Robert Gould - Page 8

Often musicals or plays that deal with highly emotive subjects can be accused of taking themselves too seriously and run the risk of becoming pretentious. The problem with the new musical 'Imagine This' is that it perhaps does not take itself seriously enough. Set in the Warsaw Ghetto during the winter of 1942, where a group of Jewish actors attempt to perform a musical play about the last stand of the Jewish Zealots at Masada in 70 A.D., it has the potential to be a genuinely powerful piece of musical theatre. But the world premiere production at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth fails to achieve that potential.

From the second that the new Watermill theatre production of 'Martin Guerre' begins through to its final chilling note, the audience is totally captivated in the atmosphere of a spine-tingling dramatic and musical world that represents all that is best in musical theatre. In the Watermill's intimate space - with the aid of Diego Pitarch's highly effective set, Richard G. Jones's evocative and atmospheric lighting and Sarah Travis's beautifully crafted orchestrations - a group of 12 talented actor-musicians under the masterful direction of Craig Revel Horwood succeed in not only telling a story that tears everyone's emotions apart but also in creating a musical sound that is quite beautiful throughout.

After so many previous West End stagings and numerous UK touring productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat', one could be forgiven for being sceptical about yet another presentation at the Adelphi. But somehow this production succeeds in making the piece seem fresh and new. At every turn there is a huge amount of energy and vitality pouring out from the stage. And there is the added bonus of a brand new song for the Pharoah - 'King Of My Heart' - a tuneful pastiche ballad by Rice and Lloyd Webber that you could easily imagine having been sung by the 'King' himself.

Gary Griffin - fresh from the success of his recent Broadway production, 'The Color Purple' - has returned to London (where his Donmar Warehouse production of Sondheim's 'Pacific Overtures' won him a richly deserved Olivier Award in 2003) to present a revival of the 1950s musical, 'Kismet' at the London Coliseum for the ENO. The show, originally staged at the Ziegfield theatre in New York in 1953, has music and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest, adapted from musical themes by Borodin. The original book by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis has been reworked by Kit Hesketh-Harvey and Griffin's colourful, energetic and beautifully paced production, magnificently complemented by the set design by Ultz and Wolfgang Gobbel's lighting design, breathes new life into a classic.

During the last twenty years or so the 'epic' musical has become a major element in mainstream musical theatre. Now the stage of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane witnesses what could almost be described as the epic to dwarf all epics. Following in the wake of the award winning box office smash film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's novels that have engrossed generations of readers, Matthew Warchus's staging of 'The Lord Of The Rings - the musical' seems set to pack in the crowds.

Following its staging of the UK premieres of musicals 'Tick, Tick Boom' in 2005 and 'The Last Five Years' in 2006, the Menier Chocolate Factory will go one better this summer by staging the World Premiere of the new Maltby and Shire musical, 'Take Flight' from July 25 to September 22 (previewing from July 13). The Menier will hope to repeat the success of its other 2005 musical production, 'Sunday In the Park With George', as 'Take Flight' reunites the artistic team that presented the award winning Sondheim revival - director Sam Buntrock and designer David Farley.

Australian-born actor/singer Andrew Bevis will play the title role of Martin Guerre in Craig Revel-Horwood's re-invention of the Boublil and Schonberg musical at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury from July 11 to September 1. Having begun his career as a musician and musical director, Bevis first gained attention down under as a musical theatre performer when he was cast in a revival of 'Hello Dolly', playing alongside Warren Mitchell and the grande dame of Australian musical theatre, Jill Perryman. In the West End he played star-crossed lover Romeo in the ill-fated Gerard Presgurvic/Don Black musical 'Romeo and Juliet', Marius in 'Les Miserables' and wowed audiences as the 'chick with a dick' in 'Jerry Springer, the Opera'.

This summer the Watermill Theatre in Newbury will revisit the Boublil/Schonberg musical, 'Martin Guerre', which will play from July 11 to September 1. The show will be directed by Craig Revel-Horwood, who was at the helm of last summer's critically acclaimed staging of 'The Hot Mikado' in Newbury. Musical direction will be handled by Tony award winner, Sarah Travis, who - along with former Watermill guru, John Doyle - pioneered the actor/singer/musician style of musical theatre at the Watermill, notably with the production of Sondheim's 'Sweeney Todd', which eventually found its way to Broadway in 2005.

Peter Shaffer's 1973 play, 'Equus', a thoroughly absorbing and gripping psychological drama, rears its head once more in the West End in Thea Sharrock's revival at the Gielgud theatre. And the play has lost none of its power and ability to challenge the mind and shock the senses.

A revival of the Jule Styne/Bob Merrill musical 'Some Like It Hot' is confirmed to hit the West End in autumn 2007. The show will be produced by Paul Coxwell and directed by Jerry Zaks, whose impressive Broadway track record includes productions as diverse as 'La Cage Aux Folles', 'Little Shop of Horrors', 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum', 'Smokey Joe's Café', 'Guys and Dolls' and 'The Front Page'.

