Tuesday 31st May 2005

The Woman In White opened at The Palace Theatre in September 2004 with great reviews! Sadly the show suffered a set back in the loss of Michael Crawford due to illness, he was hoping to return to the role in May but this was not to be. Michael Ball stepped into the fat suit and the role of 'Count Fosco' for a short time, he left the cast at the end of April.

I was very pleased to read that Antony Andrews was to take on the role of 'Count Fosco' along with Maria Friedman in her original role as 'Marian Halcombe'.

The Palace Theatre has undergone some much needed restoration work, and has been restored with magnificent splendour.

When we entered the theatre I was sad to read that Maria Friedman was off sick and was replaced with her understudy Nicky Adams.

The story opens as a dashing young art tutor to two devoted sisters is stranded at a railway cutting, he sees a mysterious figure dressed in 'white' who wants to share a chilling secret.

The audience is led to believe that 'Count Fosco', a slightly overweight cunning man, is the villain of the piece, but is he? Well you will need to see the show as I do not want to spoil it, needless to say there are lots of twists and turns.

At this performance the part of Marian Halcombe was played by Nicky Adams (understudy), she played the role extremely well and with more power than I expected. Her performance alone was worth the price of the ticket! But we were treated to a whole company of very talented actors & actresses. Antony Andrew's take on 'Count Fosco' was cunning and showed the character’s dark side, he played the role with much zest and fun particularly with his only solo song "You can get away with anything" he was great!

Martin Crewes was great as the dashing young tutor Walter Hartwright his voice was pure and he played the part with great passion.

The direction of the whole show falls upon Sir Trevor Nunn who has a great background with Lloyd Webber’s work, and fully complements the very clever stage and set design by William Dudley which makes full use of video projection - this is simply stunning. However I felt at times it was too much -just my own view. None the less the music as you come to expect from Andrew Lloyd Webber is thrilling and moving. This musical has without any doubt made its home at the Palace Theatre and "The woman in White" will be haunting its stage for sometime...

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Wednesday 1st June - Matinee 2005

The much acclaimed writer Arthur Miller born in New York City in 1915 sadly passed away earlier this year at the age of 89. His most noted work Death of a salesman has returned to the London stage with awesome results.

The story concerns an ageing salesman Willy Loman, a man who has spent all his life as a respected travelling salesman. His un-thoughtful boss pressures Willy to keep going on regardless, Willy feels he his losing his sense of purpose and his world and mind starts to fall apart...

Death of a salesman has received much praise over the years, none will match this production which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the play when it opened on Broadway in February 1999, it won five Tony Awards including ‘Best Revival’, ‘Best Direction’ for Robert Falls and ‘Best Actor’ for Brian Dennehy. The entire Broadway creative team has brought this spellbinding, captivating production to life on the London stage!

The play opens with the return of Willy Loman at his front door, from this moment on we enter his world, you are gripped for a 3 hour performance which leaves you breathless.

Brian Dennehy gives a remarkable, moving and sensational performance which should not be missed at any cost! He is Willy Loman living the role to extraordinary highs and lows of one man’s struggle in a cut throat world.

Playing the role of 'Linda' his wife, who is worried out of her mind but still supports him and believes in him, is our very own Claire Higgins. I can sum up Claire Higgins performance as Linda Loman in one word 'Excellent'. She powerfully portrays the character and simply gives a superb and wonderfully moving and heart rendering performance. This of course perfectly compliments Brian Dennehy's performance.

The rest of the cast is a complete joy to watch including Douglas Henshall as 'Biff Loman', the boy who succeeds but then in later life totally makes a mess of things, and Mark Bazeley who plays 'Happy Loman', the womanising layabout, is just so good and compliments his brother 'Biff' perfectly.

There are fantastic performances from Jonathan Aris as ‘Bernard’, Howard Witt as 'Charley' and Allen Hamilton as 'Uncle Ben' they are great!< p> The set design is incredible, gently transporting us from the Loman's house and yard, and various places in New York and Boston. As for the direction, well I think Robert Fall's West End production will be heading for and carrying off another set of awards! Robert Falls has captured the essence of Arthur Miller's classic play and given it a spellbinding and enthralling lease of life!

