THE
LOST MUSICALS 1998
At The
Barbican
Reviewed by
Emma Shane
© 1998
With rumours of a new venue for the
next season of Lost Musicals, it seems like an ideal time to reflect on the last
year at Barbican Cinema 1. 1998 found one of Ian Marshall Fisher’s
brightest stars, Louise Gold, regrettably absent, due to filming
commitments - she is in Mike Leigh’s
Gilbert and Sullivan film, Untitledfilm98. The remaining
regulars: Barry Cryer, Harry Landis, Jessica Martin, Stewart
Permutt, Myra Sands, and James Vaughan did their best to see,
as far as individual shows, she was not missed too greatly. Her absence gave
other performers: Lisa Pulman, Mandy More and Paula Wilcox
a chance to step from the shadows, and for once well and truly shine.
The season got off to a rousing
start with Irving Berlin’s As Thousands Cheer. Eight
talented performers did it proud, two really stood out. Mandy More at
last getting a chance to really star, and ever versatile James Vaughan.
The Show’s was book by the amazingly underrated Moss Hart. He had a real
talent to amuse. It is very sad that in heyday of 1980’s satire, no one paid
tribute to their real forefather.
The
Revue’s theme is it is a Newspaper! It kicked off in A Dinning Room In
Park Avenue with A Man Biting a dog,
starring James Vaughan
as the Man. Followed by Editor’s Office, where Man Bites
Dog brilliantly sung by Mandy More and reporters John Berlyne and Danielle Carson.
Frankiln D Roosevelt Inaugurated
Tomorrow - Ex-President Hoover And first Lady Prepare To Leave White House.
Had the President suitably played by John Rogan, the real star was Vivienne
Martin as Mrs Hoover, I truly began to appreciate her comic talent.
Barbara
Hutton To Wed Prince Mdivani featured How’s Chances
charmingly dueted by John Berlyne and Danielle Carson.
Heatwave
Hits New York brought us Earlene Bentley giving the weather
report in Heatwave. Her diction is truly excellent. But it served
as an example of one thing really lacking from 1998’s Lost Musicals.
Earlene Bentley sings well, but is no Merman.
Joan
Crawford To Divorce Douglas Fairbanks Jr fine performances by Paula Wilcox and James
Vaughan as the couple, an even
better one by John Rogan as Will Hays supervising it, so it had to be clean, and done for publicity. Then it was announced Mary
Pickford and Douglass Fairbanks Snr are also divorcing, everyone
went rushing after that story.
The
International Debts Conference Ends, with Debts, sung by Danielle
Carson, Mandy More and John Berlyne as representatives of
various countries, saluting Vivienne Martin’s Statue Of Liberty
Lonely
Heart Column had John Berlyne’s pleasant rendering of Lonely
Heart.
John
D Rockefeller Sr, World’s Wealthiest Man, Celebrates 94th Birthday was
much more interesting. Involving a very different performance from James
Vaughan as Rockerfella Sr, attempting to stab spendthrift, John D
Rockefeller Jnr and wife, John Rogan and Vivienne Martin,
who made him presant of Radio City
. I’m not sure Rockefeller was really
left-handed though.
The
Funnies had Mandy More in the fore. A truly delightful number, hilariously performed. Until now Mandy
More has always been in the shadows of such Lost Musicals
stars as Kathryn Evans and Louise Gold, at last she proves she’d
be capable of leading a Lost Musical herself and should be given a chance to.
To
Be Or Not To Be sung well but unremarkably by Earlene Bentley
Easter
Parade, concluded Act 1. Vivianne Martin’s performance was over
the top. The other mishap was Mandy More flying across the stage,
landing with a thud.
Metropolitan Opening opened
Act 2. An amusing number sung by John Berlyne, Danielle Carson
and Mandy More; Continuing with Rigaletto, sponsored by
Muller’s Miracle Mustard Sauce For Steak, a hilarious combination of Rigaletto,
a radio soap-opera and an advertisement for Mustard Sauce, with rousing
performances from comic talents: Vivianne Martin, John Rogan and Danielle
Carson as a Soap family, Paula Wilcox, as an announcer, and James
Vaughan as a French Waiter, it could well have been a forunner to Sesame
Street’s Nestrapolitan Opera skits
Unknown
Negro Lynched By Frenzied Mob, consisted of Earlene Bentley
singing Supper Time, this reminded me of Gershwin’s Summertime!
