Someday A Time, Someday A Time

I've been to see a number of musicals in the last few months, and every time I see a show I really enjoy I think that this is it, the art form can get no better. This was certainly my experience of Hairspray which I reviewed not that long ago.

Modern musicals certainly get the entertainment aspect down pat, but when it comes to the passion, the classics should not be forgotten. I was reminded of this when I went to see West Side Story last night at Sadler's Wells. It is so rare to get the convergence of song, dance and storyline which elevates a simple night out into an evening of pathos, and I am very glad to say that this musical does just that.

First of all though, let me say that I have never seen West Side Story on the stage before; I have only watched the iconic film. While the film itself is amazing, there were moments of melodrama in it, and there really is a limit to the number of times you can look into Natalie Woods' glistening eyes before feeling like you want to slap her. Then again, the film was made in 1961, in a less cynical age. In the theatre though, the raw emotion and exaggerated acting makes much more sense.

Sophia Escobar, who plays Maria in this version, has a gorgeous, passionate and innocent voice, with a very natural Puerto Rican accent. You watch her and do believe that she could fall in love with Tony in the space of one night. When she reprises Tonight, she has to pluck a note out of the air unaccompanied, to which the orchestra than rises to meet. She does this with confidence and conviction, and was spot on. Brava!

Ryan Silverman, who plays her paramour, certainly has the stage presence and gentle masculinity to add to the illusion. His voice too was incredibly beautiful. The role of Tony calls for a very high tenor, and Mr. Silverman switched with ease from chest to head voices and then to falsetto in a smooth scale. My only complaint was that he was rather flat in some of the higher notes, and the final high note of Somethings Coming, his opening solo, verged on painful to hear.

The remainder of the cast was good too, although the weakest vocal link was by far Lana Gordon. She was no Rita Moreno, nor would I expect her to be, but her diction was quite poor, and she swallowed the repartee in America which meant that some of the humour was lost. That said, she is an amazing dancer. Indeed the real highlight of the show was Jerome Robbins' incredible choreography which has stood the test of time. It is energetic and poetic at the same time, and helps to propel the story.

All in all I had a grand evening and strongly recommend watching the play while it is still on. It always strikes me as snobbish when opera-lovers look down on musical theatre as an inferior art form. West Side Story demonstrates that this is clearly not the case.

You Can't Stop The Beat

Last night a bunch of us went down to see Hairspray, the stage musical. Having only just watched the film(s) a couple of months ago for the first time, I was an instant convert, and I knew I just had to see it in the theatre. Straight off I just want to say that it met every expectation and I have not seen such an energetic and enjoyable show, ever!

What do I look for in a musical? Well, like any other medium, it really does depend on the style of the show. For instance, as you know, I am a major fan of Chess, and the reason I think it is a great musical is that the songs are melodic and memorable, the storyline is believeable and emotive, and at the end of the day I leave humming a few tunes and feeling like I have been through something worthy.

Hairspray is not the same as Chess. For one it is uncompromisingly happy; and this is even when it is trying to address the important social issue of racial segregation, and by proxy, and through some none-too-veiled hints, about being happy with who you are and showing some (gay) pride. The songs are all danceable, and the characters from Tracy to Link, to Mr. and Mrs. Turnblad and even the Von Tussels are big and overblown but easy to feel empathy towards.

The original John Waters film which starred a fresh-faced and even larger Ricki Lake as Tracy and a 5 o'clock shadowed Divine as Mrs. Turnblad was pretty weird as films go, and included the memorable scene of Mrs. Von Tussel trying to pop her daughter's facial pimple. If you have not seen this version of the show there is a terrible close up of dripping pus best watched on an empty stomach.

The musical came after this, followed by the film of the musical, so by the time you get this far down the line the whole experience is sanitized. It is still thoroughly enjoyable, but partly thanks to Zac Efron who playes Link in the second film, reminds me more of High School Musical than the original film's Bride of Frankenstein.

Thankfully, the musical itself strikes the delicate balance between the two. Yes, the pimple crushing scene is preserved (although since we were in the gods, we were spared the visuals) and Mrs. Turnblad was more Divine than John Travolta. Indeed, much is made of Michael Ball is Edna, and I have to say that it is entirely justified. As a wonderful musical tenor, Mr. Ball is forced to since in a slightly higher register than usual and manages to keep the slight raspiness of man obviously pretending to be a woman. The other stand out performances for me were Ian Talbot as Mr. Turnblad, Adrian Hansel as Seaweed (what a voice!), Leanne Jones as Tracy, and an utterly outstanding Johnnie Fiori as Motormouth Maybelle.

