Book and lyrics by Charles Hart, music by Howard Goodall Commissioned by the National Youth Music Theatre
Diggory Paul Street
Bridget Sophie Smith
Hardcastle James Hoare
Mrs Hardcastle Sheridan Smith
Tony Lumpkin Ian Virgo
Kate Gina Beck
Constance Akiya Henry
Bet Bouncer Emma Jacobs
Mrs Bouncer Jess Brooks
Charles Marlow Alexander Hassell
Hastings Michael Jibson
Sir James Marlow Kristofer Smith
Music director Alexander L'Estrange
Directors Russell Labey and Jeremy James Taylor
National Youth Music Theatre
She Stoops to Conquer is a witty comedy about class, sex and mistaken identity that comes from a time (1778) when the London theatre seemd to have ditched any real interest in music, and opera had become a completely different business. (English opera in the later eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century might not have been as dreadful as it seems, but it probably was.) Charles Hart and Howard Goodall seem to have been inspired by the brilliant transformation that Da Ponte and Mozart worked on
Beaumarchais' somewhat similar Marriage of Figaro. (The Marriage of Figaro also has a denouement in a night-time garden with an upper-class woman disguised as a working girl.) There are a couple of mentions of Hogarth and the odd spot of Mozartian pastiche which suggest that Hart and Goodall
might like the idea that The kissing dance is a latter-day Rake's progress, with a happy ending.
Unfortunately, it's more like Lloyd Webber does Merrie England. The music goes on and on shapelessly and unmemorably, even in numbers like In a garden green that shout their form with stanzas and refrains, and the title song, which is supposed to evoke a dance. The lyrics have verbal pretensions (repeated "I have a wish"es for example) without any musical support, or even point. "Fill the punchbowl until the punchbowl flows over"? The whole thing is a mixture of musak and naff pastiche on all levels.
A part of the problem is simply that the material is so completely unmusical. The authors have tried to extract musical-number scenes from episodes that develop through allusion and misunderstanding, but also to keep the plot more-or-less in place. So Kate and Constance sing a merry duet about two gentlemen of London who are coming to court them. Constance collapses in misery in the middle because she is to be forced to marry Tony Lumpkin instead, but on the word Courage! returns to the initial jolly theme. Constance also has to do a bit of plot exposition during the opening number of the second act, about how crazy everyone is in the moonlight on the feast of fools. There are too many scenes where the setup and plot twist happened within a number and risked being lost, for example, Tony Lumpkin's description on Nonesuch as a local inn and Kate's decision to dress up as a serving wench to win Charles.
The screwy but basically all right Hardcastles are characterized musically well enough, in "Oliver" style, as are the jollies at the inn. And there is some added low humour ("Small, Dick?", borrowed from Spike Milligan, who also gets homage in the person of Stingo) that works, while the self-conscious bawdy ("softer than badger and sweeter than snuff" stuff) doesn't. But the lovers, particularly Kate and Charles Marlow, don't have the complexity they need to be interesting. Of course, Marlow's Englishman's malady (he can only get it up with working girls) is also not
exactly resonant for a modern audience without some translation that we don't get here, and Kate falling for him because of his reputation doesn't wash at all.
Fortunately, a nifty production and a fine ensemble performance managed to put in enough of what's missing to make a reasonably enjoyable evening. While it was difficult to see what Kate and Charles had going, Alexander Hassell had a facile line in physical comedy, all twisted embarrassment when faced with a respectable woman, and Gina Beck was cute and forthright as Kate. Akiya Henry as Constance was somehow more present, though, coming over as a normal young woman with an amazingly sexy voice. Michael Jibson as Hastings similarly got something substantial out of a nothing-much sidekick role. He has a not-bad voice and an obvious gift for realistic comedy which might end up in a television series if he's not careful.
James Hoare as Hardcastle sustained a fine comic characterization of a theatrical old geezer very effectively. (I thought it was patronizing to include the ages of the cast in the programme, but I did find it amazing that Hoare is only twenty.) Kristofer Smith was also splendidly camp in the smaller role of Charles' father, and Ian Virgo was a not-particularly-stupid Tony who wasn't particularly dangerous either.