To
Be Or Not To Be gave the brilliant James Vaughan a shining
acting turn, as an American, acting Hamlet, very badly,
interrupted by Mandy More. It had a smattering of Graeme Henderson’s
Lucentio, and his voice was unrecognisable! Followed by Mandy More’s
super rendition of To Be Or Not
To Be My Man, ever so much better than the earlier one.
Gandhi
Goes On New Hunger Strike - in a restaurant was another hilarious
performance from James Vaughan, as Mahatma Gandhi, it featured Vivienne
Martin as Aimee Semple Macpherson. The pair team up, as a religious
duo, for publicity. Ms Macpherson’s
brassier strap brakes, so she borrows a
safety pin, from Gandhi - the
one holding his loin cloth in place. She decides he must add something more to
his act, and he suggests tap dancing. We had the brilliant spectacle of James
Vaughan and Vivienne Martin, trying to dance to the tune of Shuffle
Off To Buffalo - by Harry Warren and Al Dubin - in a
concert staging! James Vaughan
certainly has a few hidden talents. I had no idea miming a-man-tap
-dancing-while-holding-up his-loin-cloth was amongst them!
It
was well nigh impossible to follow that star turn with another, so Revolt
in Cuba was represented by Mark Warman playing The Rhumba.
Noel Coward, Noted
Playwright Leaves Waldorf Astoria Hotel In New York To Return To England, with the
company playing a hotel staff influenced by The Master’s visit, they talk in the style of him and his guests.
All the performances were accomplished. Two stand out: James Vaughan as
Henry Perlmutter a waiter, reading Mr
Coward’s diary takeing on his persona, and, Paula Wilcox as Aggie a
chambermaid - taking on Lynn
Fontanne!
Society
Wedding Of The Season had John Berlyne, Danielle Carson
and company singing Our Wedding Day, a half forgotten gem of a Berlin
song, with sentiments so much his comic style.
Prince
Of Wales Rumoured Engaged is a truly amazing piece of writing from Moss
Hart., in which John Berlyne as The Prince Of Wales (Edward VIII)
is questioned by his Parents King George V and Queen Mary,
assisted by Prime Minister Ramsey MacDonald, played by John Rogan,
Vivienne Martin and James Vaughan, about his love life. I am
amazed at how up to date Moss Hart’s comedy is. He was way ahead of his
time! I am surprised his work was never
rediscovered in the 1980’s, when, thanks to Spitting Image,
such comedy was fashionable. Sadly we have moved on, and that sort of
biting cruel satire is no longer socially acceptable.
Josephine
Baker Still The Rage Of Paris, had Earlene Bentley singing Harlem
On My Mind. Her performance was good, but not outstanding.
Supreme
Court Hands Down important Decision had Mandy More singing that
the Supreme Court decided we will have no reprise. Earlene Bentley and Vivienne
Martin attempting earlier numbers are told, “You can’t do that”.
Finally Danielle Carson sings “a simple little chorus that they
haven't heard before”, Not For All The Rice In China, with John
Berlyne, a sweet romantic song, very nice to hear. Followed by John
Rogan and Vivianne Martin’s, catchy Skate With Me. Next came Paula
Wilcox, as a midget in a publicity stunt singing The Midget Number,
all about sitting on JP Morgan’s knee, and not creating a sensation. This revue
could hardly have been complete without James Vaughan exercising his
flair for singing comic songs, and he finally did, with Through A Keyhole,
the opening line was used in You
Can’t Get A Man With A Gun . Mr
Vaughan sang excellently, as always, I would never have known he had a bad cold
at the time. Like all good concert performers he makes great use of body
movement; He had the audience in hysterics, by moving his eyebrows! A terrific
ending to a super show. The cast ended
with a quick reprise of Not for All The Rice In China. The Lost
Musicals first Revue was a runaway success, thanks to eight brilliant
performers and Mark Warman’s piano accompaniment.
The second Lost Musical
followed the first triumph most
successfully, due mainly to its star, the delightful, wonderfully talented Jessica
Martin, as Daisy Gamble. The show, music by Burton Lane, book and
lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, was presented in its original form, the Lost
Musicals have that down to a fine art. The pre-show talk was by the
librettists widow.
