twist to have a “little anarchist” as the star, and her father is a magician far from the usual stereotypes. Both performers have strong voices and acquit themselves well. 

Problems comes with writer Richard Hough’s characterisation. The exploration of the troubled family relationship is predictable and laboured. Eva’s coming-of-age story is poorly handled, her father’s perspective shoe-horned in. The transformation Eva sings about isn’t one I’m sure we need… I quite like her from the start! That said, for a young woman with magical talents who manages to save the world (sorry about the plot spoiler), Eva needs an awful lot of validation. A burgeoning love affair (with a poorly drawn character Yazdan Qafouri tries hard at) further slows things down.

THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE
Marc Pickering

On top of this family drama, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is also a climate change parable. The Northern Lights, the source of magical power, are being exploited… with dangerous consequences. The too simple scenario at least gives rise to some unusual villains. Marc Pickering is excellent as factory owner Fabian Lydekker: in a show so lacking in humour, he’s a real highlight. Dawn Hope’s role as mother Lydekker is hampered by the poor comedy, and plot twists that come too late, but is admirably far from cartoonish.

With so much going on, including the neat idea that Eva and her father can hear “the music of the aurora” the score struggles to hold the show together. Ben Morales Frost’s music tries hard; he knows variety is needed but a wish to be epic creeps into most pieces and the result feels self-conscious and generic. The lyrics are better – they scan well. Indeed, it’s only with Eva’s love interest that Hough stumbles.

More than usually, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is a show I feel should be judged on stage. It’s clear that Scarlet Wilderink’s work directing the puppets would be better appreciated live. Likewise with the magic tricks and Steven Harris’ choreography, including a very neat treatment of the Northern Lights. And I’d love to know if Pickering’s big number – surely a show-stopper – is the success I’d bet on. Director Charlotte Westenra, whose work is impeccable, has assembled a talented team that could create the atmosphere needed to make the show magical. Although the production and filming are accomplished, I’d like to feel this is a training run for the real thing.

Until 14 March 2021

www.tsamusical.com

Photos by Geraint Lewis