The Cher Show Shortlist

There are three new diva-bio-jukebox musicals planned for the first half of 2018 and I have snobby seats for all three. I have outlined some fantasy casting, wishful staging and fantasy speculation  for Tina: The Musical, Summer: Donna Summer Musical and The Cher Show.

The second incarnation of a bio-musical on the life of Tina Turner, also premiering in London, is produced by Stage Entertainment in association with Tina Turner. Tony-nominee Adrienne Warren (Shuffle Along, Dreamgirls) will play the titular character, and got the seal of approval by Turner herself following earlier workshops.

The former Tina Turner musical, Soul Sister, toured the UK and played in the West End in 2012 to mixed reviews, but was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical for 2013. Its leading lady, Emi Wokoma, received some great notices and was nominated for a Whatsonstage.com Award for Best Actress in a Musical. British love of Tina Turner has something to do with it: sales have been going very well for the initial booking period of the reincarnated bio musical, and the producers must have the confidence to mount a new version only five years after a successful run.

Tony Award winner LaChanze (Color Purple, If/Then), Ariana DeBose (Hamilton, A Bronx Tale) and Storm Lever (Freaky Friday) will play Queen of Disco, Donna Summer in different stages of her life. The musical had a trial run in La Jolla playhouse last year, and is thinks it’s ready for a Broadway opening in April. Reviews seemed to have been mixed, and message board critiques point faults at the book.

I briefly studied an audience recording of the show, and can see how they’ve smartly shoe-horned some of Summer’s hits. I personally cannot resist a musical that is set to include “Hot Stuff”, “Last Dance” and “She Works Hard for the Money” in a span of 90-minutes musical.

The Cher Show (I’d prefer if it was renamed Believe: The Cher Musical) will have a trial run in Chicago ahead of opening in the Spring. Following the same troupe as Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, The Cher Show will deploy three actresses to play Cher in various stages of her life. The musical will be told in a variety talk show framework akin to the Sonny & Cher Show from the late-70s TV show (think Catch Me If You Can).

That hasn’t stopped me from fantasizing over the structure of the show. Cher’s estranged father would sing a heartfelt rendition of “You Better Sit Down Kids” as he abandons his children. “Strong Enough” would be the Act I finale and would start as a book scene with younger Cher breaks up with Sonny (or whoever else she’s dating). During the music bridge, the scene would dissolve into a concert performance, and the remainder of the anthem would introduce us to a triumphant 2000’s Cher making her comeback and wowing the imagined concert (and actual) audience.

Hedwig‘s Lena Hall has played Cher in the workshops, and has gone as far as saying that Cher saw her and liked her in it. In recent interviews, Hall expresses her desire to open the show Broadway, but there might be scheduling conflicts (a reoccurring role in the TV adaption of Snowpiercer, dropping an EP album each month, and starring in an independent film called Becks). I would love to see Lena Hall take this to Broadway, while Stephanie J. Block could be a formidable 2000’s Cher.

Christine Ebersole

There’s so much happening here. Christine looked gorgeous back then, and still does. She aged beautifully and couldn’t be a better fit as Elizabeth Arden in War Paint. Then her first world problems that just keep on going on..and on..and..I couldn’t tell if the “children” were human beings or animals. And please Christine, please do not imitate what you probably meant was a sassy black woman who has no time. Otherwise, I snoozed during the Mame performance after loving the costume.

Woman in White

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Just saw the first preview.

I haven’t seen the original Palace Theatre version, besides the clips that are/were floating on YouTube. I can reassure everyone that this is a projection/video free zone.

Thom Southerland made an introductory speech on how this is the first preview and how things might look strange at times because it’s a first performance, or just not work altogether. Luckily, the latter never happened, but there were instances when things did look half-cooked and not quite finished.