The
Show opens in the clinic of Dr Mark Bruckner, played to perfection by David
Firth, a hypnosis session is in place. While hypnotising someone else, Dr
Bruckner accidentally hypnotises Daisy Gamble, she has an unusually high ESP.
Fortunately he realises what happened and wakes her up. Daisy stays behind to speak to Dr Bruckner, during which he discovers she is very
good at making flowers grow, by singing to them Hurry! It’s Lovely Up Here.
After
the session Daisy is meeting her fiancée, the very proper, conventional,
Warren. He does not like her smoking habit, she asks Dr Bruckner if hypnosis
can be used to cure it. He attempts this. While hypnotised he asks when she
started talking to flowers, she names a date impossibly long ago, she is
remembering a past life, in which she was an English lady named Melinda. She
sings two delightful numbers I’ll Not Marry and Tosy And
Cosh, excellently as one might expect from Jessica Martin.
Before waking her up Dr Bruckner instructs her to remember nothing of
this. He, curious to find out more,
sings On A Clear Day, very pleasantly.
He
arranges to take her out, when asked where she has been she replies On
The S S Bernard Cohn. A brilliant number, superbly sung by Jessica
Martin, excellently supported by Rae Baker and Christopher Holt.
It was the only time, in this year’s entire season when somebody well and truly
hit a song right over the footlights taking FULL advantage of Barbican
Cinema 1’s wonderful acoustics.
Each
time Daisy visits Mark, for help conquering her smoking habit (leading to an
amusing line about smoking on the telephone) he asks Melinda more about her
life. This involves the characters of her past singing. Most notably Sir Hubert
Insdale and Edward Monchrief, her husband, played by Bryan Torfeh and Rory
Campbell, sing Don’t Tamper With My Sister. I really enjoyed this song a lot, and feel
sure that it ought to have a life outside of this show!
Melinda
loves Edward very much, except, he is a dreadful womaniser, always having
affairs.(Melinda ‘met’ Edward when she
went to see him about a scullary
maid, he impregnated). He loves Melinda above the others, She Wasn’t
You. To give him a new start, they, sail for America, but their ship, the Trelawney was wrecked and
all lives lost. A shocked
Mark sings Melinda.
Act
2 opens with Mark’s nosy brother Dr Conrad Bruckner, played by Bryan
Torfeh, finding out about and dismissing Mark’s researches into “Melinda”.
Mark, convinced they are correct goes public, but does not name her. This
attracts the attention of wealthy Themistocles Kriakos, who offers to fund
projects continuation He thinks if it is possible to discover who someone was,
it would be possible to discover who they are going to be. When I’m Being
Born Again provided theatre veteran Harry Landis an admirable
opportunity to shine.
Daisy
turns up, for a session with Mark, who is out. In his office she finds a tape,
plays it, and stumbles upon the truth. She is Melinda! Thinking Mark only loves Melinda and not
Daisy she wonders What Did I Have That I don’t Have? another
really excellent number from Jessica Martin, What a talent!
Returning
home she finds Warren planning to work for a Baby food’s manufacturer, with a
good pension plan. Wait Till We’re Sixty Five a joyful comic
number, performed by excellent artistes Jessica Martin and Johnny
Meyers.
Meanwhile,
Mark has arranged a press conference, but one person is missing, Daisy, even
Warren does not know where she is. Mark tries to get thought message to her, Come
Back To Me. Daisy hears him, tries to block him out, but
eventually comes.
Daisy
trying to run away, is about to get on a plane, called The Trelawney, she has
an overwhelming sense it will to crash. She kicks up a fuss, delaying it long
enough for a fault to be discovered. Daisy realises she and Mark are meant to
be together, and Mark reprises On A
Clear Day.
All
in all it was hugely enjoyable. All the performers were excellent, as always.
The cast included: Barbara Young, and Jason Carr gave
satisfactory accompaniment on the piano.
But one performer, in particular stood out, making this production a
real success, that is Jessica Martin. This show marks her swansong, she
is retiring from the business. It is of course her decision, however I
sincerely hope that someday, she will return. She has so much talent and was
such a great performer -she can lead a show herself, or hold her own against
any co-star.
With The Mikado, and Untitledfilm98,
it is appropriate to celebrate the work of Gilbert and Sullivan, with Hollywood
Pinafore, George S Kaufman’s affectionate adaptation of HMS
Pinafore. Set in Hollywood at Pinafore Pictures.