Someone one day may claim to have discovered Sheridan Smith, though she is hard to miss. (She was a memorable Little Red Riding Hood in the Donmar Warehouse Into the woods.) Mrs Hardcastle is probably meant to be a sad, bitter old hag, but this one was a prime comic monster. Smith looked far too young, which, as someone said, she will grow out of. But she's got a vivid presence and solid theatrical technique already and might also grow into something much more interesting if she doesn't take the easy route of self-parody.
The choruses and dances went on for far too long, but the ensemble were nearly flawless and at least gave it plenty of welly where required. The sets, made of movable flats in appropriate dark greens and browns, The Linbury Studio, by the way, is part of the Royal Opera House. It is a square auditorium that extends several levels below the Plaza. The stage is open. The entrance is at the top of the auditorium, so you have to go down several flights of stairs to get to the stalls seats. There is a foyer with an unadvertized bar that sells the usual food.
Tuesday 28 December 1999
Monday 1 March 1999
Into the Woods - 13 February 1999
I am very partial to the Donmar Warehouse and a show such as Into the Woods fits the venue perfectly. Within the small stage area a thin revolve brought characters on through the action and off again back into the dense forest at the back of the stage. In the far distance is the royal castle and amongst the forest Rapunzel’s tower. So in this setting Sondheim’s adult fairy tale evolved.
The company consisted of a mixture of actor / singers and singer /actors all of which complimented each other although the desire for singers in numbers such as Giants in the Sky and Agony (refering to Damien Lewis as opposed to Matt Rawle) would have been preferable, but this was only a minor detraction from the performance. All the performances were excellent and in particular Sophie Thompson, Sheridan Smith and Jenna Russell. Sophie’s scatty Baker’s Wife was complimented by Nick Holders quiet Baker. Sheridan’s Yorkshire Red Riding Hood was wonderfully witty and sarcastic bringing many moment of laughter with her perfectly timed responses. Jenna was a strong Cinders and created a character far from the traditional ‘put upon’ girl but one who knows her position and what she needs to move on. She sang 'No One is Alone' beautifully bringing tears to the casts eyes and the audiences. Matt Rawle and Damien Lewis brought two very upper crust English princes to our attention primarily concerned with their happiness and no one elses and of course always trying to avoid any danger. Clare Burt was more effective as the ugly witch than when she transformed back to her former self. Some of the lines could have been delivered more sharply / clearer with irony. She gave a good performance but Kathryn Evan’s Witch in the 97 Leicester production was more effective.
The whole cast were strong with the smaller roles completing an all round excellent show and a mention must be made of Milky White, the most expressionate cow I’ve seen on stage : ). The end of this show can be emotional from ‘No One is Alone’ onwards and on this the last night it certainly was. Jenna and Sheridan comforted each other during ‘No One is Alone’ and Nick Holder was very emotional during ‘No More’ and when his wife reappears. He still hadn’t recovered at the curtain call. Well done to the Donmar for another excellent show.
The company consisted of a mixture of actor / singers and singer /actors all of which complimented each other although the desire for singers in numbers such as Giants in the Sky and Agony (refering to Damien Lewis as opposed to Matt Rawle) would have been preferable, but this was only a minor detraction from the performance. All the performances were excellent and in particular Sophie Thompson, Sheridan Smith and Jenna Russell. Sophie’s scatty Baker’s Wife was complimented by Nick Holders quiet Baker. Sheridan’s Yorkshire Red Riding Hood was wonderfully witty and sarcastic bringing many moment of laughter with her perfectly timed responses. Jenna was a strong Cinders and created a character far from the traditional ‘put upon’ girl but one who knows her position and what she needs to move on. She sang 'No One is Alone' beautifully bringing tears to the casts eyes and the audiences. Matt Rawle and Damien Lewis brought two very upper crust English princes to our attention primarily concerned with their happiness and no one elses and of course always trying to avoid any danger. Clare Burt was more effective as the ugly witch than when she transformed back to her former self. Some of the lines could have been delivered more sharply / clearer with irony. She gave a good performance but Kathryn Evan’s Witch in the 97 Leicester production was more effective.
The whole cast were strong with the smaller roles completing an all round excellent show and a mention must be made of Milky White, the most expressionate cow I’ve seen on stage : ). The end of this show can be emotional from ‘No One is Alone’ onwards and on this the last night it certainly was. Jenna and Sheridan comforted each other during ‘No One is Alone’ and Nick Holder was very emotional during ‘No More’ and when his wife reappears. He still hadn’t recovered at the curtain call. Well done to the Donmar for another excellent show.