It’s a unit sit, just like the design miniature shows.. There’s a fireplace downstage, and in the middle of the stage, a wall structure that glides into the wings and back in various points on the stage while scene changes happen behind it. Though overused, it’s pretty well done and is put into dramatic use quite effectively. Otherwise, the actors shift furniture, book cases or doorways to change the scenery.

Carolyn Maitland gives it her all as Marianne, although I thought they didn’t do such a great job making her the less attractive homey sister. I also feel that she didn’t have the awkwardness or wallflower quality at the beginning, which would have been interesting for an audience to see her change into a stronger character throughout the piece because of the trauma and violence in her life. But she delivers her All For Laura pretty nicely, and that’s half the work. She struggled a lot with her costumes towards the beginning and needed to be zipped up on stage. Anna O’Brien (Laura) and Sophie Reeves (Anne) look nothing alike, so it wasn’t too believable that they’d be confused by anyone. Chris Peluso (Percival Glyde) is a boring villain, but Greg Castiglioni (Count Fosco) is a scene stealer. It’s funny how I never realized that You Can Get Away with Anything is an ode to La Donna è Mobile. No fat suit, and the mice are now replaced with cash.

The music is pretty much the star of the show given it’s Andrew Lloyd Webber, and the lyrics are quite witty and fun. I’ve always thought that Love Never Dies borrowed so many motifs from Woman in White, but sitting through tonight I just thought that Woman in White is the first draft of Love Never Dies altogether. Orchestrations were very good: I’d say a piano keyboard, a synth keyboard, a flute, a string or two or three, and drums/percussion. It sounds like the string quartets and arrangements they put together for shows at the Menier.

The scene where Marianne is snooping on Glyde and Fosco is very clunky and needs to be restaged. She’s standing on tables as though she’s listening from the outside while it’s raining. Didn’t work at all. The final scene

Spoiler – click to view

where Glyde is run over by the train felt like a fly-less Defying Gravity. Glyde just drops on the stage in spread-eagle and there’s a lot of smoke. I don’t know (but hope) that there was an effect in there that they weren’t quite able to pull off by this first performance.

I thought All For Laura was performed in the interior of the mansion, but once the song ended they talk about how Marianne is outside, but the staging did not look like it was set in the outdoors (though they’ve done the interior/exterior scenes quite clearly in other scenes), so that needs to be redone.

Poor attendance in this rather shabby theatre that is in desperate need of carpet replacement and paint. Surprisingly, the bathroom is in mint condition and looks new. There was absolutely no buzz despite it being a first preview, though from what I can see, serious Lloyd Webber fans sporting their Phantom t-shirts.

There are times that I dozed off and started thinking about work during some of the overdone recitatives, but it’s an overall good show if you like the music, the Lord, any of the cast, or if you just want to tick it off your list.

Goodnight and Thank you, Evita

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Staging clumsy, set ugly, lighting tacky, costumes from a stock collection. But there’s great energy, determination and amplification that makes it very exciting and rather enjoyable. The only interesting directorial choice is Eva’s campaign to get Peron out of prison during A New Argentina. Rainbow High not too bad either. The lowering of Eva’s keys during the finale was especially triggering and not. okay.

Emma Hutton is an Elaine Paige clone and sounds especially like her during Goodnight and Thank You, but then turns her Elphaba button and sounds more contemporary. But, by the end of the second act, she hits all the emotional notes and I must say I was a bit chocked up at the end. Gian Marco Schiaretti as Che is boring, dull, charmless, vocally inapt and looks like an IDF soldier out of a gay porn film. The ensemble are uniformly young and generic, and look more like they’re from Surrey than Buenos Aires.

Other observations:
-Why is the little girl who is clearly lip synching Santa Evita mic’ed?
-There was a heart attack in the front row during the Act 1 finale.