We
are introduced, by doorman, Will Harper, to the Simple Movie Folk
Of The Wood That’s Known As Holly. First film stars Gloria Mundi and Beverly Wiltshire, played
by Juliet Panter and Zoe Ann Bown, followed by, child star, Miss Peggy, played by Tiffany
Edwards, a bit old for the role.
The
show starts with arrival of Gossip columnist Louhedda Hopsons,Louella
Parsons and Hedda Hopper combined, very well played by Paula
Wilcox, emerging from the shadows as one of this season’s stars. With a
Press agent, Bob Becket, played by Leon Berger, she shines in particular
in Sweet Little Butter Up. (Rosina Brandram was the
original Buttercup).
Next
comes the villainy, Dick Live-Eye, an agent, who gets 10%, likes to scare people, wickedly played by Matt
Zimmerman. He is always trying to sell people things he does not own, like the rights to The Bible. Sometimes they
are owned by the people he is trying to sell them to, like Clark Gable
to MGM. He performs a truly excellent interpolated spoof, An
Agent’s Lot Is Not A Happy One. His singing made one forget the excellent
original in the film The Pirates Of Penzance!
We
meet The Writers, amongst them our hero, Ralph Rackstraw, excellent performance
by Tim Brierley He Loves Alas Above His Salary, Brenda
Blossom, but “the maidens of this town do not marry writers”.
We
meet a Director, Mike Corcoran, truly excellent performance from Frank
Lazarus, he should play more characters like this. He sings a funny song
about being a good director What Never?
No Never! Well Hardly Ever.
We also meet Corcoran’s daughter Brenda Blossom, an Academy Award
Winning star, played by Liza Pulman, one of the real surprises of the
evening. I had no idea how capable Liza Pulman is of playing a lead,
when she appeared in Oh Kay
she was very overshadowed. She sang Here
On The Lot I am A Star very well. She tells her father that she is in
love. He is afraid it is a minor actor,
it is even worse, a writer! But
she is a star so he will never know it.
It
is time to meet studio head, Joseph W Porter. We are introduced to his
secretary, Miss Hebe, a fine performance from Judith Paris. Next in song
his sisters, cousins and aunts Gaily Tripping Lightly Skipping Relatives
Are Always Skipping. Finally Joe Porter himself, played by Ian
Lavender, (Dad’s Army’s Private Pike, “Stupid boy”). He is
older, stouter, but a fine actor showing an unexpected singing talent,
performing Now I Am The Ruler Of The Studio the original turned
up in the Pinafore scene in that Pirates Of Penzance film).
Mr
Porter is always discovering stars, like Sylvia Sin, gigglingly played by Heather
Davis. He wishes to be shown a writer. They are brought in, and Ralph makes
a request, for “Some more straw”-“ to stuff the characters with”. To “bring this miserable creature to his
senses” they perform the, well worth hearing Studio Writer’s Song.
Joe Porter decides to stay outside for a while. Dick Live-Eye enters and
persuades Mr Porter to hire him as his agent. Followed by a truly wonderful
song, This Is Hollywood And Therefore, which is hilariously
funny.
Ralph
encounters Brenda, she coldly rebuffs him, a writer. He contemplates suicide.
Luckily she declares her love and they decide to get married. Hearing their
intentions, not realising who they are Mr Porter raises Ralph’s salary. Dick
Live-Eye tries to put a spoke in, but is booed off stage by the chorus..
Act
2 commences with Frank Lazarus singing a sad song. Brenda’s refusal
to marry Joe Porter worries him. He is afraid Mr Porter will not let him direct
Po’s The Raven. He is cheered up by Louhedda, offering to marry him! With her
writing his praises in her columns he need not fear being out of work. The benefits to her include an exclusive on
covering The Wedding and “ if there was to be a baby, I would be the first to
know.”
Joe
Porter is also upset. Miss Hebe tries to get the girls to cheer him up by:
Singing, Juggling, or doing Card tricks, but they can’t, they are only in
Hollywood because they want to marry Clark Gable. Louhedda enters and
teases him, with Hollywood’s A Funny Place, another excellent
performance from talented Paula Wilcox, and Ian Lavender.
Dick
Live-Eye “scares the hell out of” Brenda Blossom, by telling her what will
happen if she refuses to wed Joe Porter. He will put her upon The Stage.
“It’s a living death.” “And
one thing more, On The stage you will have to act, and should you give a bad
performance upon the stage, the critics actually say so, in print!” She sings about The Life That I
Embrace.
