The Queen and I - A New Musical

[Spotlight61]

Posted: 8/22/15 at 2:01pm

I've been invited to see this and when I heard the name I thought of the Sue Twonsend musical but this is a new show in development.

Going to see this tomorrow night at The Arcola Theatre. It is described as a 'work in progress' and that is of interest to me as is the subject matter. I know of Amy Rosenthal's work but have never heard of KS Lewkowicz.

http://www.thequeenandimusical.com

https://www.arcolatheatre.com/production/arcola/the-queen-and-i/

I see they have a few seasoned west end performers in their cast.

Directed by           Kate Golledge

Musical Director   Mark Smith

 Cast

• Siobhan Athwal
• Amarjit Bassan
• Mimi Edwards
• Martin Johnston
• Julie Jupp
• Chris McGuigan
• Minal Patel
• Nicky Swift

The work that The Arcola is presenting is certainly varied and, in some instances, ground breaking.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 8/23/15 at 11:44am

This sounds like my kind of show. :)  Looking forward to your report.

[Spotlight61]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 4:23am

As a work in progress this has real moments of beauty and intrigue.

The evening was introduced by the director, the book writer and the composer.

The book writers mother Maureen Lipman sat in the front row, clearly enjoying the work of her daughter, Amy Rosenthal. Maureen Lipman never seems to age!

Firstly, the subject material is fascinating. A relationship between an elderly Queen Victoria and a young Indian servant Abdul Karim, whom she elevates to a position of trust and importance as her Munshi, a teacher and clerk. This is in the wake of her relationship with John Brown, which was explored in the film Mrs. Brown with Judi Dench and Billy Connolly.

This story focuses on Karim and his wife. Karim is offered to the Queen as a gift from India for her Golden Jubilee. The fusion of the three, Karim, the royal court and Victoria and the collision of all three create a situation where the Prince of Wales is considering having his mother declared insane.

For a sharing, this was a complete production, complete in that the story is told with some clarity and there is a definite arc to the tale. The music, played wonderfully by Mark Smith who is also the MD, is both melodic, wordy and serves the piece extremely well.

Clearly where dialogue currently exists, this will be best served by a song.

The reading lasted 90 minutes and I came away truly believing that there is a wonderful musical taking shape here.

The cast, given they had 6 days to learn the material, were engaging and did the material proud. More work needs to be done in developing these characters both in text and music but that is the purpose of this sharing.

Three stand out performances came from Minal Patel (Abdul Karim), Julie Jupp (Queen Victoria) and Martin Johnston (Doctor Reid) but I'm mentioning them because two days after the event, I still remember them but that could be because their material had shape, context and an emotional journey and each possessed a gravitas of certainty and stage presence. Jupp and Johnston's singing voices filled the space beautifully. But overall the piece is ensemble in its telling and in the small Studio 2 place, the staging was uncomplicated and this allowed the material to take centre stage.

The intrigue of the piece is that it doesn't tell you everything. You are never told the level of relationship they shared, whether this was sexual or purely platonic because of his difference, his bearing and self-belief and Victoria's need for difference from the expectations of royal protocol.

Remove the royal titles and here you have a forbidden tale of love and friendship amongst a mix of cultural backgrounds.

It certainly is thought provoking, wonderfully moving and touching in its telling.

This show most definitely has a life and I, for one, look forward to seeing how this show progresses.

 

 

Updated On: 8/26/15 at 04:23 AM