Lifeless Big Fish

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I’m rephrasing, but Hal Prince once said that in order to have a good musical, you need to have a musical you’d want to look at. To top that- one of the golden rules of musicals is to introduce your song as soon as possible, and not have to wait over 20 minutes for someone to sing. I suppose the singing is delayed to cram in as much “comedy” and material as possible for Kelsey Grammar. Luckily for him, the audience is on his side from the beginning and were happy to laugh along. When we finally get the number, it’s Mr. Grammar, one of the weakest singers in the cast, who gets the first jab at a singing a terrific score (the only thing going on about this production).

The entire piece is drab with no sense of excitement or theatre magic in the tales Edward Blooms shares. The entire set is a hospital room and emergency ward that is re-purposed to accommodate to Edward’s supposedly wild imagination, that only takes shape and form through Microsoft office screensaver. Not sure what the director did during development, because the entire thing was imagination free and with blocking that could be topped by high school productions. Some of the costumes were painful, especially the green ones that looked like Wicked’s Emerald City costumes.

Kelsey Grammer was pretty good, though unnecessarily paired with the Jamie Muscato, who has a great voice and will get bigger and better roles in the future. I feel that the entire book was rewritten and split into old/story characters to accommodate to a star. Clare Burt is a fabulous actress, and her “I Don’t Need A Roof” was wonderfully performed, if not well sung. Keeping my eyes on Tanisha Spring (Young Jenny). She’s cute, got a voice, and killer abs. Forbes Masson was terrific and a standout comedian that made the most with the little he had to work with.

Missed opportunity.

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

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Completely original, relevant, edgy and fully embracing diversity in all its rainbow colors.

A fantastic British musical written and produced by a young team who are in touch with the times. Kudos for representation and inclusion. The music was catchy, humorous and the book scenes were witty and full of Easter eggs.

Cast is superb. A star is born and his name is John McCrea. Josie Walker spares no tears or snot. Mina Anwar and Lucie Shorthouse are scene stealers as non conventional side kick and fag hag prototypes.

Directorially, I think it’s really there. A few pacing tweaks could make moments land better: actors can catch a breath and wait a moment before starting a song following a co-actor’s exit; the ending of act one could land better if the music is indicative of the scene’s conclusion. Currently the moment ended abruptly and the audience didn’t know what to do. I started applauding to end the awkwardness. Lighting design isn’t quite as sharp and the stage seems a bit too lit for the majority of the show without much room for lighting to be evocative or give a sense of the drama. Scene changes in the second can be quicker and smoother. The sound during chorus number isn’t crisp, ironically even in the pre-recorded numbers.

This show cannot compete with the spare no expense Sonia Friedman or Cam Mac musical that dominate London- not the finishing or promotional efforts, but my does it deserve the recognition and support. Go see it.

Do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one: The Exorcist, 23 November 2017

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There’s a scene where Uncle Burke (Tristan Wymark) who plays a director confesses to Father Damian (Adam Garcia) about how his cheap, trashy films are his sins and how he should be punished for them. Is it weird that I was thinking that this is a metaphor about Ben Kenwright?

I have a love hate relationship with horror movies, and have great interest in dark magic and the occult (though I don’t practice), but I find it extremely fascinating. I also love The Exorcist and think it’s one of the best horror movies ever made. So when this was announced for the stage, I said, “tickets please!”.

I wasn’t expecting high art here, but can’t say that I was bored. Overall, lighting and set were pretty damn good and atmospheric. Special effects could have been better. Uncle Burke was a bit too cartoonish as the joie de vivre gay with a British accent. Clare Louise Connolly was pretty damn good as Ragan, and very convincing as a 12 year old. Jenny Seagrove read a bit too old to be a mother of a 12 year old, and looked and sounded like she was channelling Elaine Stritch! Was it only me who was like, “ELAINE?”! But I suppose she was fine as the concerned mother. Adam Garcia..what happened? The acting was really below par, dude.

Overall a pretty okay production by Kenwright. I expected worse. Would be interesting to see how a smaller intimate venue like Southwark Playhouse or Menier would handle this.