It
is decided Pinafore should make a prestige picture,- one that looses you money.
They set about this by trying to buy the rights to a Broadway play. This, along
with lines about stuffing characters , shows
George S Kaufman was a
forunner to great TV comedy writers, like
Jerry Juhl. They decide to make The Life And Times Of Joe Porter,
because, He Is A Movie Man.
Dick
Live-Eye tells Joe Porter some bad news. Incensed by the fact that either Darryl
Zannuck or Van Johnson have everything he wants, Mr Porter bans
mention of their names, anyone who does is sacked. Followed by Hey
Veniculay, a funny little duet by Ian Lavender and wonderful Matt
Zimmerman.
Brenda
and Ralph decide to runaway. Hearing this, and fearful of his job, Corcoran
decides to stop them. We enter a Marx Brother’s style scene, in the
dark, where Brenda and Ralph keep bumping into something, that turns out to be
her father! Corcoran utters both
forbidden words, and sacked, waylaying the couple long enough to be discovered,
and Rackstraw is carted to the doghouse,
singing Light Of My Life Farewell.
To
the rescue comes Louhedda! When asked “what is your foul purpose”, Dick
Live-Eye, replies “ just messing things up. I’m an agent.” In a stunning performance from Paula
Wilcox with I’m Slightly Off My Trolley, she reveals that
while reporting on two appointments to
the studio, one high and one low, she made a terrible mistake! Joe Porter was meant to be but a writer, the
head of the studio should have been Ralph Rackstraw! Now Brenda will marry the
head of the studio. Ralph hires Corcoran, who is marrying Louhedda, to direct
Po’s The Raven. Everybody is getting married, so Miss Hebe offers herself to
Joe Porter. The show ends with a triple wedding “But separate honeymoons”.
A
thoroughly enjoyable show, well performed, by the cast including: Arlene
Coyle, Norman Bowman, Darren Batten, Jacqueline Harben,
Chris Vincent, Timothy Walton, Musical direction by David
Shrubsole “With apologies to
Gilbert and Sullivan.”
The fourth Lost Musical of the
season was a single act by Stephen Sondheim and Burt Shevelove,
based on a comedy by Aristophanes! Concerns Dionysos the God of Wine and
Theatre, brilliantly played by Rolf Saxon, and peace-loving servant Xanthias, played by Stewart
Permutt journeying to Hades in quest of George Bernard Shaw . It
opens with these two, imploring the audience to behave - it was written for Shevelove’s old
college, Yale, to perform in a swimming pool!
They
Call on Dionysos’s half brother, Herakles,
loudly played James Vaughan. Dionysos’s borrows his Lion skin, to journey disguised as him.
Herakles goes to clean out a stable.
Continuing,
they reach the River Sticks, and Charon the boat man, also played by
ever versatile James Vaughan. His entrance, sliding across the stage,
sitting on his script book, was one of the comic highlights of the entire
season!
As
Herakles, Dionysos qualifies to ride to Hades, Xanthias has to walk. When asked
how long it will take Charon replies “All night if I row, no time at all if
you row.” On querying this he is
told “Well you did the last time”, so he rows and Charon goes to sleep,
woken when they encounter The Frogs, who sing their chorus.Tthe boat carries
on, to encounter the Dyonysians, singing a tribute to Dionysos, who,cannot
reveal himself.
On
arrival in Hades, the disguise is a mixed blessing. The questers encounter Pluto’s servant, half-dead Aekos, a
reasonably convincing performance from Barry Martin. He is angry because
Herakles slew Cerberus, last time, so
must get his comuppance. Aekos goes to tell Pluto. Afraid Dionysos swaps clothes with Xanthias. They
meet a delightful Handmaiden to Persephone, played by Morag Brownlie,
with loving designs on Herakles, persuading Dionysos to swap back. We welcome
the return of delightfully wicked Myra Sands, in one of her customary
annoying roles, as A Handmaiden to Hippolyte. In this case demanding the return
of her lady’s sacred girdle, who is not the same without it. Vowing vengeance
she goes to “tell the girls” and Dionysos attempts to swap back.
Pluto
enters and realises neither man is Dionysos, because they are both too short.