Did I think the stage show better than the film? You betcha! The actors were clearly enjoying themselves, the dancing was electric, and at the end you just could not help getting up and doing a little boogieing. I was eyeing some of the choreography and definitely think that if the Pinkies can convey even half the amount of excitement on stage this Saturday we will have given a truly outstanding performance.

Who The Hell Is Timothy Leary - Dearie?

Our joint song in Paris is Let The Sunshine from the musical Hair. Since I have never seen either the musical or the film version, it is a bewildering blend of lyrics - what do smells of laboratories have to do with Manchester, England? - which on the face of it appear disjointed. The only bit which is vaguely familiar is the "Let the sunshine in" chorus, but even that is without context.

Anyway, to try to make sense of it all, I've done a bit of a search, and it turns out that the story is about a guy called Claude Hooper Bukowski. Claude is from Flushing, Queens, but wishes he were from Manchester, England. Not sure where the advantage lies in that, but it does explain why Manchester, England is Claude's theme tune. It is the song he sings at the start of the show to introduce himself to the Tribe, a bunch of anti-war hippies (this being 1968 and all). To cut a very long and rather meandering story short, Claude eventually gets signed up for the Vietnam draft, letting down his friends.

What we are singing with Equivox, is in fact two songs, The Flesh Failures, a song sung by Claude in his shame at giving in to being a solder, in which he reprises his theme tune, which is then followed closely by Let The Sunshine, the song performed by the Tribe as the musical's finale. At the very end of the show, Claude dies in Vietnam.

To pile on that additional layer of complexity, the storyline to the film was significantly changed from the musical, and to explain the scene in the video above, the officer arriving in the car is the real Bukowski. Instead, the one who answers to Bukowski is his best friend George Berger, who took Claude's place so that Claude could spend his last night before shipping out with his girlfriend. When he sings, "That's me!" he is merely continuing this subterfuge, but the shot of his grave at the end indicates that, for his sacrifice for his friend, poor George died out in Vietnam.

Confused yet? Either way, someone dies in Vietnam, and the songs are about the tragedy of war. They are supposed to be sad and pensive, not chirpy and fun.

Oh, and this is a picture of Timothy Leary, the American writer, psychologist and advocate of psychedelic drug research and use. He is most famous as a proponent of the therapeutic and spiritual benefits of LSD and coined and popularized the catch phrase "Turn on, tune in, drop out." Perhaps that explains the "laboratories" reference in the lyrics of the song? Who says being in the Pink Singers isn't educational?

Of Musicals And Chess

My first ever musical was Starlight Express in London all those years ago. I was thirteen, and despite it not being one of the most sophisticated art forms in the history of humanity, was mesmerized. It sparked off an obsession which continued with Les Misérables, Blood Brothers, The Phantom Of The Opera, Into The Woods and a dozen other stage shows of the 80s and early 90s.

I am pleased to say that not only did I have the original cast recordings to all these shows, I actually managed to see all of them performed with one great, and much lamented, exception: Chess.Brought to us by the guys from ABBA, who could not love the drums of One Night In Bangkok or the melodies of I Know Him So Well? I was on a conference in Stockholm in 2003 when I chanced upon a performance in the Nykvarns Folkets Park - my hopes were raised, only to be dashed when I realized it was sung in Swedish.

Anyway, this story does have a happy ending. I was watching Breakfast on BBC this morning when Josh Groban came on. I'm not sure what exactly he is promoting at the moment, but the conversation turned to his recent appearance on Any Dream Will Do with Lee Mead. He was asked, given his theatrical training, whether there was a chance that he would return to musical theatre, and his reply was that it was great to be able to dip his toes in occasionally, and that he would be giving this concert of Chess in May next year at the Royal Albert Hall.

The other rumour/highlight is that one of the female roles is to be played by none other than Idina Menzel. This is going to be a concert made in heaven!

Here are a couple of YouTube videos: one of Josh Groban performing the wonderful Anthem (I Mitt Hjärtas Land for the Swedish speaking crowd), and the second of the even more amazing and original Tommy Körberg singing the same song. I really like both, although I wish Josh would pronounce his 't's when he sings 'petty' rather than Americanize them.