 

Sure, I Came Out Here to Leicester

 

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Timing and pacing is a big issue in this production, where key incidental music or scene transitions are eliminated.   Characters don’t pause for dramatic impact, the drama isn’t allowed to brew or audience to process the scene. The projections are effective, if not the best I’ve seen especially during scenic changes and car chases, but become completely unnecessary and distracting during With One Look and Salome. The jigsaw stairs and scenery is effective to keep the tour low cost and tour friendly, but does little to evoke the glamour and grandeur of ’50s Hollywood or the silent film era.

Ria Jones makes an angry, aggressive Norma whose acting is very surface. She’s an actress that makes a point by stressing and speaking keywords (With One LOOK!.. We’ll give the WORLD (!) new ways to dream). Her madness scene channels Bette Davis as Baby Jane Hudson and becomes laughable camp. Danny Mac is unqualified and green, lacking experience to communicate any of the text or drive the story forward and unable to convey Joe’s cynicism and self loathing. His speaking voice is thin without any sense of command, and his singing is either weak or mediocre in his finer singing moments. Adam Pearce as Max is an excellent singer, but far too young pegged against Jones and hard to be believed as Norma’s maker. Molly Lynch as Betty is invisible, and Dougie Carter as Artie (sticking out awkwardly as a Joe understudy) looks too much like Danny Mac (but with glasses) they might as well be those gay couples who look like each other.

The orchestra is very good, and sounds terrific mimicking the revival arrangements despite its size.

Lacking in depth, it doesn’t have scale and beauty of the Nunn version, or sophistication and simplicity of the Price version.

Other observations:
-Hog Eye is in his 20s and wears his baseball hat backwards.
-Joe’s agent is a woman (“there’s no spare sh*t at the moment”)
-Please stop dressing Joe in swimwear. I’ve had it up til here with horny middle aged women orgasming over a shirtless man.
-The arrangements are based on the revival, except for the Overture change that ALW made a fuss about but no one noticed.

The Great PR Blunder of July 26th

The saga has ended (or so we think) following an unnecessary public relations and media communications blunder by the producers of Broadway’s Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (shorthand, Comet).

Let’s backtrack. On July 26th, the producers abruptly announced that Broadway veteran Mandy Patinkin will to replace Hamilton’s original Hercules Mulligan, Oak Onaodowan as Pierre. This all seemed odd, first because of its timing, given that Oak has only joined on the 11th, a week after his scheduled due date (delayed for no apparent reason). Oak was contracted for nine weeks, but to accommodate to Patinkin’s Homeland schedule, he is set to end his run three weeks earlier.

Oak is African-American, and Mandy Patinkin is of course, white. While dissolving contractual obligations might not be racially motivated, the optics and semantics don’t work in the producer’s favor. “Oak […] graciously agreed to make room for Mandy,” said one producer. Make room, he said. The producers added that Oak might come back in the Winter.

This is when things started getting messy. Oak proceeds to post his final performance dates on Instagram, and says he will not be coming back. Oak’s colleagues and Broadway actors (of color, mostly) took to social media to express their outrage. Their reaction created further fanfare, as fans of the show protested that “this isn’t about race.”

Semantics played a huge role, and an overall lack of sensitivity and coordination spiraled out of control. It became evident that the producers have been replacing other cast members with more well known stars. The composers tweeted that original cast member Brittain Ashford was temporarily replaced by indie singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson. Ashford was on “temporary leave” and scheduled to return in August. While matters were handled delicately for Ashford, they were not in the recent replacement announcement two days ago. Producers then apologize for how things came across, and absolved themselves by saying they weren’t aware of Oak’s feelings (which remained quite neutral and professional, if not passive during this saga). Then finally, Mandy Patinkin decides to withdraw, stating that he wasn’t aware of the casting arrangements, and did not want to make another actor out of commission on his behalf.