Pluto, charmingly played by veteran Harry Landis is a
firm but benevolent ruler. It was not nice of Herakles to slay Cerberus,
but wants no revenge. Dionysos says he has come in search of Shaw, who is
coming to dinner, Pluto invites the two travellers. The residents of Hades,
lead by Hierophantes, James Vaughan again,
sing a song about the state of the
world. Followed by a drunk after party scene, with Xanthias and Aeakos, comparing notes, a delightful piece of
double entendre, at the expense of various deceased playwrights.
Dionysosy
tries to persuade Shaw, a bitingly cruel performance from Shay Gorman,
to come back to Earth to write again for the theatre. A very flamboyant William
Shakespeare, excellently, likeably played by talented Peter Gale
enters, with followers. Shaw clearly dislikes Shakespeare and they soon find
themselves in a quarrel. It looks like it will come to fisticuffs, but
Dionysos persuades them to make it a
battle of words, and organises a duel. Thus we come to the climax of the show,
a duel of words, between Shaw and Shakespeare, quoting from their writings,
refereed by Dionysos, who reluctantly declares Shakespeare the victor, and asks
to take him back to earth. Pluto doesn’t want to let him go, but relents. With the funny Charon they make their way to Earth through The Frogs.
The
other Frogs and Dionysians were: Zoe Ann Bown, Verona Chard, Rupert
Fawcett, Catherine Hamilton, Sam Kenyon, Steven Mann, Daisy
Moon, Andrew Weale, Musical direction by Paul Bateman.This
strange musical was enjoyable, thanks to the wining performances of: Peter Gale, Harry Landis, Stewart
Permutt, Myra Sands, Rolf Saxon and James Vaughan.
STRIKE
UP THE BAND
The final Lost Musical at The
Barbican was an even bigger departure. For the first time in their entire
history Ian Marshall Fisher’s Lost Musicals had a FULL orchestra,
the BBC Concert orchestra, and were in The Barbican Concert Hall. Until I
actually saw it I could not believe it! The show, part of the Gershwin
centenary celebrations, was the original version of Strike Up The Band,
a satire about war, in which America goes to war over cheese.
It
opens in Horace J Fletcher’s cheese
factory, with Timothy Harper and G.
Edgar Slone, brilliantly portrayed by two of the Company’s finest men, Michael Winsor and James Vaughan
, and a chorus of factory workers singing Fletcher’s American Cheese.
The head of the factory, wonderful portrayal by another versatile performer, David
De Keyser enters, and confers with Slone.
The
next development brings in Mrs Draper, played by Thelma Ruby, who
deserves a better role! and her daughter Anne Draper, a touching performance by
Claire Carrie. Anne and Timothy are in love alone they sing the romantic
17 and 21. Anne is determined to get Timothy.
Slone
suggests that, for the publicity it will generate, he marry Fletcher’s daughter
Joan. We meet Joan, a convincing
performance from Iren Bartok,
clearly not interested in Slone. She is preoccupied with a dairyman
turned newspaper reporter Jim Townsend, played to perfection by another
talented man, John Capes, who wrote things about her. She demands her
father do something about this. He is more concerned with keeping the tariff on
foreign cheese high. He calls the
President’s silent aide Colonel Holmes, a super performance from Barry Cryer.
Fletcher is a Typical Self-Made American according to himself,
and his Yes Men, Jim disagrees. Jim meets Joan, alone, he only wrote those
things to get her to notice. They share their feelings in Meadow Serenade
Fletcher
joins Holmes and chorus in Unofficial Spokesman, a very funny
song referring to Holmes, who got a lot of laughs, that George S Kaufman
had not intended, for his lines about The President. I am extremely surprised
that The Barbican Centre’s management permitted this!
A
Marx Brothers style meeting in Mr Fletcher’s office concludes that the
only course of action is War, with Switzerland, it introduced a bizarre character,
George Spelvin, charismatic portrayal by talented Sam Kelly (also in Untitledfilm98).
He first appears as a Salesman, turns into a telegram messenger, and other
things, we unsure exactly what he is!
A
few weeks later the country is on the brink of the Horace J Fletcher Memorial
War, he is financing it. The chorus sing a Patriotic Rally.
Romance is in the air. Joan and Jim declare their love in The Man I Love,
a beautiful interpretation in its original setting. They run into a big
problem, Jim does not agree with this War. However he reluctantly goes along
with it, for Joan’s sake. Anne is desperate to marry Timothy, before war is
declared, she does not want to wait until after the war to get married, she
might have to wait a long time. Spelvin and chorus try to cheer her up with the
hilarious, patriotic Yankee Doodle Rhythm, a super
performance from the comical Sam Kelly.