Willy Loman is living the ‘American Dream’, Brian Dennehy heads a dream cast, but we don't have to dream, simply call the box office and order your tickets! I don't want to sound like a 'salesman' but don't miss this at any cost!

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Wed 1 June 2005 Evening

Billy Elliot - the musical has gained fantastic reviews from the popular press since its stage premiere in May, and remains mostly true to the 2000 film starring Jamie Bell. The music for the stage musical has been written by Elton John with book & lyrics by Lee Hall.

Inspired by the 2000 film Elton John reportedly contacted the producers of the film and its director Stephen Daldry and insisted that this would make a great stage musical and how right he was...

The story is simple, Billy Elliot - The musical is the tale of a motherless boy whose father wants him to take up boxing and gives him 50p a week for the lessons. Instead, the boy discovers a love for ballet that leads him from secret lessons to a potential place at the Royal Ballet School. This musical would be difficult to stage and how on earth would they cast the musical?

Playing the role of Billy's Dad is Tim Healy a noted stage and screen actor who to me gives a wonderful vibrant, witty and charming take on the character which brings a new depth, showing more of this lonely man, a great performance!

The role of 'Grandma' is played with such brilliance by Ann Emery, a very light hearted spin, but spin she does and gives a great performance! It's Joe Caffery who plays Billy's older brother "Tony" in some powerful scenes, he makes the part his own and works well with Dad and Grandma, he gives a strong convincing performance.

Haydn Gwynne a stage TV and film actress was playing the role of Mrs Wilkinson, which was so well played by Julie Walters in the film, but could she put her own stamp on the role? Yes, she is a clever actress and so much energy; she played the role with such conviction and made the part her own. A mention must be made for Steve Elias who gave a great performance as Mr Braithwaite.

The main casting problem would of course be the actor’s who would play 'Billy Elliot' It was decided that the producers would not only need to cast three boys to alternate the main role, but another three boys to play Billy's friend 'Michael' and three girls to play the role of 'Debbie'. Thousands of boys & girls were auditioned and nine were heading for the West End stage for the part of a life time!

At the performance we attended it was Liam Mower who was to take the lead role of 'Billy' along with Ryan Longbottom as 'Michael' and Lucy Stephenson as 'Debbie' all of these amazing child actors gave it everything. I think Liam's 'Billy' had his work cut out when his friend 'Michael' played by Ryan Longbottom made his entrance, he seemed to take the audiences attention away from 'Billy' and dominate the stage if only for a few moments. He gave a really strong comic like performance; however Billy the dancing boy would win back the audience!

As with the film, children swearing seems funny to some people, even the older generation. Its a sad fact that our society today seems to condone it, although the reality is hard hitting with the story set against the backdrop of the 1980's mining struggle and life at that time was difficult, it just seems to be more accepted now than ever before. That said it did give a gritty realistic feel to the piece and I suppose if no bad language had been used we would have criticised it for its lack of realism.

Stephen Daldry has transformed the film to the stage without loosing anything in fact I think its better than the film, he has directed it with great pace the three hours fly by. I must mention the set design which is very cleverly constructed and used, particularly by the young actors. The only thing I don't like is the reminder of Thatcher! But you can't have everything.

As for Billy Elliot himself aka 'Liam Mower' he is a bright and talented young actor, his dancing skills are absolutely amazing and certainly worth the ticket price to be in his presence and to watch his performance. He ends up commanding the stage with or without his tutu, I would love to see him again as he settles further into the role, then again I would like to see the other actors portray Billy, he was electricity when he was on the stage and was for me the star of the show! I will visit the show again.

This is a fantastic piece of live entertainment, the British musical is back. I am sure that this will be a sensational hit and will dance off with numerous awards. The children in the show are enough to bring the audience to its feet, and I think the standing ovations will be a regular sight at the ending of each performance, go on treat yourself to a wonderful, brilliant and uplifting night at the theatre. Its pure theatre magic!

Gary Mack
GMack24524@aol.com