Indeed, Comet has a diverse cast. Its leading lady, Tony-nominee Denee Benton is unknown and black. Her understudy is of Indian origins, and the producers made sure this was known in featured stories as the first Indian soprano leading lady when its black leading lady is indisposed. Many of the cast members are also POC. But diverse bodies are also part of the show’s hipster “look” and aesthetic. Yes, diversity is visible, but clearly it isn’t priority.

The producers’ motivations were clear: save a struggling show under any circumstances and recruit the stars. I understand this, and can appreciate how they needed to make tough decisions to save their show. The entire saga was a case study in message alignment between your spokespeople (mainly running amok on social media) with no coordination, and being so out of touch with public sentiment. A producer’s job is to manage all their internal and external stakeholders. For a business that is dependent on having an audience to float, they were incapable of communicating with their audience and managing their own team.

Dust and ashes.

 

Skyscrapers and Barricades

Dubai is known for its skyscrapers, shopping malls and propensity to be the first and biggest of anything imaginable. It seemed befitting that Les Misérables, one of the most exported and successful musicals would be running at the Dubai Opera, the modern district and development built in 2016. The opera house has a capacity of 2000 seats and is promised to be a destination of worldwide cultural experiences.

I saw Les Mis when I was a teenager, in my twenties and thirties. I wore the grey sweatshirt, and owned the Cossette mug all throughout high school. I must have first discovered coffee in that mug. It was also the second musical I saw, probably in 1992 or 1993, after Cats, also coming to Dubai Opera. Over twenty years later, the first two musicals I ever saw are now playing consecutively in my own neck of the woods.

Victor Hugo’s masterpiece is a well-known in the Arab world, with numerous translations of the novel and a number of film adaptations set in Egypt. Its message of perseverance of the human spirit set against a student uprising and revolution, Les Mis feels especially topical following the Arab Spring.

Producer Cameron Mackintosh typically assembled a bespoke company and production crew rather than plucking one of his worldwide companies to perform in Dubai. It’s not unprecedented, following a recent run in Singapore which also specifically assembled a new cast for the that run, but it is a new experiment here, considering Dubai (and anywhere else in the Gulf) is an untested ground for commercial mega-musicals.

The UAE premiere is based on the 25^th anniversary tour that started in the UK, with spurts in Toronto, Spain, Poland, South Korea and just concluded a two-year run on Broadway. Trevor Nunn’s and John Caird’s original innovative use of a stage revolve is now replaced with a more conventional set, utilizing some of Victor Hugo’s own water color paintings for scenic backdrops.

John Owen Jones plays the escaped convict Jean Valjean (having played the lead on and off since 1998, and just concluded the run on Broadway) opposite Australian Hayden Tee, also from the recently concluded Australian and Broadway revival. I saw John Owen Jones in 2009 during 25^th anniversary tour when Les Mis returned to its original home at the Barbican Centre. Jones is a fine singer, but he’s plain, short of stamina, and hard to see as a tough convict with a golden heart. Seeing him in 2016, his voice remains powerful, but his Valjean is even heavier and slower.

West End veteran Peter Polycarpou, an original London cast member from 1985 and Jodie Prenger play the vile and comical Thenardiers. Prenger won the search to play Nancy in a major West End revival of Oliver!, also produced by Mackintosh. Alistair Brammer plays revolutionary student leader Enjolras, prior to making his Broadway debut in Miss Saigon.  Carrie Hope Fisher, very much known to play estranged Eponine in London, reprises her role and is probably one of the finer cast members.

Despite great efforts for assembling a premium company, it’s evident that the cast hasn’t developed a cohesiveness and chemistry that would come with an organically grown and rehearsed team.

By all accounts, this was a massive feat for Dubai Opera, and the start of a trend of future projects and tours like Cats, Mary Poppins, Jersey Boys, West Side Story and Evita, all productions running in the UK with occasional stops in Europe, Asia, and finally in the Gulf.