Out of the darkness and shadows, three characters emerge. Lit only with candlelight or flashlights, a gripping tale by writer and performer Ché Walker about crime, punishment, love, and loss emerges. The fast pace conveys a sense of urgency to make up for lost time, lost opportunities, and what might have been. It’s currently playing at the Finborough Theatre . We first meet Mac (Ché Walker) in prison, serving time for a crime he committed. With only a photo of his young daughter, Scratch, to keep him company, he looks for her upon release. But Scratch (Joanne Marie Mason) isn’t the teacher, lawyer or dancer Mac imagined while incarcerated over the years she might be. Instead, Scratch is in and out of trouble, on the edge, angry and violent. A chance encounter one night with JayJayJay (Alice Walker) forms a loving bond and gives her a moment of stability. But Scratch’s demons and restlessness mean trouble does not seem far away. Scratch's random act of thoughtless violence against
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Theatre: Love Never Dies
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I had the opportunity to catch a preview of Love Never Dies, the sequel to Phantom of the Opera, Friday night at the Adelphi Theatre in the West End. It is the show with the really creepy artwork that is starting to appear around town, and which has its opening night this week...
I have yet to get around to seeing Phantom on stage, but I would like to think that I know enough about the story and the music to make sense of any follow up. I also recall many years ago playing the Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman cast recording on a family road trip which caused my grandmother to throw up. The free association of the show with grandma's sick probably hasn't incentivised me to rush out and grab a ticket.
Anyway arriving tonight at the theatre with Johnnyfox there was a buzz of activity. It was either excitement, or the sounds of people scrambling to pick up tickets from the shambolic box office. Normally at one minute to the curtain up you don't see a line of people stretching to outside the theatre waiting to pick up tickets, but someone was mumbling about problems due to the first night cancellation. The delay gave me a chance to observe the audience, which seemed to mostly consist of gay men and their mothers. I think this is a wonderful trend as it relieves straight men from having to endure what passes for musical theatre these days, but perhaps a sad indictment of what mothers will let their gay sons take them to.
The show starts with a great opening number full of spectacle and a little bit of excitement. It is Coney Island New York at the turn of last century and the Phantom is there running a show. It must be a bit of a come down from the Paris Opera but he doesn't seem to mind much. But after the opening number we then start getting hit with the plot... And there is plenty of it. This is a sequel like Jewel of the Nile is to Romancing the Stone. It's kind of nice to see the characters again but you still are left wondering what's the point of it all. It would have helped if there was some comic relief or greater sense of spectacle. Instead we get marital problems, drinking and scene with the Phantom and Christine's son (complete with some chimp-like creature), that had me wondering if this was what it was like at Michael Jackson's ranch...
By the time intermission limped around (after some dramatic jacket throwing down the stairs by Madame Giry), it all felt a bit gloomy and I was grateful for the opportunity for a drink.
Returning after intermission, following a robust discussion about the merits of a movie version of the musical Cats and whether Sidney Poitier should direct it, I had high hopes for a change of pace. There was less exposition thankfully, but there was plenty more gloom. Who could have known that Coney Island could be so dreary? The drama hinges on will Christine go on stage or not to sing a song the Phantom has written for her... So there isn't much tension... Given she is a performer... And we're watching a musical...
The music is pretty much the standard to be expected from Andrew Lloyd Webber, which people either love or hate. I think it was the title song that reminded me of main theme to the movie The Apartment (albeit without a satisfactory resolution). It doesn't help that most of the music doesn't seem to be written to showcase the vocal talents of the cast (or be in their range). Sierra Bogges, who plays Christine, has a lovely soprano voice. Too bad that she is often forced to sing in some gravelly register. The music and the amplification felt as if it gets in the way of the performances. The lyrics and libretto deserve particular ridicule for their basic rhyming or pointing out the bleeding obvious.
But even if love never dies, all shows do end. The audience leapt to their feet with applause. I was less enthusiastic. Some minor tweaks, including fixing some technical issues and delivering a proper end to the first act, might help with the pacing of this show. It would also help to have it lit so you could see the actors faces. Still, I suspect that Ken Mandelbaum's observations that no musical sequels have ever worked still holds true.
All told however I wonder (and the spoilers are below) if there is a long term audience for a show that kills the leading lady, makes the hero of the first show an alcoholic, and turns Christine's best friend Meg into a mad crazy woman. What is left is Phantom and son... It might run as a double act on Coney Island... Who knows what the public would like these days? A night out at the theatre strictly for those who just can't help themselves to find out what happened to Christine, Raoul, Madame Giry and the Phantom... I couldn't quite work out what happens to Meg Giry, apart from going a little crazy...
I think she should throw herself off the pier at the end (there's plenty of time to do it)... It might give us all a bit of a thrill...
David McVicar's oddly modern production of Rigoletto is back at the Royal Opera House . This modern and minimalist dark production has evolved over the years. It is better lit now but there is still an orgy and full frontal nudity within the first thirty minutes. This enables anyone not in the stalls an excellent view of a flaccid penis and a nicely shaved bush. But as time goes it seems more and more superfluous to the main focus of this tragedy of a court jester who seeks revenge. Here is hoping that the production continues to evolve... Conductor John Eliot Gardiner keeps the music well paced. Dimitri Platanias in the title role sounded great and received a rapturous applause for his interpretation of the role. You get a sense more of the doting father rather than the court jester or cursed man here. Vittorio Grigolo plays the Duke and sounds too lovely to be the cad the role calls for, but it is hard not to like when he is on stage anyway. And it is easier to understan
Nowadays no self-respecting gay play can be staged without full frontal nudity of some kind. It feels like the default response for the modern gay play now that gay rights are no longer an issue . Afterglow, currently playing at Southwark Playhouse , serves it up in spades. From the beginning, three men are in a bed, naked. There’s what appears to be a very brief exhalation of ecstasy, before the obligatory rush to the shower. But the gratuitous nudity and excellent performances can’t conceal this is a pretty conventional and predictable story about a fantasy couple. The three men in the simultaneous orgasm at the start of the piece are Josh, Alex and Darius. Josh and Alex seem to live in a New York world where they can afford a rooftop apartment in Manhattan while holding jobs as a theatre director and a grad student in chemistry. As writer S. Asher Gelman based it on his own experiences, perhaps gay plays with full frontal nudity are the way to achieve financial security
Damn Yankees at the Landor Theatre is one hell of a fun, sexy show. A great cast of dancers and singers give this show about a man who sells his soul to get on his beloved baseball team (and give them a chance of winning) new legs and balls. It also helps to up the ante with the sexiness with some healthy doses of cleavage and legs (and that's just the men). The musical is a retelling of the Faust story set in the 1950s when the New York Yankees dominated the game.