Sunday 14 February 1999
Saturday 13 February 1999
Into The Woods
Narrator Frank Middlemass
Cinderella Jenna Russell
Jack Christopher Pizzey
Baker Nick Holder
Baker's wife Sophie Thompson
Stepmother Louise Davidson
Florinda Caroline Sheen
Lucinda Ceri Ann Gregory
Jack's mother Sheila Reid
Red Riding Hood Sheridan Smith
Witch Clare Burt
Cinderella's mother/Grandmother/Giant
Dilys Laye
Mysterious man Michael N. Harbour
Wolf/Cinderella's prince
Damian Lewis
Rapunzel Samantha Lavender
Rapunzel's prince Matt Rawle
Steward Tony Timberlake
Director John Crowley
Co-director/choreographer
Jonathan Butterell
Music director Mark Warman
The Donmar Warehouse winter music usually sells out fast. I'm sure this one will. It's still in previews (the first full-price performance is on Monday 16 November), and some of the performances are still coming together, but the production is fine, the orchestra is splendid, and the whole thing is
irresistable.
For some reason, I had a couple of attacks of incontinent memory this evening. First, a complicated but not particularly interesting episode involving a sink and Mozartkuegel, then Rheinhold Merkelbach sitting at a gate at Boston airport reading a Greek New Testament.
Merkelbach's 1960 book, Roman und Mysterium in der Antike, made the important conceptual link between the Greek romances and Cupid and Psyche (the only begetter of girl-and-prince fairy stories) and greco-roman cult and ritual, in particular the myth of Isis reassembling the scattered remnants of her dead husband, minus the phallus, and its associated rituals and images. This was well before the ideas of Freud, Bettelheim and Levi-Strauss crystallized into the structuralist received wisdom of the 1970s on fairy stories, and before Angela Carter exposed their humour and danger. (Merkelbach's thoughts on the gospels were less interesting, but I did get an ad hoc tutorial with the great man at Logan.)
Sondheim and Lapine, of course, take the basic thematic and narrative elements -- princes, pubescent girls, the quest for obscure objects of desire, killing monsters -- break them down further, put them back together in a crystalline structure then let it collapse under the weight of its emotional power, of the primal fear of violence and loneliness. If this production hasn't quite got all the timing right yet -- the giant's first footsteps should scare you rigid, and news that the Baker's wife is dead should be shocking -- it has a lot of energy which exhausts itself naturally into the wistfulness of the ending.
The cast consists entirely of actors, and some of the singing tonight was diabolical. Several performers really weren't projecting at all, including the non-singing narrator (who seemed to be wearing a mike, though I couldn't hear it). Although there was a payoff in the excellent delivery of the words, and the complete theatricality of the performance, I kept wishing (yes) for old-fashioned actors who could project a head voice even if they couldn't sing for toffees.
The lack of singing didn't ruin everything, by any means, but it did intrude. Particularly tuneless was Christopher Pizzey as Jack, though he more than made up for it with energy and gormlessness as required. Likewise Damian Lewis howled off-key as the wolf, especially, but was very funny as both slimy wolf and arrogant prince, variant sad bastards on the pull. He had a fine werewolf moment as well.
Nick Holder as the Baker seemed a bit understated, especially in his spoken passages, though his singing was reasonably secure. Perhaps he is still getting into things -- there were signs of a potentially moving performance of a confused man learning to be human. Sheridan Smith was theatrical in exactly the right way, and sang at least with a solid belt. Clare Burt was happier as the over-the-top ugly old witch (a very funny greens narrative) than the sophisticated new witch trying to be a parent, though she looked stunning in a low-backed dress with spiders' webs and a dead cat handbag.
The outstanding performance was Sophie Thompson as the Baker's wife, the character who engages with reality and makes choices from the start. She's very beautiful but not girly, managing to be tough and wistful at the same time, to deal with the matter in hand and yearn for the prince. Her singing didn't sound trained, but she has a good voice.