With
the declaration of War Mrs Draper and Mr Fletcher celebrate by, a reprise of 17
and 21, and, drinking milk, the same milk used to make the cheese. Jim
enters, and is invited to join them. Being a dairyman he “knows about milk”
so on tasting it he realises the dreadful truth, it is grade B milk! He refuses
to fight, tells Joan this, who promptly walks out on him.
The
patriotism theme continues with a meeting of “the very patriotic league”:
Mr Fletcher, Colonel Holmes, Mrs Draper and Mr Slone, wearing pointed hoods.
Amongst the problems is Townsend, who refuses to fight. In Finaletto Act 1 he protests
he will not fight for cheese made with grade B milk. Slone, who “is a bit
arrogant”, dismisses this preposterous claim, with a convincing performance
from James Vaughan, who is
rather good at acting arrogant (as his role in a BBC Courtroom-drama
proved). Townsend is lead off, the soldiers, headed by Timothy lead the company
into the rousing title song Strike Up The Band.
Act
2 opens ‘Somewhere In Switzerland’, with American Soldiers and
Swiss Girls in the amusingly satirical Oh This Is Such A Lovely War.
It is a war for publicity, it even has spectators, a female chorus singing Come-Look-at-the-War.
But, the American soldiers cannot find the Swiss army. The Swiss know these
mountains better, whenever they see “us
coming they hide and we can never find them.” Amongst the spectators is Joan, she meets Townsend, who has been
drafted, forced to serve the army as a general dogsbody, but he still knows
about milk, one day he will prove it, they duet Hoping That Someday You’d
Care.
Meanwhile
Anne, still trying to get married, meets Timothy, but he is too busy, right now
it is time for Military Dancing Drill. Anne’s mother will not let
her get married until after she does. Anne, trying to help, tells Holmes and
Fletcher her mother has shares in the cheese business. They romance Mrs Draper,
in the amusing How About A Man, but lose interest, on finding she
is not wealthy.
Fletcher cannot finance the war much more.
Spelvin wants to be a General. Fletcher makes him one sends him to find the
army, who cannot find the enemy.
Spelvin takes charge, asking if they have problems. They do, Buttons
missing from their uniforms, more are cut off every day. a traitor’s work, but
who?
Spelvin
encounters Townsend, with an idea on how to win the War, he also suspects who
the traitor is, but no one will listen to him, Spelvin, does. Everyday the Swiss army goes to lunch, after
which their General calls them together by yodelling. Townsend’s suggestion is
Spelvin assemble his men, just before this time, and yodel. The Swiss will
think it is their General and coming running in that direction, and then can be
licked. Finaletto Act II finds this idea put into practice, by
the company, and the war won.
On
the boat home, seasick Mrs Draper and Mr Fletcher discovering they
have a lot in common, decide to marry.
Dominic Natoli. The male chorus sing Homeward Bound,
and reprise The Girl I Love.
At
a big homecoming in Flecture's Ballroom. Townsend is a hero, Spelvin enters.
Now, he can reveal all. That arrogant
Mr Slone tries to stop him, and no wonder, the traitor is G. Edgar Slone,
really a Swiss secret agent. It was he who cut the buttons off the American
soldiers uniforms, so they could not button their jackets in the mountains, so
freeze to death. For years he worked in the factory adulterating the cheese
with Grade B milk. Spelvin is an American secret agent. Fletcher begs this will
not get out. Townsend promises on two conditions First there will be an
international league of cheeses and no more War, and second, well it isn’t
really up to Fletcher, Joan will marry him. The chorus sing The War That
Ended War. It is announced
Russia wants to drop the tariff on Caviar, everyone prepares for war, with the Finale
Ultimo of Strike Up The Band.
The
chorus were: Thomas Aaron, Temime Bowling, Zoe Ann Bown, Morag
Brownlie, Chris Dee, Stephen Ellias, Deirdree Forrest,
Alex Mills, Bernadine Pritchett, Teresa Revill and Robert
Traynor. The company gave an excellent tribute to George Gershwin’s centenary,
a fine finale to 6 years at The Barbican, the leading men were especially good,
where did Ian Marshall Fisher find them?
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