Artistic Director Michael Grandage has announced that the new season at London's Donmar Warehouse will include the Jason Robert Brown/Alfred Urhy musical 'Parade'. This will be the long overdue West End premiere of one of the most controversial and powerful pieces of musical theatre to have graced a Broadway stage during the 1990s.

'The Glass Menagerie' is a play about truth and illusion. Rupert Goold's staging at the Apollo theatre manages to reveal truth with appropriate subtlety of direction and paints a pleasantly disguised illusion with atmospheric lighting and a quartet of strong performances

Bill Condon's celluloid reworking of Michael Bennett's 1982 Broadway musical 'Dreamgirls' finally hits UK screens this week. Having already achieved huge box-office success Stateside and steadily creating Oscar award buzz, expectations run high for this showbiz drama based loosely on the career of Diana Ross and the Supremes.

Thursday January 18 saw the premiere of Jason Robert Brown's 'Songs For A New World' by the Young Opera Company at the E-Werk theatre in Freiburg, Germany. On an opening night when a raging storm ravaged the German countryside, the cast of Martina Muhlpointer, Miriam Lotz, Tobias Weis and Kit Orton raised their own on stage storm of high energy and vocal power, sweetness and dexterity which was superbly complemented by clever and astute staging.

Robert McWhir's staging of the Kander and Ebb song showcase 'The World Goes Round', with musical direction by Heather Weir (currently playing at the Landor Theatre until February 10), displays an uneven mix of superb musical renditions and some near misses. Most of the songs are delivered with a high degree of accomplishment and the staging is generally full of energy and sophistication, perfectly balancing the layers of poignant emotion, cutting wit and Broadway bravado that pervades Kander and Ebb's musical theatre work. But some numbers miss the mark, let down by awkward, almost substandard, vocals - and the staging of 'All That Jazz' not only fails to conjure up anything that remotely resembles the choreographic arcs of the Fosse original but is also lacking in the sensuality that the number begs for. Ebb's lyric calls for them to 'let their stockings down' but the nylon seems reluctant to slip from the garters.

Tuesday, January 16 will see the opening of the revue 'And The World Goes Round' at one of London's most atmospheric and intimate pub theatres, the Landor. The show draws its material from the songbook of John Kander and Fred Ebb, one of the greatest of all musical theatre song-writing duos, whose resume boasts the scores for such musicals as 'Cabaret', 'Chicago', 'Kiss Of The Spider Woman', 'Woman Of The Year', 'The Rink', and 'Flora, The Red Menace'.

Two productions of plays by one of the founding fathers of twentieth century American drama, Tennessee Williams, are set to hit the West End stage in a couple of months time. Thomas Lanier Williams drafted some of the most haunting plays ever written - plays full of the joy, pain and poetry of life that always touch at the heart of raw human emotion. And he created some of the all-time great theatrical roles for women. The West End has seen high quality reincarnations of some of those great female roles in the last few years with stunning performances by Frances O'Connor in 'Cat On A Hot Tin Roof', Victoria Hamilton and Diana Rigg in 'Suddenly Last Summer' and Clare Higgins and Jenny Seagrove in 'The Night Of The Iguana'. In 2007 London audiences will get the chance to see Hollywood star Jessica Lange in 'The Glass Menagerie' (which begins previews at the Apollo on January 31) and Zoe Wannamaker in 'The Rose Tattoo' (which commences previews at the Olivier on March 19).

New dice were cast this week at the Piccadilly Theatre as Don Johnson became the new Nathan Detroit in the stylish revival of Frank Loessor's classic, 'Guys and Dolls'. Johnson, best known for his starring role in two hit TV detective series ('Miami Vice' and 'Nash Bridges'), replaces Alex Ferns in a role originally created on Broadway by Sam Levine and made famous by Frank Sinatra in the MGM movie.

At the Baron's Court Theatre between January 9 and February 4, APR Theatre Company will present 'The Lonesome West', the final instalment in Martin McDonagh's acclaimed Leenane trilogy, originally staged in 2001. A black comedy set in the 'murder capital of Ireland', Leenane, a small town in Connemara, the play about two brothers who have recently buried their father is almost the Hibernian reflection of 'True West' by Sam Shephard, the influence of whom often resonates in McDonagh's work. The sub-text parodies the Hollywood vision of the American frontier, where each insult is tantamount to a challenge to a gunfight, while also symbolising the sheer desolation of an outpost far from civilization that breeds suicidal despair.

Irish student Jayne Wisener has landed the dream role of Johnny Depp's daughter in the upcoming movie of the Sondheim musical, 'Sweeney Todd'. Though not widely broadcast, the casting was reported in the Irish press at the end of December and a spokesperson for Warner Bros. confirmed that the 19 year old second year student at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow had been cast.