The production is workmanlike -- pine trees, a distant palace and Rapunzel's tower at the back, a moon that turns into a clock for the midnights, and a neat shadow puppet show for the wolf eating Red Riding Hood. There's no point in trying to find a new angle on Into the woods, and this one works fine.
Cinderella Jenna Russell
Jack Christopher Pizzey
Baker Nick Holder
Baker's wife Sophie Thompson
Stepmother Louise Davidson
Florinda Caroline Sheen
Lucinda Ceri Ann Gregory
Jack's mother Sheila Reid
Red Riding Hood Sheridan Smith
Witch Clare Burt
Cinderella's mother/Grandmother/Giant
Dilys Laye
Mysterious man Michael N. Harbour
Wolf/Cinderella's prince
Damian Lewis
Rapunzel Samantha Lavender
Rapunzel's prince Matt Rawle
Steward Tony Timberlake
Director John Crowley
Co-director/choreographer
Jonathan Butterell
Music director Mark Warman
The Donmar Warehouse winter music usually sells out fast. I'm sure this one will. It's still in previews (the first full-price performance is on Monday 16 November), and some of the performances are still coming together, but the production is fine, the orchestra is splendid, and the whole thing is
irresistable.
For some reason, I had a couple of attacks of incontinent memory this evening. First, a complicated but not particularly interesting episode involving a sink and Mozartkuegel, then Rheinhold Merkelbach sitting at a gate at Boston airport reading a Greek New Testament.
Merkelbach's 1960 book, Roman und Mysterium in der Antike, made the important conceptual link between the Greek romances and Cupid and Psyche (the only begetter of girl-and-prince fairy stories) and greco-roman cult and ritual, in particular the myth of Isis reassembling the scattered remnants of her dead husband, minus the phallus, and its associated rituals and images. This was well before the ideas of Freud, Bettelheim and Levi-Strauss crystallized into the structuralist received wisdom of the 1970s on fairy stories, and before Angela Carter exposed their humour and danger. (Merkelbach's thoughts on the gospels were less interesting, but I did get an ad hoc tutorial with the great man at Logan.)
Sondheim and Lapine, of course, take the basic thematic and narrative elements -- princes, pubescent girls, the quest for obscure objects of desire, killing monsters -- break them down further, put them back together in a crystalline structure then let it collapse under the weight of its emotional power, of the primal fear of violence and loneliness. If this production hasn't quite got all the timing right yet -- the giant's first footsteps should scare you rigid, and news that the Baker's wife is dead should be shocking -- it has a lot of energy which exhausts itself naturally into the wistfulness of the ending.
The cast consists entirely of actors, and some of the singing tonight was diabolical. Several performers really weren't projecting at all, including the non-singing narrator (who seemed to be wearing a mike, though I couldn't hear it). Although there was a payoff in the excellent delivery of the words, and the complete theatricality of the performance, I kept wishing (yes) for old-fashioned actors who could project a head voice even if they couldn't sing for toffees.
The lack of singing didn't ruin everything, by any means, but it did intrude. Particularly tuneless was Christopher Pizzey as Jack, though he more than made up for it with energy and gormlessness as required. Likewise Damian Lewis howled off-key as the wolf, especially, but was very funny as both slimy wolf and arrogant prince, variant sad bastards on the pull. He had a fine werewolf moment as well.
Nick Holder as the Baker seemed a bit understated, especially in his spoken passages, though his singing was reasonably secure. Perhaps he is still getting into things -- there were signs of a potentially moving performance of a confused man learning to be human. Sheridan Smith was theatrical in exactly the right way, and sang at least with a solid belt. Clare Burt was happier as the over-the-top ugly old witch (a very funny greens narrative) than the sophisticated new witch trying to be a parent, though she looked stunning in a low-backed dress with spiders' webs and a dead cat handbag.
The outstanding performance was Sophie Thompson as the Baker's wife, the character who engages with reality and makes choices from the start. She's very beautiful but not girly, managing to be tough and wistful at the same time, to deal with the matter in hand and yearn for the prince. Her singing didn't sound trained, but she has a good voice.
The production is workmanlike -- pine trees, a distant palace and Rapunzel's tower at the back, a moon that turns into a clock for the midnights, and a neat shadow puppet show for the wolf eating Red Riding Hood. There's no point in trying to find a new angle on Into the woods, and this one works fine.
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