LONDON TRIP REVIEWS

Sep 97

LUCKY STIFF at the Bridewell. Many of us had our first exposure to this delightful musical farce thanks to the studio cast recording produced by Varese Sarabande a year or so ago. With a score by Stephen Flaherty and book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens (soon to be represented on Broadway by RAGTIME, of course) the show was even more enjoyable in the flesh--and it was marvelously realized by a superb cast headed by Paul Baker as the hapless nephew, Frances Ruffelle as the representative of the dog shelter, and Trace Bennett as Rita La Porta, the "stiff's" mistress.

Unfortunately this musical about a corpse being taken on vacation to Monte Carlo opened at the same time that the Princess Di frenzy was at its peak, and people apparently did not want to see a musical with a dead body as its central character. The programme indicates that a cast recording would be "available soon" but this now seems doubtful. It was also rumored that it would transfer to a larger, more commercial theatre, but the one that had been considered for the transfer was to be renamed the Princess Diane Theatre--and it simply would not have been proper to have the first show there be LUCKY STIFF. This show would seem to be a perfect vehicle for a lot of small theatre companies around the world, however.

ENTER THE GUARDSMAN won the top award at the Musical of the Year 1996 competition in Denmark last spring. [It is based on The Guardsman by Ferenc Molaire.] The option for its performance was picked up by the Donmar with sponsorship by Lord Lloyd-Webber's Really Useful Group. Here again a superb cast of seven made for an exceptionally enjoyable theatre experience. The music by Craig Bohmler and lyrics by Marion Adler are quite sophisticated. It must be admitted that the first act was a bit slow, but the second act was magical. This is another candidate for production by small theatre groups looking for new musicals to present.

With the cancellation of Cole Porter's JUBILEE I had an evening free so I went to the first programme of LES BALLET TROCKADERO DE MONTE CARLO aka THE TROCKS which was in London for two weeks under the auspices of the Sadler's Wells. Many of you will have seen or know about THE TROCKS--but they are a group of 14 men who do all roles in classical ballet. Their Swan Lake Act II is one of the funniest things I have ever seen on stage. Thanks to the cancellation of the first preview of MADDIE I was able to take advantage of a free ticket to see the second programme the following Monday. Perhaps seeing two full evenings of this sort of thing is simply too much, because the second programme was simply an entertaining diversion.

DIVORCE ME, DARLING! is a 1964 sequel to Sandy Wilson's BOY FRIEND with the same characters being reconsidered ten years later. The theatre in the little town of Chichester, about 2 hours from London, put together a star-filled cast for this production: Ruthie Henshall, Linzi Hateley, Tim Flavin, Liliane Montevecchi, Joan Savage, Rosemarie Ford, and Marti Webb were only the better-known names amongst the talented cast. The cast recording of this production was released just at the time I saw the show, and it is an excellent representation of this very well produced revival. Unfortunately, at this point it does not seem that DIVORCE will be transferring into London which is a pity!

I decided to go back to see what changes had been made in MARTIN GUERRE since I had seen it shortly after it opened and again after it had closed for a short while last fall for some major changes. The changes made this time in no way improved the overall show--in fact they were considerable regressions, IMHO. The main change was to eliminate the song the three elderly women sang about the sleeping habits of their late husbands--Sleeping On Our Own. I was never wild about that song as it seemed to be a attempt to inject humor at the wrong place, but its replacement which tries to do the same is a disaster--a duet between Martin's Uncle and Bertrande's mother called The Solution. It simply did not work for me. An interesting bit of casting: At the performance I saw Bertrande was played by Ma-Anne Dionisio who is also one of the current Kims in MISS SAIGON.

A musical that many of you may not have heard about its DORIAN which is currently at the tiny Arts Theatre. "Inspired by Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray" says the programme. With book, music and lyrics by David Reeves, who also conducts the 3-piece musical accompaniment, the guilt for this undertaking is easy to pinpoint. [Reeves who is from Australia has previously given the world SEVEN LITTLE AUSTRALIANS and a recent CYRANO.] In DORIAN he has tried to create a sung-through musical based on a work that did not need music to begin with. At this stage in his career he is not quite capable of pulling it all together. Mehmet Ergen, the director, has only worked in a regional theatre, the Southwark Playhouse, since coming from Turkey in 1989 and never with a musical. I question if he had ever seen a musical let alone tried to direct one. I felt sorry for the cast! An utter disaster that will undoubtedly die a deserved death when it closes in early November. I doubt that there will be a recording, altho both 7 LITTLE OZ and CYRANO did make it to discs.

I finally saw MADDIE in its last preview performance. Unlike certain other reviews you may have seen, I loved this show. Here again, a tremendously talented cast does a great job in telling this complicated story of a 1920s dancer who died in an auto accident on her way to "the big chance" to get a movie contract, but who comes back to life in two women living today.

Summer Rognolie was one of the best things in the recent Natl Theatre's LADY IN THE DARK production--she played Alison Du Bois in LITD but would have been better as Liza than the actor who played it was. In MADDIE she plays the sedate wife who become the madcap Maddie. The transformation is phenomenal! Her husband, the museum curator, is Graham Bickley who is very well known to West End audiences. Lynda Baron as the "more mature" woman who was hot after the young curator was very funny and even more so when Maddie takes over her body. The audience loved this musical, and I hope that it stays around for a long time. London needs some smaller-scale musicals as an antidote to too many PHANTOMs, SUPERSTARs, MISS SAIGONs, and LES MIZs. I will certainly see it again.

( Oct 97 / Warren seamans (seamans@MIT.EDU )